Privacy Statement

Mercy Community is committed to and bound by the Australian Privacy Principles. These principles underpin the privacy protection framework in the Privacy Act 1988.

We appreciate the importance of privacy and ensure that all personal information that is provided to us is treated with respect and utmost care.

What is personal information and why do we need it?

Personal information is any information or opinion, recorded in written/material form or not, about an individual who can be reasonably identified from the information or opinion.

Collection of information is limited to only the information that is necessary for our activities. Given the nature of the services we provide, Mercy Community may collect personal and sensitive information about individuals from several sources. Mercy Community ensures that robust and accountable documentation is available regarding the collection of information, ensuring information that is sought and used is relevant to the organisation’s business and is appropriately managed.

When you access the Mercy Community website or any other Mercy Community websites such as microsites for specific services, we may record your server address, domain name, the date and time of your visit, the pages viewed, the information downloaded and the frequency of visits.

Mercy Community may also record information about the types of browsers that are being used to visit the Mercy Community site. We use this information for Website and system administration, including monitoring to prevent security breaches to assist Mercy Community in further development and to improve the functionality of the site.

Mercy Community or its authorised agents will collect all information that is exchanged through the online chat feature.

What do you do with my personal information?

When you receive services from us, we will record relevant information that’s important for the services we provide for you.

So that we can do our best to support you, we might need to share your personal information if it is safe and reasonable to do so, to the extent permitted by law, with other agencies, guardians, families or government departments. We’ll make sure you know about, and consent to, us sharing this information.

Sometimes there is particular information we need to obtain to be able to provide a service to you. If a Mercy Community employee requests information that you don’t think they need to know, talk to the worker about your concerns. They will listen to you and clarify why they need the information. We may be unable to deliver services unless we have all the information we need.

How is my personal information stored?

We are committed to keeping your personal information secure. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold is correct and is protected from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Mercy Community will not use or disclose sensitive information about an individual for the purposes of direct marketing, unless the individual has provided consent.

We ensure that only those who work directly with you, or have responsibility for the people working with you, have access to your information.

Sometimes our support service teams, such as Information Technology or our Quality Improvement team, will have access to your information. Every employee, volunteer, contractor, sub-contractor and consultant at Mercy Community signs a Privacy Agreement when they start with us, requiring them to keep any person we support or organisational information private and confidential.

If you want to know more about how your information is being stored, talk to one of our staff members who can explain further.

How can I correct or update my personal information?

If there are changes to your personal information, or you become aware that the information we have is not correct, speak to one of our staff members or contact us and ask us to change this.

Our response to a data breach

A data breach occurs when personal information is lost or subjected to unauthorised access, modification, use or disclosure, or other misuse or interference. All staff are responsible for reporting any actual or suspected data breach to the Privacy Officer. Mercy Community responds to any actual or suspected data breach in accordance with legislation.

How can I access my personal information?

Generally, you have a right to your personal information, and you can access it by following the steps below:

Prepare a written request.
There is a Mercy Community Form –Request for Personal Information, that you can use for this. To get a copy of this form, speak to one of our staff members or call our Privacy Officer on (07) 3866 4160. If you would prefer not to fill out a form, we will need the following information from you:

- proof of who you are and how the information requested is relevant to you
- what information you are after
- why you are requesting the information
- when you need the information by.

You can ask someone to help you with this if you like.
Send this request to the Privacy Officer via:
- Email: privacy@mercycommunity.org.au
  OR
- Mail: Attention: Privacy Officer Mercy Community
  PO Box 508
  Lutwyche QLD 4030

Get in touch

If you need more info or have any questions you can contact our team at our Corporate Office.

Phone: 07 3866 4160

Email: privacy@mercycommunity.org.au

Postal: PO Box 508 | Lutwyche QLD 4030