Access to our Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne offices is currently restricted. To visit us at these locations, call 1300 366 979 to arrange an appointment.

Privacy

For: Claimants Employers and managers Service providers Advocates Information seekers

Your privacy is important to us and we are committed to the highest standards of privacy when we collect, store, use or disclose your personal information.


Steps we take to protect your privacy

Comcare is covered by national privacy legislation—Privacy Act 1988.

The Privacy Act gives you rights including:

  • to be told why your personal information is being collected and whether it can be given to anyone else
  • to see what information is held about you and have it corrected
  • to have your personal information stored securely
  • if you believe your privacy has been infringed, you can make a complaint.

Privacy Policy and actions

To protect your privacy, we act to:

Our Privacy Policy (PDF, 183.3 KB) describes how we handle personal information and what types of personal information we generally hold. You can contact us to ask for the policy in another format.

Privacy Impact Assessment Register

A Privacy Impact Assessment is a tool to assist an agency understand and evaluate compliance with privacy principles.

Comcare must maintain a register of all Privacy Impact Assessments completed, in accordance with s15(1) of the Australian Government Agencies Privacy Code.

View the Comcare Privacy impacts assessment register.

Personal information explained

Some common examples of personal information are:

  • names, addresses, phone numbers or email addresses
  • medical certificates, clinical notes or medical reports
  • pay slips or bank statements
  • witness statements.

The Privacy Act 1988 defines personal information as:

’Information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

  1. whether the information or opinion is true or not, and
  2. whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

Access or correct your personal information

You can ask to access, amend or annotate the personal information we hold about you under the Privacy Act 1988. We aim to respond to your request within 30 days.

The Freedom of Information Act also supports personal information being amended if it is incorrect, incomplete, out of date or misleading.

How to make a complaint about privacy

You can make a complaint to us if you believe we have interfered with your privacy or breached our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988:

Our Privacy Policy (PDF, 183.3 KB) provides more information on how to make a complaint and how we will respond.

If you are not happy with our response or have a question about the Privacy Act or Australian Privacy Principles, contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Privacy statements

Comcare eNews privacy statement

Subscribing to Comcare eNews service is voluntary. You can update your subscription or unsubscribe from Comcare eNews at any time.

Your privacy is important to us. We will only collect, use or disclose your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act).

Comcare is the Commonwealth agency authorised by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act) to do all things necessary or convenient to be done for, or in connection with, the performance of its functions under the SRC Act, Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Regulations 2019 and other legislation. Any personal information collected from this subscription will be used for those purposes and we will not share your personal information or disclose it overseas.

For more information about how Comcare manages personal information, see our Privacy Policy (PDF, 183.3 KB), contact us on 1300 366 979 or email privacy@comcare.gov.au. Comcare’s Privacy Policy contains information including how people may access their personal information held by Comcare, how to seek correction of information, how to make a privacy complaint and how Comcare deals with complaints.

Social media privacy statement

We use social media channels, including LinkedIn and YouTube, to communicate with the public about our work.

When you communicate with us through these channels, we may collect your personal information, but we only use it to help us to communicate with you and the public.

The social media services will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. These services have their own privacy policies. You can access the privacy policies for LinkedIn and Youtube (Google) on their websites.

You can find out more information about how Comcare uses social media.

Web user feedback survey privacy statement

Comcare is conducting a survey to assess the usefulness of the content on our website.

The survey is anonymous and any responses will be visible only to Comcare.

Please do not provide personal information about you or anyone else when responding to the survey questions.

Any personal information that is collected by Comcare, solicited or otherwise, will be handled in accordance with its Privacy Policy and obligations under the Privacy Act.

For more information about how we handle personal information, see our Privacy Policy (PDF, 183.3 KB).

Collection notices

Event registration collection notice

Comcare is authorised to collect, use and disclose personal information under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and the Work, Health and Safety Act 2011.

Any personal information you provide is collected by Comcare for the purpose of facilitating your participation in, seeking your feedback in relation to, and communicating about the event. Comcare needs to collect your personal information, otherwise Comcare may not be able to ensure your participation in the event.

You may also be required to provide financial information, including credit card details, if you make a payment for an event. This may be through one of our providers and Comcare may receive your personal information including whether payment for an event has been made. Where this occurs, Comcare does not receive your financial information.

Comcare will only collect, use, or disclose your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.

Comcare uses personal information for research, business, and policy development and for internal administrative purposes. We may also use personal information for analytics including to operate and improve our services including associated applications.

While unlikely, Comcare may need to disclose personal information outside Australia if circumstances require that we do so. If disclosure of personal information is made to someone overseas, Comcare will follow the Australian Privacy Principles that relate to disclosure to overseas entities.

Page last reviewed: 31 October 2023

Comcare
GPO Box 9905, Canberra, ACT 2601
1300 366 979 | www.comcare.gov.au

Date printed 20 Apr 2024

https://www.comcare.gov.au/site-information/privacy