Administrative Review Council Inquiry on Social Security

The Attorney-General's Department (the department) is collecting some of your personal information to enable consultation on the Administrative Review Council's Inquiry into the administrative review of social security decisions. The privacy and security of your personal information is important to us, and is protected by law.

The department adheres to the Privacy Act 1998, including the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the APP Code. The APPs set out standards, rights and obligations for how we handle and maintain people's personal information. This includes how we collect, store, use, disclose, quality assure and secure personal information, as well as your rights to access or correct your personal information. References in this document to ‘personal information' and ‘sensitive information' are references to these terms as defined in the Privacy Act.

How your personal information will be collected

• You can participate by responding to the questions in the web form in Citizen Space (a response) or making a submission (a submission).
• If you wish to participate without the department collecting any personal information, you can provide a submission or respond to the community survey in Citizen Space anonymously.
• The Administrative Review Council requests that personal information (other than your name and contact details) is not included in your response or submission. If you do provide personal information (including sensitive information) as part of your response, this will be on a voluntary basis.
• There is only two questions that are compulsory to participate in the consultation process. We are required to collect this information to ensure we have appropriate consent. You are not required to answer any other questions in order to participate in the consultation process. The questions are:
  • Do you give permission for your response to be published?
  • Please confirm that you have read, understood and accept the conditions outlined in the Privacy collection notice.
• If you participate in the consultation process by emailing the Administrative Review Council Secretariat to make a submission, we will have a record of your email address and any other personal information you choose to provide.
• You may be invited to participate in a targeted consultation meeting. If you participate in a targeted consultation meeting, the department may collect your email address for the purpose of providing an invitation, as well as your name, if you choose to provide it. You may participate in consultation meetings using a pseudonym.
• We are collecting personal information to consult with you on the Administrative Review Council's Social Security Inquiry and to support policy analysis as part of the Inquiry. If we would like to collect your personal information for a reason not mentioned in this notice or that is not reasonably connected to the reasons in this notice, we will seek your consent again to collect your personal information for the different purpose.

If we don't collect your personal information

• If you do not provide your personal information, such as contact details, it may affect our ability to get in touch with you to clarify any aspect of the feedback you provide. It may also affect our ability to invite you to provide other feedback.
• If you choose not to provide your name, we may not be able to provide you access to information or records that you provide us as part of the consultation, as part of a later request, should you make one.

How your personal information will be used

Submissions and responses to the consultation

• We may use your personal information to contact you if we have questions about your submission or response.
• We may use your personal information, such as your name or the name of your organisation, in internal documents prepared for the Administrative Review Council and for the department.
• If you include personal information in a written submission and provide consent to publish that submission, then your personal information may be published. For example, if you put your name on the title page of the submission or include personal information in the text of your submission. Your name may also be published in the Administrative Review Council's report at the conclusion of the Inquiry.
• You may consent to your submission or response being published anonymously, by not including your name and/or email address in your response.
• You can also provide your submission or response on a confidential basis, which means it would not be published.
• The Administrative Review Council may produce and publish documents that provide summaries of the themes and feedback provided through the consultation process. This may include a summary of the number of people or organisations who participated. This information will be de‑identified and in a group form, so you will not be identified in these products.

Information about third parties

• If you provide personal or sensitive information about a third party in your response or submission, we will not publish this information without the consent of the third party, even if you have provided your consent for your submission or response to be published.

Consultation meetings

• We may use your personal information to invite you to targeted follow-up consultation sessions and facilitate your attendance at those sessions. If you participate in a targeted consultation meeting, your name may be visible to other participants during the consultation.

Secondary purposes

• We will seek your consent to use your personal information for any secondary purpose that is not outlined in this notice.

Third party platforms used to assist in the consultation process

• We are using third party provider Citizen Space to support your participation in this consultation. Submissions will be received and published through Citizen Space. Delib provides the technology behind Citizen Space and its operation. Delib's Privacy Policy explains how Delib will collect, safeguard and process your data.
• For online consultations, we will use Microsoft Teams to host the consultation. Microsoft Teams collects personal information for the purpose of hosting meetings from its virtual platform, and has its own policy in relation to the handling of your personal information. Their privacy statement is available on the Microsoft website.

Who your personal information may be disclosed to

• The Administrative Review Council Secretariat within the department will share copies of responses and submissions received with the Administrative Review Council for the purposes of the Council's Inquiry and report.
• If you disclose information that leads us to consider you, or someone else, may be at risk of harm, we may be required to disclose this information to police and/or other relevant authorities.
• We may also be required to disclose your personal information to meet mandatory reporting requirements or to report a suspected crime.
• Your personal information may also be subject to Freedom of Information requests or requests from the Parliament.

Further information

The department's Privacy Policy explains how the department handles and protects the information provided by you. Our Privacy Policy also explains how you can request access to or correct the personal information we hold about you. It also explains how you may complain about a breach of the APPs or the APP Code, and how the department will deal with such a complaint. If you require a hard copy of our Privacy Policy, please contact the Privacy Officer at privacy@ag.gov.au.

If you have any questions regarding participation in the public consultation on the Administrative Review Council's Inquiry on Social Security, please contact the ARC Secretariat at ARCConsultations@ag.gov.au.