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Privacy Statement

The Commission's commitment to your privacy

The Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal and health information. The Equal Opportunity Act 1995 requires the Commission to keep confidential any information concerning the affairs of any person, that it has acquired in the course of performing its statutory functions, powers or duties, and to only use that information in order to exercise those functions, powers or duties.

The Commission welcomes the introduction of new laws in Victoria to protect health and information privacy in the:

• Health Records Act 2001
• Information Privacy Act 2000

At all times, the Commission will ensure that it complies with its responsibilities under both these Acts.

In keeping with these obligations, this policy explains:

• what sort of information the Commission collects
• why the Commission collects the information
• what the Commission does with the information
• how you can expect the information to be handled by the Commission
• how you can access or correct the information

What does the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission do?

The Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission ("the Commission"), is an independent statutory body created by the Equal Opportunity Act 1995. The Commission has a responsibility to eliminate discrimination, harassment and racial/ religious vilification in Victoria and to promote equality of opportunity. It does this through a number of different ways:

• providing a free, confidential and impartial complaint resolution service for individuals who wish to seek redress for discrimination, sexual harassment or racial/ religious vilification
• conducting research into areas of discrimination
• undertaking information and education programs in the community regarding discrimination
• promoting equality of opportunity

Staff at the Commission undertake a number of different roles including:

• providing information through the Commission's telephone advice service
• investigating complaints under the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 and the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001.
• helping to resolve complaints under these laws
• providing information to the community and training to organisations in relation to equal opportunity laws

What sort of personal and health information does the Commission collect and why?

Because the Commission deals with enquiries and complaints about discrimination, sexual harassment and racial/religious vilification that occur in so many different areas of everyday life, it collects a wide variety of information. This can include information about a person's contact details, job, co-workers, medical/health condition, interests and recreational activities, family, and other information about a person's personal circumstances.

Many people contact the Commission for information, advice, training or complaint handling. In order to provide an appropriate service for all people who use it, the Commission must collect many different types of personal and health information that relate to issues that people bring to the Commission. In many instances, this information is required under the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 and the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 to assist the Commission to investigate complaints of discrimination and, where appropriate, to try to help resolve these complaints.

What does the Commission do with your personal and health information?

The Commission will only use your information for the purpose which you provided it, and to assist it to deal with a query or complaint. If the Commission did not collect this information, it would be unable to perform its functions and duties under the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 and the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001.

Where a person makes a complaint of discrimination, and wishes to take his or her complaint further than the Commission, the Commission must pass on personal or health information contained in that complaint to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Where this needs to happen, the Commission will inform the person making the complaint, and the person or organisation against whom the complaint is made.

The Commission also uses general information gathered from complaints and enquiries to help it to identify equal opportunity issues that need further research and education, and to help it find better ways to eliminate discrimination. This information does not identify any individual or organisation in any way.

The Commission may retain your contact details such as a postal or email address, in certain circumstances, such as where you have:

• forwarded a registration form to attend a Commission run training course, workshop seminar or other public events
• submitted an order form for any of the Commission's publications/promotional material
• come into contact with the Commission's complaint resolution service and your feedback is sought in evaluating or improving that service

How does the Commission's web site treat your privacy?

The Commission's web site does not collect personal information about you when you visit it. This is because the Commission's web site does not use cookies or web beacons. The Commission's web site only records anonymous information for statistical purposes including:

• the type of browser you are using
• the history of your visits to the Commission's web site such as date(s) and time(s) of your visit(s), the web pages you accessed and documents you downloaded from the Commission's web site, the internet address of the server your computer uses to access the Commission's web site.

The Commission's web site does not contain interactive forms. This means that the risks associated with transmission of information over the internet when using the Commission's web site are minimal.

The Commission's web site does not record your email address. The Commission can only record or contact you via your email address if you send us an email message or if you provide your email address to the Commission as a point of contact.

The Commission's web site contains links to other web sites. The Commission is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of such web sites.

How will the Commission store and protect your personal and health information?

In handling complaints and enquiries under equal opportunity law, the Commission keeps a secure paper and electronic client file system to store your information. Each file is given a number (a unique identifier), which the Commission does not disclose to anyone except the parties to a complaint.

Personal and health information in paper and electronic format is held securely, and is protected from unauthorised access or tampering. This means your information will not be lost, misused, or available to anyone outside of the Commission.

How can you access or correct your personal and health information from the Commission?

If you want to get access to your personal or health information or you believe your personal or health information is inaccurate and you would like it to be corrected you should contact the Commission's FOI and Privacy Officer for information or to make a request. The Commission will consider your request carefully, and in accordance with the following laws:

• Freedom of Information Act 1982
• Equal Opportunity Act 1995
• Information Privacy Act 2000
• Health Records Act 2001

You can contact the Commission in writing at:
Level 3/380 Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000

You can telephone or fax the Commission on:
Ph: (03) 9281 7111
1800 13 4142 (toll free)
(03) 9281 7110 (TTY)
Fx: 03 9281 7171

You can email the Commission or access its website at:
eoc@vicnet.net.au (email)
www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au (website)

Expert bodies you can contact about your personal and health information

Health and information privacy laws have given the following bodies specific responsibility for protecting your health and information privacy. They are:

The Office of the Health Services Commissioner (health information)

Telephone (03) 8601 5222
Toll free 1800 136 066
Fax No: (03) 8601 5219

The Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner (personal information)

Telephone (03) 8619 8719
Toll free 1300 666 444
Fax (03)8619 8700