What is personal information? 

MHPN is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) (Privacy Act).

 Personal information is defined in the Privacy Act as 'information or an opinion (including information or opinion forming part of a database), whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion'.

How and why we collect personal information

MHPN aims to improve consumer outcomes in the primary care sector by fostering a collaborative clinical approach to the provision of mental health care. In the course of providing our services, we collect personal information in a variety of ways. You provide most of the personal information directly to us and for a specific purpose. For example, we collect personal information when you:

·          apply for a workshop;

·          are engaged as a workshop facilitator;

·          order products or materials from us;

·          provide payment details for workshop attendance or facilitation;

·          apply for a job with us;

·          supply goods or services to us; or

·          make an inquiry about our services.

Hence, when you request to be placed on a mailing list or make an inquiry about our services, we collect your contact details so that we can provide you with the service or information you need. When you apply for a job with us, we collect information about your qualifications and experience. If you wish to purchase services or goods from us, we will collect personal and financial information so that we can collect any necessary payment from you, or make a payment to you.

We will not collect personal information about you unless that information is necessary for one or more of our functions. 

We will collect personal information about you only by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive manner.

Information provided by third parties

We will collect information directly from you where it is reasonable and practicable to do so. We do not collect from our members or principal partners any personal information about their members. 

However, we may sometimes collect personal information from our staff or other third parties about potential suppliers or service users.  If we do this, we will take steps which are reasonable in the circumstances to inform the individual that we have collected their personal information, our purpose in doing so and how we manage and protect this information

Sensitive information

We do not collect sensitive information such as your race, religion, beliefs or sexual preference or health information about you without your consent, unless that collection is required or permitted by law.  

Using and disclosing your personal information

MHPN will use or disclose your personal information for the primary purpose for which it was collected.  For example, if you provide us your contact details to request information, we will use those details to supply the information.

We may also use or disclose your personal information for a purpose (secondary purpose) other than the primary purpose of collection where:

·          you have consented;

·          the secondary purpose is directly related to the primary purpose and you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information in such a way; or

·          the use or disclosure is required or permitted by law or it is in the interests of public safety to do so.

Storing and securing your personal information

MHPN is committed to ensuring that personal information is held securely, taking reasonable steps to:

·          ensure that any personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date;

·          protect the personal information that we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure; and

·          destroy or permanently de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed for any purpose for which the information may be used or disclosed under the Privacy Act or any other law.

You can help us to keep the personal information that we hold about you accurate, complete and up-to-date by letting us know about any changes to your personal information, such as your name and postal and email address.

Your ability to obtain access and to correct your personal information

If you wish to obtain details of your personal information that we hold, please contact us at the address set out below. If you believe the information we hold about you is incorrect or obsolete, you may also request that the information about you is corrected or deleted.

If you opted to share your contact details with other members of an MHPN workshop but have since changed your mind, MHPN will take all reasonable measures to ensure your details are removed from the group distribution list. MHPN will also request to other attendees of the workshop to discard your contact details. 

We will attend to your request as quickly as possible and not later than 45 days after your request.

We reserve our right to refuse your request for access or correction where we are legally entitled to do so. We will give you our reasons for refusal. Access may be denied, for example, where release of information may have an unreasonable impact on the privacy or others or if we consider the request is frivolous or vexatious. If we disagree about whether your personal information is accurate, complete and up-to-date, we will give you the opportunity to post a statement of your claim where we hold your personal information.

Identifiers

We only use internally issued identifiers to identify you for our purposes. We do not use for our purposes a government identity number, such as a tax file number.

Anonymity

Wherever it is lawful and practicable, individuals have the option of not identifying themselves when contacting us. However, we do not believe that there are many services (other than basic information provision) that can be provided if individuals do not identify themselves, given the purpose and activities of MHPN.

Updating our Privacy Statement

We will review and may revise our Privacy Statement from time to time. We will make the most recent Privacy Statement available on our website and at our office.

Questions or complaints

If you have a specific privacy request, would like to obtain more information about the way we manage your personal information or if you wish to complain because you believe MHPN has breached your privacy rights, please write to:

Bianca Romanyk

Privacy Officer

Mental Health Professionals Network Ltd

PO Box 203, Flinders Lane, VIC 8009

Email: b.romanyk@mhpn.org.au