Policy
Entitlement
Business Rules
Appealing Decisions or Actions
Policy Statement
We respect your privacy. Your personal information (including health information) is collected by us so that we can provide services to you. We will take reasonable steps to ensure the information we collect is accurate, up-to-date, complete and not excessive.
We will collect your personal information from you directly unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so, or you consent to us collecting it from someone else.
We will tell you why we are collecting your personal information, how we will use it and who else might see it, except where there is a valid legal reason not to do this.
Your personal information will be stored securely. You can ask to see what personal information on you we hold. If you request it, we will make changes to the personal information we hold so that it is accurate, relevant, up-to-date, complete and not misleading.
We will not keep your personal information for longer than is necessary to provide our services to you. We will dispose of your personal information securely once it is no longer needed.
If we need to give your personal information to someone else as part of providing our services to you, we will do everything reasonably within our power to prevent unauthorised use or disclosure.
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We will use your personal information only for the reason it was collected, unless:
- you consent to its use or disclosure for another purpose,
- the law allows us to use or disclose your personal information for another purpose, for example, in order for us to respond to a request from the Minister for information about a matter,
- a situation arises that is directly related to the reason you gave us personal information and we believe you would expect our use or disclosure of your personal information.
Application to Aboriginal Housing Office Clients
Housing NSW provides application and tenancy management services on behalf of the Aboriginal Housing Office. This policy applies to the personal information (including health information) of Aboriginal Housing Office clients handled by Housing NSW when it provides services on behalf of the Aboriginal Housing Office.
Intent of Policy
This Policy sets out our approach to meeting the requirements of the The Privacy and personal Information Protection Act, 1998 (the PPIP Act) and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (the HRIP Act).
For more information on this policy, look in Entitlement, Background and Business Rules.
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Entitlement
Information that you provide to Housing NSW will be managed according to this policy.
We will not give any personal information about a client, their family or household to another person unless there is a lawful reason, or there is an ongoing need to ensure a household's entitlement to a rental subsidy, or there is a need to ensure the ongoing eligibility for public housing, or the individual to which the information relates has authorised release of the information to the requestor.
If you appeal to the Housing Appeals Committee regarding a Housing NSW related decision or matter, your Housing NSW file can be referred to the Committee. The Committee complies with privacy requirements.
Background
The Privacy and personal Information Protection Act, 1998 commenced on the 1 July 2000. The Act, broadly defined, covers the areas of collection, use, storage and disclosure of all personal information except health records.
The Health Records and Information Privacy Act, 2002, commenced on 1 September 2004. This Act covers the areas of collection, use, storage and disclosure of health records and applies to organisations that collect, hold or use health information and makes provision for the protection of that information.
Both Acts set out principles that we must apply when we manage personal information. Both acts provide also for us to develop a Code of Practice explaining how we apply these principles and situations where our actions will vary from the principles. We have already developed and gazetted a Privacy Code of Practice under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act.
The Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act also requires us to prepare and implement a Privacy Management Plan. This is a separate document that explains how we comply with the specific provisions of both Acts.
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Definitions
Personal Information
Your personal information is information, or opinion, about you that discloses your identity such as written records or photographs. It can also include information about your ethnic or racial background, political opinion, criminal history, religious belief or sexual preference.
Health Information
Under the Health Records and Information Privacy (HRIP) Act 2002, your health information is personal information that specifically relates to:
- your physical or mental health or a disability (you have at any time); or
- your express wishes about the future provision of health services to you; or
- a health service provided, or to be provided, to you.
The definition of health information under the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 is broad. It covers other areas of health information, such as organ donation, which in most cases are not relevant to or required by Housing NSW
Business Rules
Collecting your personal information and/or health information
We will not collect your personal information (including health information) unless it is legal for us to do so and so that we can provide services to you. We will only collect as much information as we need to provide our services. In most situations we will only collect your personal information directly from you.
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When a Housing NSW officer requests personal information (including health information), in most situations, we will tell you why we are collecting your personal information and who else will receive this information about you due to us providing our services. We may decide not to tell you this information if:
- you don’t want us to;
- we are not legally required to tell you;
- telling you may not be appropriate
The same arrangements apply if we collect your personal information from someone other than you. In most situations we will take steps to make sure that you know why we are collecting your personal information and who else will receive it. We will not put your life or health, or the life or health of another person, at risk to tell you this information.
When we collect your personal information, we will do our best to make sure that the information is relevant, accurate, up-to-date, and complete and is not an unreasonable intrusion on your personal affairs.
Holding your personal information or health information
We will not keep your personal information longer than is necessary for us to provide our services to you. This means that we will need to keep your information for as long as we are providing housing services to you. While we hold your information we will ensure that it is as secure as possible from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.
You are entitled to know whether we hold your personal information and, if you request, we will give you access to it without excessive delay or expense. You can make a request to see the personal information that we hold on you by making an 'I want to see my file’ request. See the policy on Freedom of Information (EST0015B).
If you request it, we must make appropriate amendments to ensure that the information we hold is accurate, relevant, up-to-date, complete and not misleading.
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If we need to disclose your personal information to someone else in connection with the provision of our services to you, we will do everything reasonably within our power to prevent unauthorised use or disclosure. For example, we will check that the other person or organisation is subject to rules for protecting your privacy that are equivalent to the rules that apply to us. We must ensure that your personal information is disposed of securely when it is no longer required.
Your personal information will not be used to gain any improper advantage for Housing NSW or its employees. See policy EST0006B on Commitment to Service and Code of Conduct.
Keeping the identity of people who make complaints confidential
We will not disclose the identity of a person making a complaint against another tenant or member of their household unless we are required by law to do this or if the person gives consent to do this. This is because our files can be subpoenaed in legal proceedings and made available to other parties. We will take steps to protect the identity of a person making a complaint.
Using or disclosing your personal information or health information
We will take reasonable steps to make sure that your personal information held is relevant, accurate, up-to-date, complete and not misleading before we provide services to you. We will not disclose any personal information concerning your ethnic or racial origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health or sexual activities unless:
- you have given us consent to do so; or
- it is necessary to prevent a serious and imminent threat to your life or health or that of someone else.
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Your personal information must only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which it has been collected, unless you consent to its use or disclosure for another purpose. Also, we might use or disclose your personal information for another purpose that is directly related to the purpose for which it was collected.
We may do this if that other purpose is one for which we would have no reason to believe that you would object to our use or disclosure of your personal information, or if health information, that you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose it.
We may disclose your personal information in joint meetings with other NSW Government agencies where there is a Service Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding or some other similar document in place and both of these Acts or the Code of practice permits us to disclose, or seek a professional opinion. In this situation we will only provide as much information about you as is relevant to the meeting.
We will use or disclose your personal information for a purpose other than that for which it was collected if we have reasonable grounds to believe that it is necessary to:
- lessen or prevent a serious and imminent threat to your life, health or safety or the life, health or safety of someone else;
- lessen or prevent a serious threat to public health or public safety;
- meet our legal obligations to protect the public revenue; or
- respond to information requests from the Minister on a matter or;
- protect the safety, welfare or wellbeing of a child or young person under chapter 16A of the Child and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998.
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We may also use or disclose your personal information (including health information) for other purposes under limited circumstances. These include to conduct surveys about client satisfaction and related issues relating to long term service enhancement, where it is reasonably necessary for training employees or officers of Housing NSW, where it is reasonably necessary for research or the compilation of statistics in the public interest. Also, where it is reasonably necessary for funding, planning or evaluating the provision of a health service provided in partnership with Housing NSW.
Your health information will only be included on any computerised system linking us to other organisations with your consent, unless we are permitted to do so by another Act or law.
Appealing Decisions or Actions
If you are concerned about the way Housing NSW has handled your personal information you may be entitled to a review of that conduct. The review will be undertaken by a Reviewing Officer appointed by Housing NSW to conduct the review. You can request a review by telephoning the Client Feedback Unit on 1800 652 059 and your request will be referred to Housing NSW's Privacy Contact Officer; Principal Solicitor, Litigation and Advisings.
If you are unhappy about any other matter such as a service you have received from Housing NSW or the way you have been treated by staff then you can also make a complaint to Housing NSW. See the policy on Client Feedback (EST0008A).
Decisions under the privacy policy can not be appealed.
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