Depending on how you interact with us (and whether you make an application to access the Services), we may collect the following types of personal information about you:
- your full name, date of birth and gender;
- your contact information, including address, postcode, email, telephone number and mobile number, and your preferred contact methods;
- details regarding your ethnicity, country of birth, whether you are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, your culturally and linguistically diverse status, your disability status accessibility requirements, and your preferred language spoken at home;
- your employment information;
- your financial information (e.g. information about your household and employment income), and your bank or financial institution account details if you are eligible for payment supports;
- your visa information and residency status;
- information you choose to provide regarding the intimate partner violence experienced;
- details about your current living situation including whether you have a permanent or fixed address, your household composition, and whether any other family members, including children, are involved in or affected by intimate partner violence;
- your circumstances that relate to the form of intimate partner violence you’re experiencing and how you will change your living arrangement in the next 12 weeks (or have changed your living arrangements in the last 12 weeks);
- information about your partners, children, dependants, carers and identified nominee or guardian (if applicable);
- any username(s) and password(s) that you might be provided with or create in accessing the Program;
- your location information (if this is permitted by your device settings);
- details of how you access and use the Program, including information about any payments or services provided to you;
- information about how you have previously accessed or used one of the regional trials for the delivery of the Leaving Violence Program as delivered by third party providers appointed by the Commonwealth (“Regional Trial Service Providers”), or previous iterations of the Program that provided equivalent financial supports to victim-survivors (as funded by the Commonwealth);
- any records or supporting documentation provided to support your application for the Program, including legal or financial documents (e.g. AVO/DVO applications or court orders, police reports, bank statements, pay slips, rent invoices) and reports or recommendations from relevant professionals (e.g. specialist FDSV practitioners, financial counsellors, social workers, lawyers, psychologists, Services Australia officers or doctors);
- records of any communications or interactions we have with you, including any feedback you provide to us about the Program and your experience in accessing it; and
- any other information that you or a person or organisation you have authorised to deal with us on your behalf provides to us.
Wherever possible, we will try to collect personal information from you directly, rather than from another person or source, unless it is unreasonable or impractical to do so.
There may be occasions when we gather personal information about you from another source, for example:
- from a person or organisation you have authorised to deal with us on your behalf;
- from our contracted service providers such as those who manage your identity verification; or
- from third party service providers, including Regional Trial Service Providers and other entities that were engaged by the Commonwealth to deliver previous iterations of the Program that provided equivalent financial supports to victim-survivors.
We generally collect and use the above types of personal information (which may include sensitive and health information) to:
- enable us to provide the Program (including receiving and assessing any applications from, and providing any supports or services to, Program Users);
- verify identities;
- confirm the authority of any person or organisation to properly act on behalf of the relevant Program User;
- communicate with you through various channels;
- identify program funding usage trends;
- provide tailored and personalised services;
- help us to manage our service standards;
- prevent fraudulent activity and ensure the Program is being utilised as intended – this includes enabling us to identify any duplicate applications to the Program delivered by us and services having been delivered by the Regional Trial Service Providers or other third party service provider that delivered previous iterations of the Program that provided equivalent financial supports to victim-survivors; and
- assist us to comply with our legal and reporting obligations.
We may use de-identified and aggregated information (where no one is identifiable) to improve the Program, for reports and in evaluation of the Program and its various elements. De-identified information may also be used in academic articles and presentations at conferences.
You may be able to access the Services without disclosing some forms of personal information if you wish. However, if you do not provide the personal information requested of you to us, we may not be able to provide you with all of the financial support or other Services that we would otherwise be able to.
Generally, personal information that is collected in connection with the Program may be shared between Telstra Health, the Commonwealth, Regional Trial Service Providers, with contractors and subcontractors including BlackHawk Network and service providers engaged to provide the Program (collectively “Contracted Service Providers”), and any person or organisation you have authorised to deal with us on your behalf (including relevant support agencies and referring organisations). In this regard, it is noted that:
- any personal information held by Telstra Health or the Contracted Service Providers in connection with the Program is held on behalf of the Commonwealth, so that Telstra Health and its Contracted Service Providers can provide the Services. If Telstra Health stops providing the Program we will transfer your personal information to the Commonwealth or to such other service provider(s) engaged by the Commonwealth to deliver the Service; and
- where Contracted Service Providers are engaged, they are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and obligations of security and confidentiality, and contractual measures are in place to ensure they comply with those obligations.
Other circumstances in which your personal information may be shared include:
- where you have authorised another person or organisation to act on your behalf, we will generally share information about you with that person or organisation (including any nominee or guardian); and
- to prevent duplicate or fraudulent applications for financial payments or other supports, we may share your personal information with Regional Trial Service Providers, and other government agencies and providers.
Otherwise, we will only disclose your personal information to third parties for the primary purposes for which we collected it, or for a secondary purpose if permitted by law, which includes:
- where you have consented;
- where you would reasonably expect us to do so, and where related to the primary purpose of collection, or, in the case of sensitive information, directly related to the primary purpose;
- where required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order, such as to comply with mandatory reporting requirements in relation to suspected cases of child abuse and neglect, or in connection with a police warrant or subpoena; or
- where a permitted situation exists under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), such as lessening or preventing a serious threat to the life, health or safety of an individual, or to public health or safety, or locating a person reported as missing.
De-identified information (where no one is identifiable) may also be shared with research partners from time to time.
While we do not generally disclose personal information to overseas recipients, limited disclosures may occur in the following circumstances:
- to enable the distribution of stored value cards as part of any financial support provided to Program Users, we may disclose de-identified information to Blackhawk Network (the card provider for the Program), who stores and handles data in overseas locations, including on infrastructure based in the United States of America;
- if you are a Program User or Program User Representative and require customer support from Blackhawk Network, and either:
- contact Blackhawk Network directly; or
- ask us to raise a support request on your behalf,
- personal information (such as your name, contact details, and the nature of and information about your request) may be disclosed to Blackhawk Network’s customer support personnel located in El Salvador and stored or handled overseas in accordance with Blackhawk Network’s privacy policy; and
- in exceptional cases, to overseas emergency services or law enforcement agencies if this is required or authorised by law.
If you have any questions about this Collection Notice, please contact us by calling on 1800 253 283
Financial Stress
