BUSHWALKING VICTORIA
PRIVACY POLICY 

Introduction

Your privacy is important to Bushwalking Victoria and it is committed to protecting your personal and health information.

In addition, in some situations, the Privacy and Data  Protection Act 2014 (Vic), including the Victorian Information Privacy Principles, and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic), including the Health Privacy Principles, ("Privacy Laws") regulate the way in which Bushwalking Victoria handles personal and health information¹. 

This policy provides information about how Bushwalking Victoria may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal and health information and comply, when required, with the requirements of the Privacy Laws.

When used in this policy, “we”, “our” and “us” refer to Bushwalking Victoria Inc.

What personal information do we collect?

We collect personal information to carry out our functions properly and efficiently, to provide you with requested services and to facilitate your membership with us, including marketing and promotion services that may be of interest to you. 

The personal information collected and held about you will vary depending on the circumstances of collection and may include:

• Your name, address, telephone/contact numbers and email address.
• primarily in connection with your participation in activities of, or arranged by, two of its Committees – that is, Bushwalking Tracks and Conservation (BTAC) or Bush Search and Rescue (BSAR): 
  • Information about your emergency contact person in case of an emergency,
  • Information about your health history and relevant health conditions.
• Information about your dealings with Bushwalking Victoria and use of your membership.
• Details of programs/activities/walks you have participated in.
• Background checks including police checks and working with children checks if you apply for employment or volunteer in our activities or programs.
• Other information provided voluntarily by you, for example in response to surveys or competitions.

If you do not provide us with some or all the information that we request, then this may affect our ability to communicate with you or provide the requested services.

¹As at date of issue of this policy, the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 does not apply to Bushwalking Victoria Inc. For initial guidance about the circumstances in which that Act may apply at a future date to Bushwalking Victoria, please refer to Attachment 1 of the Privacy Policy Guidelines for Victorian Bushwalking Clubs (August 2020).

By not providing requested information, you may not be able to participate in programs or activities or apply for employment or volunteer positions with us. If it is impracticable for us to deal with you because you do not provide requested information or consent, we may refuse to do so.

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. If you find that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, please contact us (secretary@bushwalkingvictoria.org.au).

Where it is necessary to prevent serious and imminent harm or to provide emergency care, we will collect health information and advise of the main consequences if the information is not provided. Where practical to do so, we will request your express consent to us collecting such information at the time this information is collected – for example, by requesting that you fill out an emergency information form.

These steps may include advice in person, in writing, over the phone or via documentation provided to you. 

If you do not wish for us to collect certain information about you, you need to advise us at or before the point of collection, and we will discuss with you any consequences this may have on our ability to carry out our functions in relation to you.

How do we collect your personal information?

We may collect personal information about you:

• Directly from you, for example when you provide information to us by phone, email, in an application form, risk waiver forms, when you purchase tickets to an event, submit information through or access our website;
• Where the personal information is in relation to a child, from the parent or other responsible person associated with that child;
• From publicly available sources; or

• Where a collection is required or authorised under law or by court or tribunal order.

How do we use your personal information?

Bushwalking Victoria will only use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this Policy and, when applicable, the Privacy Laws. 

Our main purposes for collecting, holding, using and disclosing personal information are to:

• Complete background checks;
• Run, administer and market programs, activities and other events relating to bushwalking;
• Request an ambulance or to otherwise seek urgent medical assistance as required in an emergency; and
• Keep you informed of news and information (such as advance notice of events or programs) relating to bushwalking, including by distributing newsletters, publications and other communication via various mediums which you have consented to receive (your consent is ordinarily obtained when you sign the membership application form to become an individual member of Bushwalking Victoria). 

In addition, we may use de-identified information to carry out research, to plan events and activities or to prepare submissions to government or a government body. De-identified information is information which has been aggregated or otherwise de-identified so that it cannot be used to identify you or any other individual and does not constitute your personal information.

When do we use OR disclose your personal information?

Your personal information may be used and disclosed by Bushwalking Victoria in accordance with this Policy, the Privacy Laws (when applicable), the purposes outlined above or in any of the following circumstances:

• to our insurers for the purposes of settling or commencing a claim;
• to our professional advisers, including our accountants, auditors, and lawyers;
• with your express consent;
• when required or authorised by law;
• to an enforcement body or emergency service provider when reasonably necessary; or
• to lessen or prevent a threat to an individual or public health or safety.

We do not, sell or trade your personal information with third parties unless we have your permission to do so or are required to do so by law. We will only disclose personal information to third parties where such disclosure is necessary to perform our obligations to you, in which case the third party may only use your personal information for the necessary purpose of fulfilling our obligations to you.

How can you access personal information we hold about you?

You have the right to access your personal information and to determine exactly what personal information we hold about you.

For security purposes, if you would like to access personal information that we hold about you, we require you to put your request in writing. You must include your name and contact details, the personal information you would like to access, how you would like to receive this information (i.e. by email or post) and whether you authorise another person or organisation to access the personal information on your behalf. If we do not allow you access to any part of the personal information we hold about you, we will tell you why. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

We will not charge you for lodging a request to access your personal information, but we may charge you for our reasonable cost in supplying you with access to this information.

Information storage and protection

We store information in different ways, including in paper and electronic form. When your information is provided to us, the information may be combined or linked with other information held about you. 

We do not retain personal information longer than necessary for the purposes outlined above and for compliance with legal requirements, unless otherwise agreed by you. At the end of the retention period we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify your personal information.

Security of your personal information is important to us. We take steps to protect the information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Some of the security measures we use include standard confidentiality requirements of our respective employees, volunteers, service providers, and standard security measures for system access and security measures for our website. In addition, only personal information which is necessary for each specific purpose mentioned above is collected (?), used and disclosed by us.

Opt-out / unsubscribe

If you have agreed to receive information about Bushwalking Victoria such as news or marketing material, you can unsubscribe from our communications including marketing material, email, SMS or posted offers at any time by contacting us using the details specified in this Privacy Policy, or by following the instructions contained in the electronic communication. It may take up to five working days to give effect to an opt out or an unsubscribe, so for a period you may still receive communications from us after your request is received.

Complaints and contacting us

If you would like to access the personal information we hold about you, or have any questions in relation to this policy or a complaint, please contact:

Privacy Officer:     Secretary of Bushwalking Victoria Inc

Email:          secretary@bushwalkingvictoria.org.au

Phone:          03 9846 1132

Address:         PO Box 1007, Templestowe Victoria, 3106

We encourage you to contact us if you have any concerns or complaints, if you feel your personal information has been mishandled, or if we have failed to meet your expectations. We take all privacy complaints seriously and will investigate your complaints in a confidential manner. You will be informed of the outcome of the investigation within a reasonable period of time. 

Changes to the privacy policy

From time to time, we may need to update this Privacy Policy to reflect any changes in law or our organisation's practices. We will notify you of any amendments by posting an updated version of this Privacy Policy on our website (https://bushwalkingvictoria.org.au).

If the Privacy Policy changes materially so that your personal information will be used in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you by email, and where necessary we will seek your prior consent. However, you are responsible for ensuring we have a current working email address for you. If the email address you have given us is incorrect or no longer operable, we have no further obligation to notify you aside from posting a notice on our website.

This Privacy Policy was approved by the Board on 15 September 2020.