Privacy statement
The Australian Sports Commission commits to protecting your privacy. As part of that commitment, whenever we gather your information we will:
- tell you how we may use it
- keep it in a secure way
- make sure it is kept accurate and up to date
- restrict how we use it
- restrict who we provide it to
This document briefly explains the main ways we protect your privacy and how we comply with the Information Privacy Principles. It also describes the types of personal information we may collect from you. You can get more detailed information on these matters by contacting us, or by reading the privacy notices we provide on our forms, websites, agreements or our Personal Information Digest (PID).
What sorts of personal information does the ASC collect
The ASC will only ask for personal information relevant to our relationship with you. Depending on our need to know we may ask for:
information that identifies you, such as:
- your name, address, and other contact details
- your date of birth
- your current and past employment details
- your tax file number
The Privacy Act places restrictions on collecting sensitive personal information about you (this includes information about your ethnicity, criminal records or personal health information). Generally, we won’t collect this sort of information. However, we may collect some sensitive information if:
- we need it to provide you with a specific service (for example you are applying for specifically targeted funding), or
- you are applying for a job with us and you have provided your consent for us to do so.
If we conduct online collaboration, social media or market research, we may also ask you for your opinion about our services or staff. We will treat these opinions as personal information if they contain personally identifiable information.
Why the ASC asks for personal information
Personal and health information is collected and used by the ASC for the following purposes:
- to provide services or to carry out ASC's statutory functions
- to assist the ASC, its sporting and research divisions and its employees
- to plan, fund, monitor and evaluate ASC's services and functions
- to comply with ASC reporting requirements
- restrict who we provide it to
The ASC will tell you the main reason for asking for your personal information when we seek it from you.
The main reason will usually be to provide you with one of our services. We may use the information to:
- check whether you are eligible for the service
- provide you with the service
We may use personal information for other reasons, including:
- helping us to manage our business. This may include using information for:
- financial accounting, personnel management, record keeping, systems development and testing
- research and statistical analysis
- preventing fraud
We may also ask for your personal information because we are required to collect it for legal reasons.
How the ASC will collect personal information
If it’s reasonable and practical to do so, The ASC will collect personal information directly from you. We may do this through application forms, over the telephone, the Internet, or in person.
We may also need to collect personal information from other people. Sometimes this may happen without your direct involvement. Some examples of the people or organisations from which we may collect personal information about you are:
- sporting organisations
- publicly available sources of information (such as telephone directories)
- your representative (such as a parent, coach, legal adviser, manager)
- your employer
- other government agencies
So that we can better tailor information and services to your needs, when we send you email messages, we may use technology to identify you so that we can know when you have opened the email or clicked on a particular link in the email.
If you log into our intranet/extranet services, we will collect information from you to confirm your identity.
So that we can better tailor our information to your needs, we use technology to collect statistical information on website activity, such as the number of people using our website and how they navigate through it.
In what circumstances would the ASC provide your personal information to others
The ASC may share your personal information with other divisions within the ASC.
Sometimes we provide personal information to organisations outside the ASC. Generally, these are organisations that help us with our business. These may include:
- Sport partners (sporting organisations with whom we have agreements to provide services)
- outsourced service providers such as online survey hosts or employment agencies
- authorised representatives of the ASC
- superannuation funds
- payment systems operators (for example, our online shop to receive credit card payments)
- our accountants, auditors or lawyers
- your representatives (for example a parent, coach, legal adviser, manager)
We strive to limit the information we give these organisations to what they need to perform their services for us or provide products or services to you. We also enter into contracts with organisations locally and overseas who provide services to us or who provide products or services jointly with us. These contracts require the organisation to:
- meet the privacy standards we set for ourselves in protecting your personal information and comply with the Privacy Act, 1988
- use the personal information only for the specific service we ask them to perform or the service that we ask them to provide, and for no other purpose
We may also need to provide your personal information to others outside the ASC where:
- the information relates to a sports drug and safety matter or is otherwise relevant to the performance of the functions of the Australian Sports Anti‑Doping Authority and as such may be provided to the Australian Sports Anti‑Doping Authority
- we are (in limited circumstances) allowed or required to by law or where we have a public duty to do so. For example, a Court, a regulator (such as the Australian Taxation Office or the police can compel us to disclose personal information to them)
- you have expressly consented to your personal information being supplied to others
How the ASC will keep your personal information accurate and up-to-date
The ASC seeks to maintain the quality of its information holdings by taking reasonable administrative and technical steps to make sure that the information collected, used and disclosed is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
If you believe the personal data we hold on you is not accurate, under the Freedom of information Act, 1982, you are entitled to ask for it to be changed or annotated if it is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading.
How the ASC will keep information and data secure
The ASC utilises up-to-date techniques and processes, which meet current government requirements to protect your personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.The only people who are allowed to handle or have access to your personal information are those employees of the ASC and those who perform services for us who need your personal information to do their jobs. All employees of the ASC are bound by the ASC Code of Conduct to not misuse your personal information. Those who perform services on our behalf are also bound by agreements that include privacy clauses.
Paper documents are protected from unauthorised access or use through the various security systems that we have over our physical premises. We also maintain up-to-date computer and network security systems with appropriate firewalls, access controls and passwords to protect electronic copies of personal information.
If we no longer require your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to destroy it in a secure manner or remove identifying features from it. This is subject to any legal obligations (such as the Archives Act, 1983) that requires we keep information for a certain period of time.
The ASC cannot be responsible for, nor guarantee the policies and procedures of any other partner organisations or websites that may be linked from our website. They may or may not meet the same privacy standards we set for ourselves. So, you should take care to understand and evaluate their particular privacy standards and procedures, as needed.
How can you access your personal information held by the ASC
Anyone who believes that the ASC holds personal information about them may contact us to seek access to any information we hold on them.
You can request access to your personal information by contacting us.
You can send your request:
By post: Privacy Contact Officer
Australian Sports Commission
PO Box 176 Belconnen ACT 2616
By email: privacy@ausport.gov.au
We may not always be able to give you access to all the personal information we have about you. For example, we may not be able to give you access to information that would reveal personal information about another person.
Complaints
The ASC will be efficient and fair when investigating and responding to information privacy complaints.
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal information, you may contact us.
By post: Privacy Contact Officer
Australian Sports Commission
PO Box 176 Belconnen ACT 2616
By email: privacy@ausport.gov.au
You may also complain to the Australian Information Commissioner who may investigate our actions. More information is available on the OAIC website at www.oaic.gov.au. The Commonwealth Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about our actions. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Privacy Commissioner will consult to avoid the same matter being investigated twice.
ASC Website Privacy Statement
The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is committed to protecting online privacy in accordance with Guidelines for Federal and ACT Government World Wide Websites issued by the Privacy Commissioner.
The ASC records visits to this website and logs the following information for statistical purposes:
- user's server or proxy address
- date/time/length of the visit
- files requested
- user's cookies
- user's searches
The information is used to analyse our server traffic. No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except where authorised by law. For example in the event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency may exercise their legal authority to inspect the internet service provider's logs.
If you send us an email message we will record your contact details (in accordance with government record keeping standards). This information will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it. We will not use your email for any other purpose and will not disclose it without your consent except where such use or disclosure is permitted under an exception provided in the Privacy Act.
When users choose to join a mailing list their details are added to that specific mailing list and used for the stated purpose of that list only. You will not be added to any mailing list without your consent.
As a user, you need to be aware of inherent risks associated with the transmission of information via the Internet. If you have concerns in this regard, the ASC has other ways of obtaining and providing information. Normal mail, telephone and fax facilities are available.
The ASC is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of the linked web sites and the other pages hosted by the ASC on behalf of non-ASC agencies and organisations.
Australian Sports Commission email newsletters
Unsubscribe: you can unsubscribe instantly from each newsletter by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of the newsletter.
