The Trustee of CARE Super understands the importance of protecting your rights to privacy.

Amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) have changed the way in which CARE Super is required to handle your personal information, including your health information. The Privacy Act contains 10 National Privacy Principles, which set out the requirements in relation to the collection, use, disclosure, quality, security of personal and sensitive information.

The National Privacy Principles form part of CARE Super's procedures and policies and regulate the way in which your member account will be administered and managed.

This Privacy Policy Statement has been developed to help you understand how CARE Super aims to protect the privacy of your personal information. The Privacy Policy will explain why CARE Super needs your personal information, how the information is managed, and the type of information held and how it will be collected, used and disclosed.

Please note that although we refer to CARE Super throughout this document, generally it is CARE Super's administrator, Australian Administration Services (‘AAS'), which is contracted to administer the CARE Superannuation Plan, that will collect, use, disclose and store your personal information in accordance with the National Privacy Principles on behalf of the Trustee of CARE Super.

Why does CARE Super need my personal information?

CARE Super collects your personal information in order to process your application for membership, administer your superannuation account, provide you with information about services including CARE Super benefits and options and to communicate with you about your benefits. Your personal details may also be used to communicate with you about products and services that are available to you as a CARE Super member.

If you choose not to provide your personal information, CARE Super may not be able to establish or properly administer your superannuation account, or provide you with some services offered by CARE Super.

What personal information does CARE Super collect?

CARE Super collects your personal information to establish and administer your account. The type of personal information collected includes your name, address, telephone number, date of birth, Tax File Number and information about any persons you have nominated to receive your benefits in the event of your death. Health information is also collected where you apply for insurance cover with CARE Super.

Over time this information will be supplemented by financial and other information necessary to administer your CARE Super account – for example, a change in your investment options, amounts transferred into and from your account or a variation in your insurance cover. CARE Super also collects your personal information when you use the CARE Super website to lodge application forms or advise of changes in your details.

CARE Super will collect your personal information directly from you where practicable. There may also be circumstances when your employer may provide your details to CARE Super on your behalf – for example, to inform us about your employment status and the contributions paid on your behalf. Information may also be collected from medical practitioners or your employer in order to assess your eligibility for insurance cover.

How is my personal information used and disclosed?

CARE Super has appointed an administrator, AAS, to collect, use, disclose and store your personal information on its behalf in order to manage and administer your CARE Super account. There are other service providers and organisations that are required to provide administration services for CARE Super and that may have access to your personal information.

These include:

Mailing companies - organisations that are contracted by CARE Super to mail your members statements, reports and other correspondence; Financial institutions and banks to process your direct debit requests
Archiving companies - organisations that are contracted to ensure that CARE Super's documents are stored in a secure environment; Auditors, consultants, legal and other professional advisers who provide services to CARE Super.

Where your personal information is disclosed to service providers and other organisations, CARE Super will seek to ensure that your personal information is handled in accordance with the National Privacy Principles. Strict procedures are in place to ensure that the information disclosed to service providers and organisations is kept confidential and secure and that our service providers have appropriate systems in place to comply with the requirements of the privacy laws.

CARE Super is required by law to disclose your personal information. These include:

Australian Taxation Office
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
Superannuation Complaints Tribunal
The Courts
Other superannuation funds for the purpose of rollover or transfer of benefits
Your spouse in accordance with the Family Law Act requirements

In some circumstances, CARE Super may need to disclose your personal details to third parties including your employer, legal advisers and beneficiaries in relation to death benefits.

If you apply for insurance cover, the details you provide on any of CARE Super's insurance application forms, including your health information, is collected by the Trustee and provided to the insurer in order to assess your eligibility for any new or increased insurance cover.

If you make an insurance claim you will need to provide additional personal and health information in accordance with the claims procedures of CARE Super and the insurer. To assess your claim, your personal and health information will be disclosed by the insurer to medical practitioners and other experts nominated by the insurer.

If there is any dispute about an entitlement to insured benefits, the insurer or CARE Super may disclose your personal information to legal advisers and other parties involved in the claim or the resolution of complaints processes. By signing the relevant application insurance or claim forms, you consent to the use and disclosure of your personal information for these purposes. Your personal information will not be used or disclosed for any other purpose without your consent.

From time to time CARE Super may contact you about products and services that are available to you as a member of CARE Super – e.g. Super Member Home Loans, retirement planning seminars. If you do not wish to receive any information of this nature or if you have previously expressed a preference to receive information of this type and have now changed your mind please contact CARE Super on 1300 360 149.

How can I update my personal information?

CARE Super relies on the accuracy of the personal information you provide and aims to ensure that your personal information is accurate, up-to-date and complete. If any of the details you have provided have changed or if you have any concerns about the accuracy and completeness of your personal information please contact CARE Super on 1300 360 149. You can also view and change your personal details by using our secure MemberOnline facility.

How can I access my personal information held by CARE Super?

As a member of CARE Super you have a right to know what personal information CARE Super holds about you and to obtain access to it if required. You may access your information via MemberOnline or by contacting CARE Super (see contact details at the end of this statement).

Generally, access will be provided within 14 days of your request or within 30 days for more complex issues. There are some circumstances in which access to your personal information may be denied. CARE Super will advise you if any of these circumstances apply to your request for access.

How is my personal information kept secure?

CARE Super will ensure that your personal information is kept secure and can be accessed only by authorised personnel for the purposes specified. CARE Super has stringent security measures in place to protect your personal information in accordance with legal requirements and the staff who handle your personal information have the knowledge, skills and commitment to protect it from unauthorised access or misuse.

All third parties that receive your personal details from us are bound to keep your information confidential and not use it for unauthorised purposes including direct marketing. CARE Super will regularly audit its service providers to ensure that your personal information is handled in accordance with the National Privacy Principles.

How do I make a complaint?

If you have any concerns about privacy or you believe that your privacy rights have been breached and you wish to lodge a formal complaint please contact CARE Super on 1300 360 149. Your complaint will be investigated and dealt with in accordance with CARE Super's privacy complaint procedures and you will receive a response within 30 days. Where your privacy complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction within this time, you may refer the matter to the Federal Privacy Commissioner.

Privacy and the Internet

CARE Super may collect your personal information via the CARE Super website. The information we collect from you will depend on how you use the website.

MemberOnline allows members to:

Access their superannuation account balance
Change membership details
Check whether contributions have been made.

EmployerOnline allows employers to:

Update contributions amounts for each member
Change member details
Advise termination of employment
Add new employees and receive membership numbers online
Make secure online contributions via the direct debit system.

All member information is protected by from unauthorised access through the use of user log-ons and secure passwords and other security procedures.

You can only access the MemberOnline services with your membership number and password. You should keep your password secure. It is also good practice to change it periodically. You can do this online by using the 'change password' facility. You should also ensure that once you have finished accessing the MemberOnline services that you log off, otherwise other persons may be able to access your personal details.

You should be aware that there are security risks in transmitting personal information via the Internet. You should assess these potential risks before deciding whether to use CARE Super's online services. If you do not wish to transmit information over the Internet you may provide the information to CARE Super by mail, telephone or fax or by on-site visit.

When you browse the CARE Super website, our website service provider will log the following information for statistical purposes only:

The server address
Top level domain name (e.g. .com, .gov, .net)
The date and time of the website visit
The pages looked at
The documents downloaded
Previous site visited the person has visited, and
Type of browser used.

CARE Super will not try to identify users or their browser activities except in the event of an investigation where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the service provider's logs.

CARE Super's website is cookie-free which means that CARE Super does not insert any devices or information into the user's browser to provide the website with information about the user's browsing patterns or preferences. CARE Super will not send website users any unsolicited information after they have accessed CARE Super's website.

If you send CARE Super an email message requesting information we will use your email address to respond to your request. CARE Super will only record a person's email address, whether provided via the website or by other means, if they advise that they wish to receive email communications from CARE Super. It will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it and will not be added to a mailing list or used for any other purpose without your consent. If you no longer wish to communicate by email, you are able to unsubscribe at any time.