FOI & Privacy

Legal Aid ACT – Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy outlines how Legal Aid ACT manages the information you provide to us, including health information. All of this is referred to as ‘personal information’ in this policy. We do this in accordance with the privacy principles contained in the Information Privacy Act 2014 and the Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997.

Some information is protected by our legal obligations, including legal professional privilege and confidentiality provisions under 13, 22 and 92 of the Legal Aid Act 1977.

WHY WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect personal information to:

  • see if you are eligible for legal aid
  • provide legal services
  • provide assistance
  • plan and report on our services
  • respond to requests
  • answer enquiries
  • resolve complaints, or
  • recruit and manage staff, where applicable.

If we collect your personal information for another purpose, we will tell you about this at the time we collect the information.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

The personal information you provide to us is voluntary. If you do not wish to provide personal information you may not be able to receive assistance. This will limit how we can help you.

We mainly collect your personal information directly from you. This may occur when you:

  • apply for a grant of legal aid
  • access our legal services
  • contact us to ask for information
  • update your details
  • make a complaint
  • ask to access information held by us, or
  • apply for a job.

We may also collect your personal information from your lawyer and from another source with your consent.

THE TYPES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The main types of personal information we collect includes:

  • name, address, birth and contact details
  • information about personal, financial and health circumstances
  • information about legal matters
  • complaints and enquiries
  • staffing and recruitment information, and
  • security footage and incident reports.

WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION SAFE

We store your personal information securely to protect it against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure and any other misuse.

We destroy your personal information in accordance with our legal obligations and the Territory Records Act 2002.

ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have the right to access your personal information that we hold without delay or expense.

CORRECTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You can request we correct your personal information if your details change or your information is wrong. We will make these changes to ensure that your personal information is accurate, up to date, complete and not misleading.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use your personal information for the reason it was collected, or:

  • for another directly related purpose
  • for another purpose where you have given permission
  • if it is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to life or health.

HOW WE MAY CONTACT YOU

We may use your personal information to contact you by letter, email, and/or phone. You can tell us which of these you prefer.

If you give us your mobile phone number, we might use it to send you text messages (SMS).

WHEN WE SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may share your personal information to third parties to:

  • provide legal services
  • resolve complaints, or for another purpose where you have given permission, or that you were previously made aware of
  • undertake research in the public interest (your personal information will be de-identified)
  • use for law enforcement purposes, if required
  • prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to life or health
  • comply with our legal obligations.

We will not share any personal information to overseas countries. We will only do this if the requestor:

  • is able to have access to the information by law
  • treats the personal information with the similar standard of care as is required by the Information Privacy Act 2014.

We do not willingly share personal information with any specific overseas countries. We will work with you to ensure you can sufficiently protect the sharing of this information, if appropriate.

DATA BREACHES

We will look into any data breaches or possible breaches to identify the nature of the breach. We will assess any risks of harm. We will take actions to remove risk of this happening again. We will report any serious data breaches to the Privacy Commissioner.

IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT ABOUT PRIVACY

You can contact us if you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal information.

Complaints are handled by our Clients Service Unit. Find out how to make a complaint.

HOW TO CONTACT US

You can contact the Privacy Complaints Officer by:

Email:              legalaid@legalaidact.org.au

Phone:              (02) 6243 3411

Mail:                GPO Box 512, Canberra City ACT 2601

Or through assisted contact:                      

  • National Relay Service (NRS)
  • TTY users phone
  • Speak and Listen users phone
  • Internet relay users connect to the NRS
  • Translating and Interpreting Service

Local call costs apply, the services are free.

For general information about your right to privacy and the Information Privacy Act 2014, you can also visit the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website.

 

REVIEW OF THIS POLICY

This policy was last updated in June 2020.