Privacy Statement

The Paraplegic Benefit Fund Australia (PBF Australia) has created this Privacy Statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. PBF Australia is committed to upholding the Privacy Act 1988 (as amended) which prescribes how organisations should collect, use, disclose and handle personal information. The following information has been provided to inform you of our privacy procedures and your rights with respect to those procedures.

 

Purpose of collection

PBF Australia will only collect personal information which is necessary to provide you with our financial product (membership), and administer any application for a discretionary benefit payment.

The personal information about you will be collected in order to process your membership application, administer your membership, facilitate our business operations and keep you informed of any changes to your membership. Personal information may also be collected to process any application for a discretionary benefit payment. The information is also used to keep you updated on PBF Australia's operations and any services or events that we believe you may be interested in.

If you do not wish to provide us with all or part of the personal information we request from you, we may not be able to provide you with our financial product, or consider any claim for a discretionary benefit payment.

Type of personal information collected

Examples of personal information that may be collected by PBF Australia in order to process your membership and/or assess any claim include:

  • Name
  • Occupation
  • Postal address
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Date of birth
  • Marital status
  • Credit card details (if chosen as the preferred method of payment). These details will only be held on file if you indicate you would like the annual payment to be recurrent

These details may also be collected for any other persons, including spouses and children, you wish to include as part of the financial product we provide.

Examples of personal information that may be collected by PBF Australia in order to assess a claim for a discretionary benefit payment include:

  • Name
  • Membership number and expiry date
  • Home address
  • Postal address
  • Phone number
  • Company details (if claiming as a PBF Corporate Benefit Fund Member)
  • Contact person at company (if claiming as a PBF Corporate Benefit Fund Member)
  • Details of the spinal cord injury, including the level of the injury
  • How the injury occurred
  • Name, address and telephone number of your General Practitioner
  • The name, address and telephone number of the hospital where you are being treated
  • The name of the doctor who is treating you at the hospital
  • Your medical history
  • Dates, names and addresses of people who treated you for past medical conditions or injuries
  • Whether you consumed alcohol or drugs in the 24 hours prior to the accident

How personal information is managed

PBF Australia will not collect any personal information about you except when you have knowingly provided that information to us or authorised a third party to provide that information to us.

Information is generally provided on membership application forms, on the telephone, through face-to-face meetings or via other correspondence.

PBF Australia will not disclose any personal information to a third party except as permitted by law and in accordance with the Privacy Act. We have privacy standards that must be met for all arrangements between PBF Australia and third parties.

We will take steps to ensure that the information we retain about you is accurate when we use or disclose it. If you believe we may hold information about you that is incorrect in any way, please contact us.

PBF Australia will take all reasonable measures available to protect personal information that we hold from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

We will, where practicable, destroy personal information that is no longer needed.

Access to personal information

You can request access to the information we have collected from you if you have any concerns about the accuracy or the extent of that information, except in cases where access may be denied under the Privacy Act.

PBF Australia reserves the right to determine the manner and time in which the information is accessed.

Privacy Requests or Complaints

If you have any queries or complaints in regard to our collection, use or management of your personal information, please contact our head office by telephone, email, fax or post.

Correspondence can be directed to:

Administration Manager
Paraplegic Benefit Fund Australia
PO Box 723
Osborne Park WA 6916
Telephone: 1800 809 780

Fax: (08) 9443 1788
Email: info@pbf.asn.au

PBF Australia will contact you within three days of receiving a complaint to advise you of our next form of action.

We will endeavour to resolve any complaint to your satisfaction. However, if you are still unhappy, you are entitled to contact the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner who may investigate your complaint further.