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1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy outlines how Powering Skills Organisation Ltd ABN 14 657 975 481 (PSO) collects, holds, uses, protects, and discloses personal information provided by users on its website. Powering Skills Organisation Ltd (‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’) is committed to complying with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) as well as other applicable privacy laws and regulations.

2. Collection of Personal Information

We collect personal information that is necessary for the provision of our services.

We sometimes need to collect contact information and other personal information from:

  • Directors, employees and potential directors and employees of the Powering Skills Organisation Ltd.
  • Members of the sub-committees.
  • Clients, colleagues, or other stakeholders who have elected to be included on our mailing list.
  • Participants in the surveys, workshops, and events that we organise.
  • Visitors to our website who provide feedback.
  • Sub-contractors and suppliers who provide us with goods and services.

The kinds of personal information that we collect and hold about you, and the purposes for which we may use your information, will depend on the circumstances of collection. For example, we use client information to provide services. We use supplier information to initiate and facilitate transactions and reconcile accounts. We use member and stakeholder information to communicate with them about our activities and comply with our legal obligations. We use information concerning potential employees to assess their applications for employment.

In general, the type of personal information we collect, hold, use and disclose includes names, addresses, contact details, occupations and other information which assists us in conducting our business, providing and promoting our services and products, and meeting our legal obligations. With suppliers and sub-contractors, additional personal information may include bank account details and company information to ensure the legitimacy of the organisation and enable payment to be made for the goods or services provided.

We will not use your information for direct marketing purposes, nor will we disclose your information to third parties for direct marketing purposes.

We may use your information for any other purposes required or authorised by or under law, including purposes for which you have provided your consent. That consent may be written, verbal or implied from your conduct. If we do not collect your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the services or assistance you have requested or do business with you or the organisation with which you are connected. We also collect certain technical information each time a person visits our website. Unless we suspect misuse of the website or illegal activity, this information is kept in a de-identified form and is not traceable to any individual.

In some circumstances, we may collect personal information that is considered sensitive information under the Privacy Act. That may include information about race or ethnicity, political opinions, membership of a political association, trade association or union, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, criminal records, health information or biometric data (Sensitive Information).

We will only collect your Sensitive Information when we have your express consent to do so and where it is necessary for a purpose which we have made clear to you when collecting that information. We will only use it for the purpose for which it was provided.

3. How we collect Personal Information

We collect the information in person, in writing, by telephone, through our website and by other electronic communication channels. We collect this information through our staff and through our contracted agents. Wherever reasonable and practicable, we will ask you for the information directly. However, we may need to collect information from others such as employers, business associates, bankers, credit reference agencies and referees. We will take reasonable steps to notify you if this is the case. If you provide us with personal information about another person, please make sure that you tell them about this Privacy Policy.

4. Disclosure of Personal Information

The programs that we run are funded by the Commonwealth Government through the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). As a condition of that funding, we are obliged to disclose information we hold to DEWR. You consent to our disclosure of your personal information to DEWR and acknowledge that any personal information disclosed to DEWR will be collected, stored and used by DEWR in accordance with the DEWR privacy policy.

In addition, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the DEWR privacy policy or elsewhere in this privacy policy, you acknowledge that DEWR may:

  • Publicly disclose personal information relating to our contractors and their sub-contractors;
  • Disclose personal information we hold as part of a response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth); and
  • Disclose personal information in accordance with Commonwealth public accountability processes (including, without limitation, via a disclosure to the Australian National Audit Office, the Commonwealth Ombudsman or a royal commission) and reporting requirements;
  • Disclose personal information to a Minister of the Australian Government or a House or committee of the Commonwealth Parliament.

DEWR may also require us to collect and disclose to them Sensitive Information. We may only disclose Sensitive Information to DEWR where that disclosure is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of DEWR’s functions or activities. Accordingly, if DEWR requires us to disclose Sensitive Information to them, we will inform you that your Sensitive Information will be disclosed to DEWR and inform you of the purpose for which DEWR has demanded its disclosure. Following disclosure, in common with other personal information disclosed to DEWR, your Sensitive Information will be held by DEWR in accordance with the DEWR privacy policy.

Except as specifically provided above, unless we are required to provide your personal information to others by law, by court order or to investigate suspected fraud or other unlawful activity, your information will generally only be seen or used by persons working in or for the Powering Skills Organisation Ltd. These people will include our staff and contracted agents and service providers engaged to help us carry out our operations. Access to personal information is allowed only by those with authority and who have been set up with the relevant electronic security permissions for that information.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties for purposes authorised by or under law (including, without limitation as part of a response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)), and we may disclose your personal information for purposes for which you have provided your consent. That consent may be written, verbal or may be reasonably inferred from your conduct or the circumstances in which you provided us with your information.

Where you have requested services from us that necessarily involve a third-party contractor, such as a delivery contractor, you acknowledge that we will provide your information to the relevant third party and that third-party may hold and use your information in accordance with its own privacy policy.

DEWR has the authority to re-allocate responsibility for particular industry sectors between Jobs and Skills Councils. If an industry sector for which we are responsible is reallocated to a different Jobs and Skills Council then, if you are involved in that industry sector, and provided your personal information to us in relation to your involvement in that industry sector, you consent to our provision of your personal information to the Jobs and Skills Council which is allocated that industry sector.

5. Storage and Security of Personal Information

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. Personal information is stored on secure servers located in Australia. We take measures to restrict access to only personnel who need that personal information to effectively provider services to users. We retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services, and for legal or regulatory purposes.

In the event of any unauthorised access to the data we hold we will, in responding, follow good industry practice, including complying with our obligations at law in relation to the notification of any data breach and co-ordinating our response with any other affected parties including (DEWR).

6. Access and Correction of Personal Information

Subject to some exceptions permitted by law, we will provide you with access to the personal information we hold about you if you request it in writing. Generally, there is no charge for accessing your information, but if your request is particularly complex or requires detailed searching of our records, we may require that you pay our reasonable costs of providing access (such as photocopying costs or costs for time spent on collating large amounts of material). Any request for access should be made via the contact details provided below. If you believe there are errors in our records about you, please let us know (using the detail below) and we will investigate and take reasonable steps to correct any inaccuracies.

7. Cookies and Analytics

We may use cookies to personalise and enhance the user experience on our website. Cookies may be used to store user preferences, login information, and to track website usage. We may also use analytics tools to collect data about website traffic and usage. This information is used to improve our website and services.

8. Changes to the Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Users can access the Privacy Policy on our website.

9. Further information and complaints

If you would like further information on our privacy policy, if you have any concerns over the protection of the information you have given to us or that we have collected from others, or if you have a complaint about the way we have handled a privacy issue, please contact Powering Skills Organisation Ltd at:

Level 1, East Tower, 410 Ann Street, Brisbane, Qld 4000
Email: info@poweringskills.com.au

Any complaint will be investigated by the Privacy Officer and you will be notified of the decision as soon as is practicable but no later than 30 days.

If we are unable to satisfactorily resolve your concerns about our handling of your personal information, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

GPO Box 5218, Sydney, NSW 2001. Telephone: 1300 363 992. www.oaic.gov.au

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy or the handling of personal information, please contact us.