Privacy
Your privacy is important to us and we are committed to the highest standards of privacy when we collect, store, use or disclose your personal information.
Steps we take to protect your privacy
The Seafarers Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Authority (Seacare Authority) is covered by national privacy legislation—Privacy Act 1988.
The Privacy Act gives you rights including:
- to be told why your personal information is being collected and whether it can be given to anyone else
- to see what information is held about you and have it corrected
- to have your personal information stored securely
- if you believe your privacy has been infringed, you can make a complaint.
Privacy Policy and actions
To protect your privacy, the Seacare Authority will take reasonable steps to:
- comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988, including the Australian Privacy Principles and Privacy (Australian Government Agencies) APP Code 2017
- make sure all staff understand and comply with their privacy obligations
- ensure that its privacy policy is up to date and complete
- respond promptly and honestly to complaints
- maintain an effective working relationship with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Our Privacy Policy (PDF, 2.7 MB) describes how we handle personal information and what types of personal information we generally hold. You can contact us to ask for the policy in another format.
Privacy Impact Assessment Register
A Privacy Impact Assessment is a tool to assist an agency understand and evaluate compliance with privacy principles.
Comcare must maintain a register of all Privacy Impact Assessments completed, in accordance with s15(1) of the Australian Government Agencies Privacy Code.
View the Comcare Privacy impacts assessment register.
Personal information explained
The Privacy Act 1988 defines personal information as:
’Information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:
- whether the information or opinion is true or not, and
- whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.’
Some common examples of personal information are:
- names, addresses, phone numbers or email addresses
- medical certificates, clinical notes or medical reports
- pay slips or bank statements
- witness statements.
Some common examples of personal information are:
- names, addresses, phone numbers or email addresses
- medical certificates, clinical notes or medical reports
- pay slips or bank statements
- witness statements.
Collection of your personal information
Under the Privacy Act, the Seacare Authority may only collect personal information if it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our functions or activities. These include functions and activities under the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992 (Seafarers Act) and the Occupational Health and Safety (Maritime Industry) Act 1993 (OHS(MI) Act).
Some examples of our functions are:
- determining and managing a compensation claim
- assessing the injured worker’s suitability to undertake a rehabilitation program
- assisting Comcare in any actions authorised under the Seafarers Act.
Comcare’s role
Comcare is authorised under section 72A of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act) to provide secretariat services to the Seacare Authority and to assist the Seacare Authority to perform its functions. The Seacare Authority may provide your personal information to Comcare for this purpose.
For more information on how Comcare handles your personal information, please see Comcare’s Privacy Policy (PDF, 155.2 KB) and privacy page.
Access or correct your personal information
You can ask to access, amend or annotate the personal information we hold about you under the Privacy Act 1988.
The Freedom of Information Act also supports personal information being amended if it is incorrect, incomplete, out of date or misleading.
If you wish to contact us to access or correct your personal information, you can:
- email secretariat@comcare.gov.au
- call us on (02) 6275 0070.
How to make a complaint about privacy
You can make a complaint to us if you believe we have interfered with your privacy or breached our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988:
- email secretariat@comcare.gov.au
- call us on (02) 6275 0070.
Our Privacy Policy (PDF, 155.2 KB) provides more information on how to make a complaint and how we will respond.
If you are not happy with our response or have a question about the Privacy Act or Australian Privacy Principles, contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Privacy statements
Social media privacy statement
We use social media channels, including LinkedIn, to communicate with the public about our work.
When you communicate with us through these channels, we may collect your personal information, but we only use it to help us to communicate with you and the public.
The social media services will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. These services have their own privacy policies. You can access the privacy policies for LinkedIn on its website.
You can find out more information about how Seacare Authority uses social media.