St Philip's Parish Council adopted this policy by resolution on 3 March 2021.
This Privacy policy summarises how St Philip’s will deal with your personal information.
You may download a copy of this policy in pdf format, suitable for printing here. The pdf document also includes procedures to be used by the Parish in implementing this policy.
St Philip’s is committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“the Privacy Act”) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). We are bound by the APP as a ministry unit of the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn.
By using any of our services or otherwise providing us with your personal information (or authorising it to be provided to us by someone else) you agree to your personal information being handled as set out in this Privacy policy.
Some parishioners may consider personal information such as addresses and contact information as sensitive. We acknowledged that and, through appropriate Parish procedures, we will handle and treat such information as sensitive information. However, under the Privacy Act, sensitive information has a specific definition (see below).
The Privacy Act defines "personal information” and “sensitive information” which may be summarised as follows:
Personal information
Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable includes information about your health, your race or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, criminal record, political opinions/ association and religious beliefs/ association
Where Parishioners are happy to provide it, we only collect personal information that is directly related to Parish activities and that is necessary for the provision of those services, or the proper administration of the Parish.
The principal circumstances in which sensitive information may be used include: for the Parish Directory, the Diocesan Parish Return and matters considered by Parish Council. Access may also be granted to other Parish leaders for purposes including the administration of: the rosters, the Youth Group, volunteer activities and pastoral care.
We collect a range of personal information, such as: names; phone number(s); residential, postal and email address(es); and date of birth; parental/carer contact details in relation to children and youth; and photos and videos of Parishioners involved in church activities.
Sensitive information
As St Philip’s is a religious institution, by collecting information about our members and other contacts that relates to St Philip’s, we are inherently collecting sensitive information about their religious beliefs as defined under the Privacy Act.
Beyond this, we collect sensitive information for two other purposes. On occasion through pastoral care we may collect health information, which we treat with the utmost discretion. In addition, we collect medical information that is necessary to ensure the safety of our children and youth, such as allergy information and emergency contacts for camps and other off-site activities.
We may collect your personal information in various ways, including: via telephone; and in writing (including by email, or other electronic means).
We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent or your carer’s consent,
If you provide us with sensitive information about yourself or persons in your care we will treat this as collection of such information with your consent.
The Parish website may direct users to other sites beyond the control of St Philip’s. These sites may collect data or solicit personal information.
We only collect, hold and use personal information for the purposes for which it was provided, related purposes that we consider to be within your reasonable expectations or as permitted or may be required by law.
Strict Parish practices and procedures have been put in place by Parish Council so that the information is only accessed on a need-to-know basis to enable Parish functions to be carried out by the designated persons. These purposes include the provision of our services and the proper administration of the Parish, such as through:
We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information that we hold from misuse, interference and loss from unauthorised access, alteration and disclosure. For example, we implement the following security measures:
No personal information is displayed on the Parish website or Parish social media accounts other than the names of Parish Officeholders on the website, nor does personal information other than names appear in the Parish Pewsheet which is also on the parish website.
Where we no longer need information for the purpose for which the information was collected, we will take reasonable steps to delete or destroy the information.
Some or all of your personal information may be available to the Rector, other clergy and parishioners, and other volunteers performing voluntary administrative roles. With consent, this information may be used by the Parish to communicate with parishioners and on social media.
With your consent, the Parish publishes your personal information in the Parish Directory. Hard copies of the Parish Directory are provided to Parishioners as requested. However, no personal information is displayed on the Parish website or Parish social media accounts other than the names of Parish Officeholders on the website.
We will not disclose information to third parties except in cases required by law or when completing reports for the Diocese on the operations of the Parish; this may include names and contact details of those who hold an elected or appointed position in the Parish.
Information in the Parish Directory may not be given to a person who is not a member of the Parish without the permission of the person to whom the information relates. Parish Council explicitly prohibits the use of the Parish Directory for any commercial purpose.
We will not disclose your personal information to any overseas recipients. However, the Parish does sometimes use overseas-based file hosting services, such as Dropbox.
You may access personal information that we hold about you. If you wish to access the personal information that we hold about you, or request that it be corrected or updated, you should contact the Parish Office using the contact details below.
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, we also rely on you to advise us of any changes to your personal information in a timely manner.
If there are any changes to your personal information, or if you believe the personal information we hold about you is not accurate, complete, up-to-date or is misleading, you may be given access to update our records directly. Otherwise please contact the Parish member responsible for our provision of services to you, or if you are unsure who this person is, the Parish Office using the contact details below, so that we can update our records accordingly.
If you wish to make a complaint about a breach of this Privacy Policy or the Australian Privacy Principles you can contact us using the contact details below.
You will need to provide us with sufficient details regarding your complaint together with any supporting evidence.
We will refer your complaint to the Rector who will investigate and determine the steps (if any) that we will undertake to resolve your complaint. We will contact you if we require any additional information from you and will notify you in writing of the outcome of the investigation within 30 days of the date your complaint is made or the date you provided us with any additional information.
If you are not satisfied with our determination, you can contact us to discuss your concerns or complain to the Australian Privacy Commissioner via www.oaic.gov.au.
St Philip’s may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, so please review it periodically on our website at https//:stphilipsoconnor.org.au for any changes.
Your continued use of our services (including online services), requesting our assistance or the provision of further personal information to us (directly or via an authorised person) after this Privacy policy has been revised, constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy policy.
Contact us if you have a query relating to this Privacy policy or wish to make a complaint. Please contact us using the following contact details:
Parish Office
St Philip’s Anglican Church
PO Box 6022
O’Connor ACT 2602
Email: comeandsee@stphilipsoconnor.org.au