Your privacy is important.
This policy outlines how we (Through the Unexpected) collect, use and store your personal information.
We are committed to respecting your privacy. We have “opted in” to the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 and are guided by the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012. We also endeavor to comply with the Health Privacy Principles under the Victorian Health Records Act 2001 in relation to health information.
We may need to update this Privacy Policy when new laws and technology arise.
We assume that you are a resident of Australia. If not please contact us to ask about how we manage your personal information.
What kind of personal information do we collect?
The type of personal information we collect depends on how and why you engage with us. It may include:
- Information such as your name, email address, profession and your gender and pronouns (if you opt to include them) that you may provide to us if you sign up to our newsletter, sign up to our learning and networking platform or register for an event run by or in collaboration with us
- Sensitive information you may disclose to us such as whether you identify as a person with the lived experience of receiving a prenatal diagnosis, as a disabled person or a person with a disability or congenital anomaly, and/or a carer
Sensitive information is a type of personal information and means “information relating to a person’s racial ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional or trade association membership, sexual orientation or criminal record, that is also personal information; and health information about an individual”
- Additional personal information, such as your address, if you apply to become a member, employee, volunteer or officeholder with us.
We may also collect information about your IP address, although this will not directly identify you.
How do we collect your personal information?
We will generally only collect your personal information from you directly, for example what you choose to tell us by phone, in person or by email, or through online forms that you fill in.
You can remain anonymous or use a pseudonym when seeking information or services from us. Note that in some circumstances we may not be able to provide you with accurate or helpful information if you choose to not identify yourself or disclose other relevant sensitive information.
In some circumstances, a third party may provide us with your personal information. This may happen if you have asked that person to refer you to us. In these circumstances, we will endeavor to contact you to confirm your consent and to ensure the information we have received is correct.
How will we use your personal information?
We will only use your personal information (including your sensitive information) for the purpose for which it was provided, for other related reasons that you would reasonably expect or have consented to, or as otherwise permitted by the Australian Privacy Principles or other applicable privacy legislation.
Please note that when you use our website, having your cookies enabled will allow us to remember your details so we can maintain the continuity of your browsing session when you return. This may mean you remain logged into the website if you are a member. We may also use web beacons, Flash local stored objects and JavaScript. If you adjust your browser settings to block, reject or delete these functions, the webpage may not function in an optimal manner.
Marketing and fundraising
Marketing and fundraising is important for us to be able to work towards our vision that people are informed, supported and empowered through the experience of prenatal diagnosis.
We may use your personal information to send you information about Through the Unexpected, our activities or fundraising, referred to as direct marketing. We will only send you direct marketing where you have provided your personal details and you are likely to expect direct marketing and have not opted out of it. All direct marketing we send will include an opt-out option.
We will only use your sensitive information to send you targeted direct marketing (such as information that may be relevant to your situation) if you have provided consent for us to do that.
What happens to your personal information when you provide it to us? Who might we disclose it to?
We use third-party platforms to collect and store your personal information to support our activities, such as Mailchimp to receive new membership applications and to send out our newsletters.
We use overseas-based providers of website programs and cloud services for information storage. This means that your personal information may be collected, stored or transferred between the countries that our IT providers and platforms exist within. Microsoft’s Privacy Statement can be found at https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-ca/privacystatement/
We will only disclose your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles or other applicable privacy legislation. This would generally only be done with your express consent. For example, you may consent to us sharing your story in a way that identifies you:
- in publicly available submissions, or directly with government or people providing funding to us, for advocacy purposes
- in our publicly available or subscription-only materials and platforms for educational purposes.
We will not sell or give your personal information (including your sensitive information) to third parties to use for unrelated purposes without your explicit consent.
With the exception of the use of cloud-based programs, we will not send your personal information outside Australia without:
- obtaining your consent (in some cases this consent will be implied); or
- otherwise complying with the Australian Privacy Principles or other applicable privacy legislation.
How do we protect your personal information?
Our staff and volunteers are required to respect your confidentiality and privacy.
We have measures in place to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification, interference or disclosure, including:
- minimising what personal information is requested, collected or stored
- disposing of personal information once it is no longer needed (see below)
- locked storage of paper records
- secure, password-protected cloud storage of electronic records
- minimising the number of staff and volunteers who can access or alter personal information held in our records
- ensuring key staff and volunteers receive training regarding information privacy obligations.
Updating your personal information
We hope to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate and up to date.
You have the right to check what personal information we hold about you and to ask us to update any information that you think is wrong at any time. You can do this by writing to info@throughtheunexpected.org.au. Please note we may require you to verify your identity as part of this process. No fee will be charged for you to access or update your information.
How long will we keep your information?
The Australian Privacy Principles and the Health Privacy Principles require us to dispose of personal information that is no longer needed. In particular, the Health Privacy Principles impose certain obligations about the length of time health records must be stored.
We will deidentify or dispose of your personal information if it is no longer required. In many circumstances, your personal information will be kept for marketing purposes unless you have opted out of receiving our marketing communications.
Enquiries and privacy complaints
If you would like further information about the way we manage your personal information or you have any concerns, please contact us at info@throughtheunexpected.org.au
If we have not dealt satisfactorily with your concerns we will meet with you to discuss further.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint within 30 days from this meeting you can refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner via:
- email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
- tel: 1300 363 992
- fax: +61 2 9284 9666