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Privacy Policy

When you share information with the Summer Foundation, it’s important that you know how we may use it.

This Privacy Policy talks about what types of information we collect, hold, disclose and the ways we may use that information.If you have any questions about how we will use your information, ask the Summer Foundation team member you are working with to explain it to you. If you have any questions about the Privacy Policy below, please give us a call on 1300 626 560 or email privacy@summerfoundation.org.au.

Privacy Policy

Summer Foundation Ltd (ACN 117 719 516) (Foundation, us, we, our) maintain a policy of confidence concerning the personal information we collect from and about individuals (you, your) (Privacy Policy). This Privacy Policy details how we deal with your personal information and has been developed in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act. state and territory laws and principles, and state and territory laws relating to the collection, storage, use and disclosure of health information where those laws apply.By providing your personal information to us directly or indirectly you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy.

1. What kinds of information do we collect?

The type of information that we collect from you will depend on how you engage with us. We will only collect personal information that is necessary to deliver our services and to conduct any business activities that are necessary to support this, to respond to any questions you ask of us, or to assess your suitability if you have applied for employment with us. We may collect the following types of personal information from you, depending upon your interactions with us:

  • Your name, address and contact details (such as phone number and email address)
  • Your age, gender, marital status, family situation, current living arrangements, disability, next of kin, and if you have a guardian or representative appointed (and their details)
  • If you are a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant, your NDIS number, your NDIS plan, and any relevant data and information relating to your NDIS services
  • Information about your requirements for the services you have requested us to provide, including your preferred living arrangements, support needs, health needs, accessibility needs, health plans, behaviour plans, assessments and hospital discharge summaries
  • Your credit card or other payment details, if you are purchasing a product from us 
  • If you agree to take part in research, co-design or story-telling activities, direct quotes, opinions, photographs and videos of you, but only with your express approval at that time 
  • If you are a person who works with people with disability who engages with us in a professional capacity, we may also collect the name of the organisation you work for and your role.

If you apply for employment with us, we may also collect details of:

  • Your qualifications, occupation, and expertise
  • Information about your current or former employment or engagement, including your training, any disciplinary action undertaken, your resignation or termination, terms and conditions of employment, performance and conduct.

2. How do we collect your personal information?

We collect your personal information directly from you or where a person using our services provides us with your information (for example, if you are the carer of a person with a disability who uses our services and they provide your information as their contact person or advocate). The main ways we collect personal information about you are when you:

  • Request to receive the services offered and provided by us
  • Register to be on our mailing list
  • Sign up as a housing seeker
  • Sign up as a support coordinator
  • Sign up as an allied health professional;
  • Sign up as a housing provider
  • Complete an online form via our website or otherwise, including www.summerfoundation.org.au/, www.housinghub.org.au/, www.buildingbetterhomes.org.au/ and www.downto10days.org.au/ (Sites). 
  • Participate in our web-based forums or on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn
  • Participate in an interview with us 
  • Apply for a position with us
  • Otherwise submit personal information about yourself, or someone else, to us, or any of our Sites. 

We will only collect your personal information from third parties if you give the third party your consent to provide the information to us or it would be reasonably expected.

We will only collect sensitive information with your consent.

If someone other than you provides us with personal information about you that we did not ask for, or you provide us with unsolicited personal information, we will only hold, use or disclose this information if we determine that we could have collected this information from you had we asked for it. In this circumstance we will take all reasonable steps to notify you of the collection of that information. If we could not have collected this personal information, we will lawfully de-identify or destroy that personal information.

If you are under 18 years of age

If you are under 18 years of age you must ask your parent or legal guardian to approve your provision of personal information before you submit your personal details to us.

3. Use of personal information

This Privacy Policy deals with personal information of the Sites’ users, service providers and other third parties.

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which it was given to us, or for purposes which are directly related to the provision of our services.

Your personal information may be used by us in a number of ways, including:

  • Assist you conveniently and easily accessing the services that we offer and provide, which may include: determining whether you are, or likely to  be, eligible for housing
  • determining whether the housing you have expressed interest in or applied for will meet the needs and preferences you have expressed to us
  • assessing your compatibility with residents already residing in, or applying to reside in, the housing you have applied for
  • determining whether you are, or will be, eligible for NDIS home and living support funding, and assisting you to apply for that funding
  • providing information, training and resources to meet your needs 
  • processing enquiries you make on our website for housing and related services
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of the services that we provide
  • Providing you with information about other services we offer that you may find interesting, in which case you will be offered an opportunity to opt out of receiving further information
  • Contact you for research purposes and to organise events or services
  • Conduct research
  • Form and maintain research partnerships and housing partner relationships;
  • Internal record keeping
  • Periodically send communications about information which we consider that you may find interesting
  • Make policy submissions
  • Allocate resources
  • Develop and roll out programs
  • Consider your application for an employment opportunity within our organisation
  • Provide advice and guidance
  • Inform training resources and policy development
  • Train participants
  • Make policy submissions
  • Present at conferences and meetings
  • Create case studies and video content

4. Disclosure of personal information

In certain circumstances, it may be necessary for us to disclose your personal information to third parties in order to assist us in providing our services, or where disclosure is required by us to meet our legal and regulatory obligations. Third parties may include:

  • Our employees, contractors and service providers, for the purpose of providing services and information to you, to operate our website, and to perform other business functions, including software providers, web hosting providers, electronic network administrators, mailing houses, payment processors, professional advisers and consultants, but only to the extent reasonably necessary to perform services contracted by the Summer Foundation.
  • Government, government agencies and departments, NDIS, law enforcement agencies and regulators, peak bodies, research bodies, universities and service planners
  • If we are helping you to find and apply for housing, to housing providers, support providers and other professionals that you authorise us to disclose the information to, but only where this is reasonably necessary to support you to find and apply for housing, and for those providers to determine whether to make an offer of housing to you 
  • If we are helping you to apply for NDIS home and living funding, to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), your existing Support Coordinator, and other professionals who can help support your application for home and living funding
  • If we are helping you to leave hospital or residential aged care, your hospital discharge team or aged care provider, but only where reasonably necessary to do so
  • If you agree to participate in research, co-design or story-telling activities, to persons who access our website, our annual report, research reports, papers and communications, but only to the extent that you authorised at the time of agreeing to participate
  • If you consent and participate in research, your next of kin or appropriate support person will be contacted if you experience distress during an interview
  • If you are applying for a position with the organisation we may disclose the information you provide to referees, related companies, recruitment agencies, and other organisations who perform services on our behalf.
  • Anyone else you have authorised us to provide information to, or authorised to receive information from us, or that we are required to disclose information to by law

We may also disclose your personal information to anyone authorised by you, or to whom you have provided your consent (either expressly or impliedly) or where another permitted general situation applies (as defined in Section 16A of the Privacy Act).

If we go through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its or their assets, your personal information may be among the assets transferred.We will not disclose information that personally identifies you to any third party
other than as set out in this Privacy Policy.

5. Cookies

A cookie is a small file which your web browser saves on your computer or device. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies, for specific websites if you wish. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of our Sites. Cookies help website owners analyse traffic to their website, and can also help web applications provide functionality and content tailored to you as an individual, by gathering and remembering information about your preferences, needs, likes and dislikes.

We may use cookies for traffic logging purposes to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve our Sites in order to tailor them to the user’s needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes. There is a Facebook tracking pixel on the Summer Foundation website which may be used for marketing purposes however, personal details are not shared with Facebook or any other third parties, unless users are explicitly notified.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with better experience when using our websites by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

6. Direct marketing

We use personal information about you for the primary purpose of providing you with our services. We may also use it for other purposes for which you might reasonably expect us to use that information. You authorise us to use any email address or other contact information you provide to use at any time for such above purposes.

You can opt out of receiving electronic communications at any time. You agree and acknowledge that even if you opt out of receiving information about future events or other services offered by us, we will still send you essential information that we are required to send you relating to the services we provide.

7. Storage and security

The security of your personal information is paramount to us and we use all reasonable endeavours to keep your information in a secure environment and to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. If you reasonably believe that there has been unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information please contact us using the details below.

We keep records of the personal information we gather from you in secure systems, limit access to those systems only to people who need access to the information in order to provide you with the services you have requested, and store information on secure servers or in locked facilities. 

If we no longer need your personal information, unless we are required under Australian law or a court or tribunal order to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy, securely delete, or de-identify your personal information as appropriate.

8. Accuracy of your information

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information held by us is accurate, complete and up to date. If you believe that any of your personal information is inaccurate, please contact us using the below details and we will take reasonable steps to correct it.

9. Variation and consent to variation

We may vary the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time. You should check this Privacy Policy regularly so that you are aware of any variations made to this Privacy Policy.

10. Disclosure to overseas recipients

We may disclose personal information to third parties like technical support writers and communication distributors located in Singapore, Canada, USA and Spain, to the extent we use your personal information for these purposes. To the extent that the laws and rights of these countries are not equivalent to the laws of Australia, you agree to be bound by the laws and rights of the relevant extraterritorial jurisdiction. Such countries have data protection laws that are not equivalent to the laws of Australia and you may not have equivalent rights of enforcement.

11. Access to your information and making a complaint

You may request access to the personal information we hold about you. If you do so we will respond to your request within a reasonable period of time and, where reasonable and practicable, give access to the information in the manner you request. This will be subject to any exemptions provided under the Privacy Act. You may request this information by writing to our Privacy Officer.

Where it is practical to do so, when contacting us, you have the option to either not identify yourself or to use a pseudonym. However, this will not apply if we are required or authorised under Australian law (or a court or tribunal order) to only deal with individuals who have identified themselves.

If you wish to make a complaint about a breach of the Privacy Act by us, you may do so by providing your complaint in writing to the contact details listed below. You may also make a complaint verbally.

We will seek to respond to any complaint within a reasonable period of time. We may seek further information from you in order to provide a comprehensive and complete response.You may also make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). You may contact the Australian Information Commissioner via telephone on 1300 363 992, by submitting a complaint or inquiry online at www.oaic.gov.au or by writing to the OAIC at GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001.

12. Contact us

If you have any questions, or if you wish to contact us for any of the reasons described above, including to correct or access the information we hold about you or to make a complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer:

The Privacy Officer
Email: privacy@summerfoundation.org.au
Address: PO Box 108, Box Hill Victoria 3128

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