Privacy Policy
1. INTRODUCTION
Should we ask you to provide any information by which you can be identified when using this Site, we assure you that it will only be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”).
You are not required to provide any personal information to us. If you do not do so, it may affect your use of this Site or the products and services offered on the Site.
This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time with changes, additions and deletions, at our sole discretion. When we make changes to this Privacy Policy we will amend the ‘Last Update’ date at the end of this document, and such modified or amended Privacy Policy shall be effective as to you and your information as of that date. You should check this page regularly to be informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of the Site following any amendments indicates that you accept the amendments.
2. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Generally we collect personal information directly from clients to provide professional services. The information that we collect may include:
- names;
- dates of birth;
- job titles;
- contact information, including email address;
- demographic information such as postcodes;
- other information relevant to the customisation of a document on the Site;
- information about your business, financial or personal affairs;
- information about your business or professional needs;
- other information relevant to client surveys and/or promotions; and
- any other information requested on this Site or otherwise required by us or provided by you.
- We may also collect sensitive and special categories of personal information directly from clients to provide professional services. The types of special categories of personal and sensitive information that we may collect includes, but is not limited to, tax file numbers, Medicare numbers, visa and work permit status, and health records.
In some instances it may be necessary to collect personal, sensitive and special categories of information from clients that relates to their employees, members, customers, third parties, their spouse and dependants to provide professional services. In those circumstances we rely on clients to only provide us with information that they have handled in accordance with the Privacy Act, including obtaining any necessary consent for us to collect, use and disclose that information.
We may also receive personal information from suppliers, contractors and third party service providers to operate our business, such as contact details and account details. If we do, we will protect it as set out in this Privacy Policy.
We may also collect personal information that is publicly available.
As a visitor to this website, you do not have to submit any personal information in order to use it. This website only collects personal information that is specifically and voluntarily provided by visitors. Such information may consist of, but is not limited to, your name, current job title, company address, email address and telephone and fax numbers. We do not usually seek sensitive information from visitors using this website. We will, where necessary, obtain your consent to collect and use such information.
As with most online businesses, we may log information about your access and use of our Site, including through the use of Internet cookies, your communications with our Site, the type of browser you are using, the type of operating system you are using and the domain name of your Internet service provider.
We may contact you to voluntarily respond to questionnaires, surveys or market research to seek your opinion and feedback. Providing this information is optional to you.
3. USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We collect and use personal information for the following purposes:
- to provide information, products and services to you;
- to respond to your queries for documents, advice and services;
- to provide information to our network of tax agents, bookkeepers, IT specialists and other professionals (each an “Altum Service Partner”) in the provision of agreed services to clients and to operate our business;
- to better understand your needs, enabling us to improve our products and services;
- for internal record keeping;
- to circulate promotional emails about new products and services, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting;
- to contact you for market research purposes;
- direct marketing;
- to customise the Site according to your interests; and
- to customise documents according to your business needs.
We may contact you by a variety of measures including by telephone, email, SMS or mail.
4. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may disclose personal information:
- for the purpose of providing information, products and services to clients
- to credit reporting agencies and courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities where clients fail to pay for goods or services provided by us to them
- to courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities, and law enforcement officers as required by law, in connection with any actual or prospective legal proceedings, or in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights
- to one or more Altum Service Partners, for the purpose of providing information and services to you
- to the relevant third party or parties, with our client’s consent, if the matter involves third parties; and
- to third parties, including agents, referral partners, contractors and sub-contractors for the purposes of providing information, products and services to you. This may include parties located, or that store data, outside of Australia.
By providing us with personal information, you consent to this disclosure. Where we disclose your personal information to third parties, we will request that the third party follows the Australian Privacy Principles regarding handling your personal information.
If there is a change of control of our business or a sale or transfer of business assets, we reserve the right to transfer to the extent permissible at law our user databases, together with any personal information and non-personal information contained in those databases. This information may be disclosed to a potential purchaser. We would seek to only disclose information in good faith and where we have sought to maintain confidentiality.
5. SECURITY
We are committed to ensuring that the information you provide to us is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure that information and protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.
No information transmitted over the Internet can be guaranteed to be secure. We cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us, or receive from us. The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk. Although we take measures to safeguard against unauthorised disclosures of information, we cannot assure you that personal information that we collect will not be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.
6. HOW WE USE COOKIES
We may use cookies on our Site from time to time. A cookie is a small file that asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs and preferences by collecting and remembering information about you.
We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse information about web page traffic and improve our Site by tailoring it to your needs. We use this information for statistical analysis purposes only, following which the data is removed from the system.
Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better Site, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie does not give us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you provide to us.
You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. This may, however, prevent you from taking full advantage of the Site.
We may also use web beacons on this Site from time to time. Web beacons or clear .gifs are small pieces of code placed on a web page to monitor the behaviour and collect data about the visitors viewing a web page. For example, web beacons can be used to count the users who visit a web page or to deliver a cookie to the browser of a visitor viewing that page.
7. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
Our Site may contain links to other websites of interest. Please note that we do not have any control over those websites. We are not responsible for the protection and privacy of any information that you provide whilst visiting such websites and such websites are not governed by this Privacy Policy. You should exercise caution when accessing such websites and look at the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.
8. CONTROLLING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Choice and Consent: Providing us with your personal information is optional to you. You can choose not to provide personal information. When you provide us with your personal information, you consent to the terms in this Privacy Policy, and to us disclosing or receiving your personal information for these purposes. We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are legally required to do so.
Restrict: You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information. If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by contacting us, details below.
Access: You may request details of personal information that we hold about you, and seek to correct that information where necessary, in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act. A small administrative fee may be payable for the provision of information. To request access to or correct your personal information, you can contact us at the details below. In all cases we will treat requests to access or change information in accordance with applicable legal requirements. If you have created a user login, you can access your account at any time to amend your personal information or unsubscribe. We reserve the right to refuse to provide you with information that we hold about you, in certain circumstances set out in the Privacy Act.
Correction: If you believe that any information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, please contact us at the details below. We rely in part upon clients advising us when their personal information changes. We will respond to any request within a reasonable time and will endeavour to promptly correct any information found to be incorrect so that the information is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.
Unsubscribe: To unsubscribe from our e-mail database, or opt out of communications, please contact us at the details below.
9. COMPLAINTS
If you believe that we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles and wish to make a complaint about that breach then please email us setting out details of the breach. We will promptly investigate your complaint and will endeavour to respond to you in writing within 28 days setting out the outcome of our investigation, what steps we propose to take to remedy the breach and any other action we will take to deal with your complaint.
Tegwyn Santos
PO Box 6432
North Sydney NSW 2059
Australia
If you believe that Altum has not adequately handled your privacy complaint, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner whose contact details are as follows:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
1300 363 992
For further information about privacy and the protection of privacy, visit the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website at www.oaic.gov.au.