Privacy Policy

This is the Privacy Policy of The Australian Society Of Authors Benevolent Fund (ABN 13361813637) a trust, constituted by the trustees on or about 1984, which trust is currently referred to as the Writers Benevolent Fund (“we”, “us” and when relating to us, “our”).

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our contacts, applicants, members and ex-members of the craft and profession of authors and writers and their dependents in cases of necessitous circumstances, (referred to as “you” and when relating to you, “your”) and complying with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

In this policy we describe how we manage your personal information.

1. The kinds of personal information we collect

The kinds of personal information we collect include:

(a) contact details such as name, role or position, address, email address, mobile number, landline number and fax number;

(b) information relating to your circumstances and affairs relevant to the matter/s in which you have applied to us;

(c) information about your requirements and assistance you may need;

(d) information regarding our communications with you and your representatives held by us.

2. How we collect personal information

2.1 We may collect personal information by various means including when:

(a) you contact us with a question or inquiry;

(b) you subscribe to our newsletter or service;

c) you attend a seminar or event where we are hosting or presenting;

(d) you request us to assist you;

(e) your representative/s provide information relating to you and your circumstances;

(f) we undertake a search or investigation;

(g) you visit our website.

2.2 Where practicable we collect personal information about you directly from you. However, we may have collected information about you from a third party such as your representative, a third party information provider, the courts or a person responding to our questions or inquiries.

2.3 We are required to collect the full name and address prior to providing any finding assistance.

2.4 If you are an applicant for financial assistance and do not provide us with name and address information we may not be able to assist you.

2.5 If you do not provide us with accurate personal information we may not be able to carry out our obligations or achieve the purpose for which the information has been sought.

3. The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

3.1 We may collect, hold, use and personal information in order to:

(a) respond to your enquiries;

(b) provide financial assistance to persons in need;

(c) employ and seek competent and diligent volunteers;

(d) monitor or improve the use of and satisfaction with our services; and

(e) report in de-aggregated form to the Australian Society of Authors.

3.2 We disclose personal information:

(a) in order to carry out your request for financial services; and

(b) subject to our confidentiality obligations, when using services in support of our provision of financial assistance.

4. The parties to whom your personal information is disclosed

We may have to disclose your information if required by law to do so or in circumstances permitted by the Privacy Act – for example, where we have reasonable grounds to suspect that unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature, that relates to our functions or activities has been is being or may be engaged in, in response to a subpoena, discovery request or a court order.

5. Disclosure of information outside the jurisdiction of collection

5.1 We do not disclose personal information to overseas recipients unless your instructions involve dealing with parties located overseas. If your application involves parties overseas we may disclose select personal information to overseas recipients associated with your application in order to provide assistance to you.

5.2 We do not store your personal information on overseas-based computer servers or information storage devices.

6. Opting out of marketing communications

We may, from time to time, send you newsletters, invitations and legal updates about our services. You can opt out of receiving further such communications by notifying us using our contact details below or by clicking the “unsubscribe” option at the bottom of any marketing e-mail received from us.

7. Security

We take reasonable physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. For example, we maintain our files in secure offices and limit access to personal information to individuals with a need to know.

8. Access/correction/updating personal information

8.1 You can contact us to access, to correct or to update your personal information. Unless we are subject to confidentiality obligation or some other restriction on giving access to the information and we are permitted to refuse you access under the Privacy Act, we will endeavour to make your information available to you within 30 days.

Examples of circumstances where we may refuse to give you access to your personal information include where:

(a) giving access would be unlawful;

(b) we reasonably believe that giving you access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual or to public health or public safety;

(c) giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;

(d) giving access could prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to unlawful activity;

(e) giving access could reveal evaluative information in a commercially sensitive decision making process.

8.2 If you request us to correct your personal information, we will correct, or, if we consider more appropriate, note your request for amendment of the information on your record.

8.3 We will not charge you to make a request to access your record but we may charge you to actually provide access depending on the costs associated with obtaining and providing the material.

8.4 These actions can usually be taken by contacting our office using the contact information on the “Contact Us” section below.

9. Notification of Changes

If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will send you a copy of our revised policy or post a copy on our website. 1

10. Complaints / Contact us If a breach of this Privacy Policy occurs, a complaint may be made to us by sending it to:

Attention: Privacy Officer – The Trustee Administrator Writers Benevolent Fund
Suite 43, Level 3
61 Marlborough Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010

You can also reach us by phone (02) 9318 2900 or email: writersbenevolentfund@gmail.com

We will endeavour to respond to any complaint within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint you may seek a review by contacting the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner using the information available at http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints.