Education Services Australia (ESA), as a contracted service provider to the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, acts on behalf of the Department in relation to the Student Wellbeing Hub. In addition to complying with privacy law, ESA also complies with the Department's privacy policy in relation to all its activities related to the Student Wellbeing Hub. In this document, the Department and ESA are collectively referred to as 'we', 'us' or 'our'.
We are subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act) and to the requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act.
We also adhere to the Guidelines for Australian Government and ACT Government Websites, issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Our Complete Privacy Policy has been developed in accordance with Australian Privacy Principle 1 and embodies our commitment to protecting personal information. The Complete Privacy Policy can be found at: Australian Government Department of Education and Training Complete Privacy Policy.
The Complete Privacy Policy provides more detailed information about:
You should read our Complete Privacy Policy if you are:
We are responsible for national policies and programs that help Australians access quality and affordable childcare; early childhood education; school education; post-school, higher education; international education and academic research, through:
Generally, we collect personal information in order to properly and efficiently carry out one or more of our functions. We only use personal information for the purpose(s) for which it was given to us and for directly related purposes (unless otherwise required or authorised by or under law), as consented to by you or if a permitted general situation exists.
In addition to our Complete Privacy Policy, this paragraph explains what personal information we collect through the Student Wellbeing Hub and the purpose of such collection.
Where you provide us with your:
We maintain, on an ongoing basis, a Personal Information Holdings document that explains the various types of personal information we collect and hold, what the information is used for and the third parties to whom the information is normally disclosed. Where applicable, the document also details where we are authorised to collect, use or disclose information under legislation relevant to our policies, programs and services. A copy of the Personal Information Holdings document can be obtained from the Privacy Contact Officer whose details are below.
There are inherent risks associated with the transmission of information over the internet, including via email. You should be aware of this when sending personal information to us via email or via our website or social media platforms. If this is of concern to you then you may use other methods of communication with us, such as post, fax or telephone (although these also have risks associated with them).
We only record your email address when you send a message to us or subscribe to one of our mailing lists. Any personal information, including email addresses, will only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which it was provided to us.
When you use our online services, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your server address, your top level domain name (for example, .com, .gov, .au, .uk), the date and time of visit to the site, the pages accessed and documents viewed, the previous sites visited, the browser type, the browser language, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.
No attempt is made to identify you through your browsing other than in exceptional circumstances, such as an investigation into the improper use of the website.
A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. It is information that your web browser sends back to our website server whenever you visit it again. We use cookies to 'remember' your browser between page visits. In this situation, the cookie identifies your browser, not you personally. No personal information is stored within our cookies.
Our website includes links to other websites. We are not responsible for the content and privacy practices of other websites. We recommend that you examine each website's privacy policy separately.
We take contractual measures to ensure that where we have given personal information to a contractor (that carries out a service for us), the contractor complies with the APPs as if it was an agency.
Storage of personal information (and the disposal of information when no longer required) is managed in accordance with the Australian Government's records management regime, including the Archives Act 1983, Records Authorities and General Disposal Authorities. This ensures your personal information is held securely.
We take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information held in our possession against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure or misuse.
Electronic and paper records containing personal information are protected in accordance with Australian Government security policies including the Attorney General's Department's Protective Security Policy Framework and the Australian Signals Directorate's Information Security Manual.
We take all reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information we collect and store is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading.
You have a right under the Privacy Act to access personal information we hold about you.
You also have a right under the Privacy Act to request corrections to any personal information that we hold about you if you think the information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.
The Freedom of Information Act 1982 also provides you with an opportunity to request access to documents in our possession. For more information about FOI please go to the Freedom of Information page.
For further details, including a comparison of both access mechanisms and how you can make a request, please see our Guide to Accessing and Correcting Personal Information.
If you think we may have breached your privacy you may contact us to make a complaint using the contact details below. In order to ensure that we fully understand the nature of your complaint and the outcome you are seeking, we prefer that you make your complaint in writing. Please see our contact details below at 'Contact us'.
For further information about our complaint handling processes please see our Privacy Complaint Handling Policy.
If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your complaint in the first instance, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to refer your complaint for further investigation. Please note that the Information Commissioner may not investigate if you have not first brought your complaint to our attention.
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
If you have any enquiries or complaints about privacy, or if you wish to access or correct your personal information, please email us at privacy@education.gov.au or write to:
Privacy Contact Officer
People, Communication and Legal Group
Australian Government Department of Education and Training
Schools, Child Care and Corporate Legal
GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601
Please note that the privacy policy may change from time to time.
Last updated: 23 September 2016