Privacy Policy

Privacy Commitment

Australian Unity and its subsidiaries respect the privacy rights of our members, customers and other organisations with whom we deal (“you”). Australian Unity is committed to complying with all applicable privacy laws including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), Australian Privacy Principles, the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, and State and Territory laws governing the use of personal information (Privacy Laws).

Australian Unity and its subsidiaries include but are not limited to our dental centres, wealth, financial planning, mortgage broking, building society, private health insurance, trustee services and independent and assisted living businesses. References to ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’ and ‘Australian Unity’ within this policy refers to the Australian Unity group of businesses.

What personal information do we collect?

We only collect personal information (including health information if you are a health insurance, healthcare, aged care or homecare customer) necessary to manage our relationship with you, administer the products and/or services you request, inform you about our products and services and to comply with applicable Laws. Information collected is only used and disclosed in a manner consistent with Privacy Laws, other applicable Laws and this privacy policy.

The personal information we may collect, hold and use about you will depend on the type of product/service you receive from us.  Examples of personal information we may collect include, but are not limited to:

• Personal identification and contact details
• Banking, payment and contribution details
• Tax file & Medicare numbers
• Health (including clinical) and claims information
• Records of service contacts, inclusive of voice recorded telephone conversations
• Registration to Wellbeing programs
• Financial situation, needs and objectives
• Employment details and history
• any other personal information which is either required to acquire a product or service or needed during the lifecycle of that product or service.

We will only collect, use and disclose personal information about you if it is necessary for us to adequately provide you with the products and services you have requested, provide you with information about other products and services offered by a member of the Australian Unity Group, or to meet our obligations under applicable Laws (e.g. the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Act (2006) (AML Act).

You have the right not to disclose your personal information to us. However, this may limit our ability to provide you with the products and services you have requested.

Where you provide us with unsolicited personal or sensitive information which we do not require to deliver products and services to you (for example on a phone call that is recorded), such information will be subject to our normal security arrangements for customer information. Where reasonable to do so, we will not hold unsolicited personal or sensitive information we do not require, however often we are unable to delete such information, particularly where it forms part of correspondence, phone records or other interactions that we do need to retain.  Deletion in such circumstances is generally not reasonable or practicable.

We will at all times seek to ensure that the personal information collected and held by us is protected from misuse, interference, and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. Additional privacy measures are employed to protect sensitive information (such as health information).

Personal information records are held for a period considered appropriate to provide you with the product/service you require and consistent with Privacy Laws and other applicable Laws and the Privacy Act. Should you cease to be a customer of  Australian Unity, any personal information which we hold about you will be maintained for the relevant periods required by Law or until it is no longer required for any purpose related to the reason for which it was collected.

How do we collect your personal information?

We collect personal information from:

• face to face interactions;
• written forms;
• correspondence (written and verbal);
• contact over the telephone, your mobile or other messaging technology;
• via the internet, including websites and social media; and
• through Wellbeing program registrations.

In most cases, we collect your personal information directly from you.  However, if this is not practical, we may collect information about you from another person or entity. Some examples of where this may occur include:

• Receiving information from a person whom you have authorised to deal with us on your behalf;
• Receiving information about other persons covered under your private health insurance cover;
• Spouse and dependant information in the provision of private health insurance and financial planning services may in some circumstances be collected from one member.
• Where you, or someone authorised by you, has consented to information about you being provided to us, such as when you are admitted to hospital, personal information about you and your condition is provided by the hospital to the private health fund to enable your claim to be paid.  We may be assisted with this process via our agent, the Australian Health Service Alliance Limited.
• Receiving information about a person who is to be nominated as a beneficiary, the life insured, a plan guardian or a nominated student of an investment bond.

How do we use your information?

We use your information to manage, deliver and administer the products and services you request. Personal information may also be used so that we can offer products and services to you (including special offers and discounts), to extend our relationship with you and to develop products and services better suited to our customers’ needs.

We also use your personal information to identify you and conduct appropriate checks and to manage, train and develop our employees and representatives. Your personal information may be used and analysed to meet our obligations under applicable Laws, for example the Know Your Customer requirements of the AML/CTF Act.

We respect the rights of our customers to choose the material they want to receive and how they wish to receive it, including by electronic means.  You can therefore choose to receive only the materials you want by calling 13 29 39.

Wellbeing Programs

We may use information to develop specific health programs for our health insurance members. Programs may be of a general nature and available to all private health insurance members and some programs may be offered on an invitation only basis (based on a set of criteria) with the aim of treating a specific illness or condition (e.g. coronary artery disease). We may also provide your information to other health service providers, if your condition warrants, and they may contact you to offer services (e.g. in-home rehabilitation services).

Participation in any program is voluntary and conducted on an opt-in basis, following an initial contact from us or our health service provider.  Upon opting into a program, you will be advised of any further privacy matters that may relate directly to your participation.  You may withdraw from a program at any stage.

Who do we disclose information to?

Australian Unity may disclose personal information to third parties for the purposes of managing, marketing, distributing, delivering and administering the product and/or service you require, and otherwise in accordance with this Privacy policy and applicable Laws.

For example, we may disclose personal information to:

• Agents and brokers (intermediaries) to enable them to efficiently answer enquiries and process transactions, including banking transactions and applications for banking products/account opening.
• Where you are a member of a payroll funded health insurance plan, your employer to enable reconciliations, tracking of premiums and to meet other information needs.
• A person acting on your behalf including a financial advisor, trustee, attorney or person to whom you have granted a delegated authority.
• Service providers engaged to carry out functions on our behalf (e.g. mail houses, investment managers, distribution and marketing partners, outsourced administration services, ATM network and credit card providers, international funds transfers, credit reporting agencies, other financial institutions as required, solicitors/conveyancing agents, property valuers, property insurers, software or IT service vendors claims or fraud auditors/investigators and internal or external claims assessors for past or pending claims).
• Hospital and other health service providers, including to provide you with clinical services for a specific condition, such as in-home rehabilitation services.
• If you have acquired a product via membership of a corporate group (e.g. corporate health plan) or alliance partner, your personal information may be shared with that corporate group or alliance partner.
• Your financial advisor  who in turn may disclose information to superannuation funds, trustees, insurance providers and product issuers for the purpose of giving effect to your financial plan and recommendations made by them.
• If a financial adviser, funeral director (for funeral bonds) or broker (for loans) has referred you to our products then your details (including ongoing investment and transaction details) may be provided to that adviser, the adviser’s dealer group, the funeral director, the broker or the organisation for whom they work.
• External dispute resolution bodies as necessary to resolve a matter you have raised.
• For legal reasons, disclosure may need to be made to law enforcement agencies, regulators, government agencies, courts or external advisors (e.g. to meet our obligations under the AML/CTF Act, or to obtain legal advice).

Australian Unity group of businesses may, to the extent allowed by Privacy Laws, disclose personal information to other companies within the Australian Unity group and to respective third parties such as our agents, service providers and professional advisors:

• to assess your suitability for other products and services we believe may benefit you and to facilitate the provision of such products and services;
• so we may have an integrated view of our members and customers and provide you a more personalised service; and
• to contact you (including by phone, text message or email) in relation to products and services offered by Australian Unity group of businesses.

Do we disclose information overseas?

Australian Unity may disclose your personal information to some service providers that may be located overseas (such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, India and Japan). Where we do, we take reasonable steps to ensure that your information is provided with the same level of protection as it is afforded within Australia. This may be by only engaging with third parties located in a country which we believe have similar Australian privacy laws, or by obtaining confirmation that the third party is able to provide the same level of protection consistent with Privacy Laws and this privacy policy.

Where we disclose information to an overseas recipient with your express consent or direction, we may not take the above steps in relation to the management of your information.

Information Security

As a member of a couple or family health insurance policy, if you are not the policy holder of a private health insurance membership, we may disclose your personal information (including sensitive and health information about benefits claimed under the membership) to the policy holder.

We will take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference and loss, as well as unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We have systems and processes in place for this purpose. Only authorised personnel are granted access to your information. We also have in place processes designed to identify you when you deal with us by phone, online or face to face. These processes are designed to ensure we only disclose your information to you, or someone properly authorised by you. You need to keep access details like user name, password and PIN confidential and not share them or leave them somewhere that’s easy for others to access or find. Do not allow others to use your credentials. Where you allow others to use your credentials or where your credentials are used by others, we will assume that they are you. Let us know immediately if you believe that there has been an unauthorised access to your information or use of your credentials.

Website

If you access your account information online through our website (using a registered user identification), we may collect personal information electronically.  For example, we may collect information about your visits by using ‘cookies’.   A cookie is a packet of information which is sent by our website to your computer to track your use of our website and to allow you to efficiently access your account information. Generally, we use cookies for security purposes and to assess the usage and improve the functionality of our website.

We use both session cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie is temporary and remains until you leave one of our websites. All of the e-commerce and customer service functions of our website rely on session cookies. These web pages will not work if session cookies are explicitly blocked or disabled within a web browser. A persistent cookie is a small text file stored on the user’s computer for an extended period of time. Your web browser can be set to reject cookies. If you reject persistent cookies you will still be able to access our website, but may not be able to use certain features or the web service may not recognise you (e.g. online banking).

Cookies generally allow our websites that you are browsing to interact more efficiently with your computer or device. We use cookies to collect and use information for a range of purposes, including; to maintain and improve the operation of our websites; track user preferences and product requirements to customise our websites and to target and improve advertising or marketing.

If you are concerned about the use of cookies, your browser can be configured to notify you when you receive a cookie, and provide you with the opportunity to accept or reject it each time you come across one. You may refuse all cookies from Australian Unity websites however some functions may be unavailable. Any credit card processing facility/company we contract with may also use cookies for identification and anti-fraud purposes.

We have security measures in place to protect the personal information you give us on our websites.  Australian Unity uses a range of security measures to this end.  Our websites contain more detailed information on specific privacy and security procedures.

Our websites contain links to other sites, which are not subject to our privacy standards policies and procedures.  You will need to review those websites directly to ascertain their particular privacy policies and practices.

Access and Correction

You have the right to access your personal information. This can be arranged so by calling 13 29 39 or writing.  Your request should include a detailed description of the information required.  To ensure information is only disclosed to those entitled to it you may be asked for identification, or in the case of a telephone call asked to answer a series of questions to verify your identity.

If we are unable to provide you with access to your information, we will inform you of the reasons why.

You have the right to correct your personal information held by us if you believe it to be inaccurate or out of date.  We will then amend your records accordingly. If we disagree with the correction, we will advise you of the reasons for doing so and will make a note on your record of this.

Privacy Enquiries & Complaints

If you have an enquiry or complaint about our information handling practices, please contact us by calling 13 29 39 or alternatively write to:

Group Privacy Officer
Australian Unity Limited
114 Albert Road
South Melbourne VIC 3205

It is our intention to resolve any complaint as quickly as possible and to your satisfaction.  If you are unhappy with our response to your complaint, you may refer your concerns to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for further consideration.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner
Phone: 1300 363 992

Changes and getting a copy of the Policy 

We encourage you to review and check our websites regularly for any updates to this Privacy Policy. We will publish the updated version on this website and by continuing to deal with us, you accept this Privacy Policy as it applies from time to time. If you would like a copy of this Privacy Policy, please contact us.

This privacy policy is made on behalf of Australian Unity Limited (ABN 23 087 648 888) and its subsidiaries. Dated: February 2018