Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us.
Holy Spirit Parish (the 'Parish'), as part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act. The Parish respects and values the personal information that the parishioners and other members of the community are willing to entrust to it, and this policy explains how the Parish collects, holds, uses, discloses and otherwise manages that personal information. It does not relate to records collected and held by the Parish school. The school has a separate policy statement, which is available on request. Refer www.hsringwoodnth.catholic.edu.au

The Parish may from time to time review and update this policy to comply with all relevant legislation and to take account of changes in technology, changes to the Parish’s operations and practices and to make sure that it remains relevant to the Parish environment. Changes to the policy will be published on this website and associated newsletters such as The Word and The Spirit Magazine, as necessary.

What kind of personal information does the Parish collect and how does it collect it?
Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, regardless of whether the information or opinion is true or not, or whether it is recorded in a material form or not.

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information which is given a higher level of protection under the Privacy Act. It includes, amongst other things, health information about you, your criminal record and your religious beliefs or affiliations.

The Parish collects and holds personal information, which may include sensitive information about:

• children and their parents and/or guardians and may be related to children receiving sacraments or pastoral care. It may relate to the child’s enrolment at the Parish school, after school care facility or sporting association;
• adults receiving sacraments or pastoral care and witnesses to sacraments;
• job applicants, volunteers and contractors; or
• fundraising, including banking or other payment details.

Personal information you provide. The Parish will generally collect your personal information by way of forms filled out either by the individual or the parent/guardian, face to face meetings, interviews and telephone calls.

Personal information provided by other people. In some circumstances the Parish may be provided with your personal information from a third party including other parishes, e.g. a reference about an applicant for a position.

In some cases where you do not provide personal information requested by the Parish, you or your child may not be able to receive a sacrament or be enrolled in a Parish program, or the Parish may not be able to assess your job or volunteer application.

You may also choose to deal with the Parish on an anonymous basis or using a pseudonym. However, we will need to identify in many circumstances for example to administer certain sacraments or to provide, care for your children or to process a job or volunteer application.

How will the Parish use the personal information you provide?
The Parish will use personal information it collects from you to:

• administer the sacraments and pastoral care;
• keep you informed about matters relating to spiritual life, through correspondence and newsletters;
• look after your spiritual and physical wellbeing;
• provide care for your child(ren) while under our supervision;
• fundraise, seek and administer donations;
• assess your job or volunteer application;
• manage our volunteers;
• satisfy the Parish's legal obligations and allow the Parish to discharge its duty of care

Who might the Parish disclose personal information to? 
The Parish may, in particular circumstances, disclose personal information held about an individual to:

• another parish or the Archdiocese of Melbourne;
• government departments;
• medical practitioners;
• people providing services to the Parish, including volunteers and any third party service providers;
• recipients of Parish publications;
• parents and/or guardians;
• if required or authorised by an Australian law or court/tribunal order;
• anyone you authorise the Parish to disclose information to.

Overseas disclosures: The Parish will only disclose personal information about you or your child outside Australia where you have requested that it do so. Where you make such a request you agree and acknowledge that the Parish will have no control over the information disclosed, and that the Parish will not be able to ensure that the overseas recipient handles that information in accordance with the Privacy Act and APPs and any other applicable Australian laws.

Direct marketing
You may opt out of receiving communications from us about the Parish services and activities including fundraising by contacting us on the details below.

Management and security of personal information
The Parish’s staff are required to respect the confidentiality of the information and privacy of individuals. The Parish has in place steps to protect the personal information the Parish holds from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by use of various methods including locked storage of paper records and password restricted access rights to computerised records.

Where the Parish no longer requires personal information for a purpose for which it can use or disclose it under the Privacy Act, it will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify that information, unless it would be unlawful for it to do so.

Correction and updating personal information
The Parish endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete, and up to date, and where using or disclosing it, relevant for the purpose of the use or disclosure.

A person may seek to update their personal information held by the Parish by contacting the Parish at any time on the details below. If the Parish is unable to correct your information, it will give you notice of this in writing and explain why and how you can take the matter further. You can also request that the Parish associate a statement with the information that you believe it is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

Access to your personal information held by the Parish
You may access any personal information which the Parish holds about you. Parents or guardians can generally make such a request on behalf of their children. To make a request for access please put your request in writing and send it to the Parish on the details below.

The Parish may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require before it can provide access. In some circumstances as provided for by APP 12, the Parish may be unable to provide access, in which case it will notify you of this in writing and explain why and how you can take the matter further.

The Parish will not charge you for making a request, however it may charge you its reasonable costs of providing access to any information requested.

Consent and right of access to the personal information of children
Whether a child has the capacity to make their own privacy decisions is assessed by the Parish on a case by case basis having regard to maters such as their age and circumstances. Generally an individual over 15 years will have the capacity to make their own privacy decisions.

For children under 15 years or who otherwise do not have capacity to make these decisions for themselves, the Parish will refer any requests for consent and notices in relation to personal information to the parent and/or guardian. The Parish will treat consent given by a parent and/or guardian as consent given on behalf of the child and notices to parent and/or guardians will act as notice given to the child.

Enquiries and complaints
If you would like further information about the way the Parish manages personal information please contact the Parish on the details below.

Parish contact details
Refer Contact Us

If you believe that the Parish has acted contrary to this Policy or the Privacy Act please put your complaint in writing and send it to the Parish on the details above. The Parish will investigate your complaint and try to resolve it. However if you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 1300 363 992 to make a query about your privacy rights, or visit www.oaic.gov.au for more information about how to lodge a complaint. The OAIC has the power to investigate the matter and make a determination.