Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, handle, store and protect your personal information.

About this policy

This Privacy Policy describes how the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (National Commission, we, our, us) handles your personal information, including sensitive information, consistent with our obligations under the:

We are also assisted by the Department of Social Services (the Department) in performing our functions and activities, which may include providing services on our behalf. Please also read the Department’s Privacy Policy.

About the National Commission

The National Commission has been established to:

  • promote and protect the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people through strategic policy advice and reports to government on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and their families
  • provide advice to Government on and inform the implementation of key policy frameworks which seek to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and their families
  • promote and enhance coordination across Commonwealth and state and territory governments, commissioners, guardians and advocates and non-government organisations on matters related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people
  • undertake consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and their families, relevant Commonwealth and state and territory governments, commissioners, guardians and advocates and non-government organisations
  • ensure the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and their families are reflected in advice to government.

We focus on matters that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and their families.

For more information about how we do this, read about the National Commission.

What information we collect

We collect personal information when it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions or activities. We may collect your personal information if you are:

  • an individual participating in consultations led by us or a service provider
  • an individual or organisation connected to our functions and/or engaged on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and their families
  • an individual whose personal information may be given to or held by us
  • a service provider funded to deliver services under a grant or agreement with us
  • a contractor, consultant, supplier or vendor of goods or services to us
  • a person seeking employment with us, or who is or was employed by us.

We will only collect personal information (including sensitive information) about you if:

  • you consent
  • the collection is authorised or required by law, or
  • the collection is otherwise allowed under the Privacy Act.

The kinds of personal and sensitive information we may collect can include information about the following.

You

  • name
  • address
  • gender
  • date of birth
  • contact details (e.g. your email and phone number).

Your circumstances

  • whether you are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
  • cultural and linguistic background and preferences
  • race and ethnicity
  • health, welfare and disabilities
  • religious or philosophical beliefs
  • sexual orientation or practices
  • educational background
  • organisational position
  • financial information
  • citizenship and visa status
  • family and relationship circumstances
  • any criminal record you may have
  • for our staff and contractors, personal information for employment and personnel matters.

Your identity

  • photographs, video recordings and audio recordings of you
  • with consent, biometric information (such as facial recognition and/or fingerprints) of our staff and contractors.

Your family and other related persons

  • partners
  • children
  • dependants
  • carers
  • nominees or authorised representatives.

Your interactions with us

  • submissions and responses to our community consultations
  • services or assistance we provide to you
  • feedback and complaints
  • enquiries
  • mailing and subscription lists
  • Ministerial or National Commission correspondence
  • submissions and responses to surveys or studies that we administer
  • your telephone or face-to-face conversations with us
  • your personal views or information about your experience and others’ experience with matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, and their families.

Your use of our online services

  • pages you visit
  • online forms you fill in
  • your interactions with webpages
  • your language preferences
  • searches you make.

Remaining anonymous or using a pseudonym

Members of the public have the right to contact us without sharing their identity. They can also contact us using a pseudonym (like your initials only or an alias).

Sometimes, we will need to know your identity so we can assist you. We will let you know if this is the case.

How we collect and hold your personal information

We may collect personal information in different ways, including:

  • websites we own and administer
  • electronic forms
  • paper forms
  • written submissions
  • telephone and email
  • face-to-face or online interviews, surveys and studies directly from you through consultation processes, which may include written submissions through email, webforms, or surveys, or verbally through face-to-face or virtual hearings, interviews, phone calls, and Yarning Circles
  • our social media channels
  • Data sharing, matching or linking.

Most of the time, we collect personal information directly from you. Sometimes, we may collect personal information about you from a third party (such as our contractors, service providers or other Commonwealth and state and territory government agencies) to perform our functions or activities. We will only collect your personal information from a third party if permitted by the Privacy Act and other relevant laws (such as secrecy laws).

Unsolicited information

From time to time, we may receive personal information we did not ask to receive. If this happens, we will handle this information in accordance with the Privacy Act.

Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

We collect and hold personal information for a variety of different purposes relating to our functions and activities, including:

  • performing our functions and activities in relation to matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and young people
  • policy advice and reports to Government
  • policy development, research and evaluation
  • inform and advise Government on implementation of key policy frameworks
  • enhance coordination across Commonwealth and state and territory governments, commissioners, guardians and advocates, and non-government organisations
  • employment and personnel functions
  • handling complaints and public enquires
  • program and project management
  • grant and contract management
  • performing our employment and personnel functions in relation to our staff and contractors
  • handling information access requests, including those made to the Commission under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
  • seeking legal advice if required
  • managing our correspondence, including from Ministers, the media or members of the public.
  • investigations and audits, fraud and compliance.

How we use and disclose personal information

Generally, we will only use and disclose your personal information for the same purposes for which we collected your information (the primary purpose of collection). We will give you information about the primary purpose when we collect your information.

Sometimes, we may use or disclose your personal information for another secondary purpose. We will only use and disclose your personal information for a secondary purpose with your consent, or where permitted by the Privacy Act or other relevant laws (such as secrecy laws).

Who we disclose personal information to

We may disclose your personal information to others for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.

We may disclose your personal information (including sensitive information) collected through your interactions with us:

  • in public reports and publications
  • in advice and reports to various Government Ministers, Commonwealth and state and territory government agencies
  • to the Department, so it can assist us in performing our functions and activities, or provide services on our behalf, such as handling complaints, investigations and Freedom of Information requests
  • to our information and communications technology (ICT) and record management providers if required and in accordance with this privacy policy
  • to contractors and other service providers that provide services on our behalf to perform our functions and activities (for example researchers). We make sure that our service providers are bound by strict privacy and confidentiality obligations
  • other relevant authorities or third parties if we are authorised or required by law or otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act (for example court subpoenas).

Disclose to overseas recipients

We may provide personal information to overseas recipients, including to:

  • our contracted service providers to assist us in the management of our website including our management of your feedback through the contact us or feedback form
  • overseas researchers or consultants (with consent or where allowed by law)
  • recipients using a web-based email account where data is stored on an overseas server
  • foreign governments and law enforcement agencies (where allowed by law).

When you communicate with us through a social network service such as Facebook or LinkedIn, the social network provider and its partners may collect and hold your personal information overseas.

Additionally, certain tools, such as Google Analytics and Google reCAPTCHA will store data overseas on Google’s servers. Read about how Google Analytics collects and stores data from our sites.

Using websites we own and administer

When you visit and use websites we own or administer, we record the following technical information for statistical and development purposes and improving our websites:

  • IP or server address
  • general locality
  • information about your device and web browser
  • date and time of site visit.

We do not attempt to identify users or their browsing activities except in exceptional circumstances, such as an investigation into the improper use of our website.

You can reduce the information we collect about your interactions by using privacy tools similar to Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

External sites and third parties

We use third parties and their online tools to run some of our website functionality. Such third-party tools include:

  • Website analytics tools such as Google Analytics, that help us to collect data about how you interact with our website
  • Antispam tools such as Google reCAPTCHA, to distinguish a real user from bots. The tool may collect data about how you interact with the website and its forms and may be stored on Google’s servers outside of Australia. Content that you enter in the department’s online forms will not be collected through this tool
  • Mailing list tools such as Swift Digital, that help us to manage our communication with you and how you interact with that communication
  • Event management tools such as Eventbrite, to facilitate your attendance at events that we host
  • Social media outlets such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook.

Wherever possible, we have taken contractual measures to ensure that these third parties only use your personal information for the purposes of delivering their services to us. There are times that we would not be able to control the way that they handle your personal information and we encourage you to review their privacy statements separately (for example in the case of the social media platforms).

Cookies

We use cookies to recognise and maintain a website session for an individual user. A cookie is a small file supplied by us, and stored by your web browser when you access websites owned and administered by us. You may disable cookies by adjusting the settings on your web browser, but if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of websites owned and administered by us.

How we store and protect your personal information

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes the following.

Notifiable Data Breach Scheme

We take seriously and deal promptly with any accidental or unauthorised disclosure of personal information. We are subject to the Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme (NDB Scheme) under the Privacy Act. We will handle any suspected or actual data breach in accordance with the requirements of the NDB Scheme and the Privacy Act.

How to access or correct your personal information

Where we hold your personal information, you have the right to access that information or correct that information if that information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

If you wish to access or seek a correction of your personal information, contact us. 
In some circumstances, we may be unable to provide access or correct your information. In that case, we will write to you and explain our decision.

You can also request access to documents held by us under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). You can also make an application for amendments or annotation of a document that we hold and contains your personal if the information is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading and is available for, has been or is being used for administrative purposes.

How to make a privacy complaint

If you wish to make a complaint about our handling of your personal information, you can contact us using the contact details below. We will respond to your complaint quickly, and work with you to resolve your complaint. We will keep you updated on the progress of your complaint.

If you are not happy with our response to your complaint, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) by calling 1300 363 992 or visiting the OAIC website.

Usually, the OAIC recommend you try to resolve your complaint with us first.

Contact us

You can contact us to:

  • ask for access to or correction of your personal information
  • make a privacy complaint
  • ask a question about this policy or about how we handle your personal information
  • access this policy in an alternative format (free of charge).

Online: fill in our contact form

Email: enquiries@ncatsicyp.gov.au

Write to:

National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People
GPO Box 9820
Canberra ACT 2601

This Privacy Policy will be reviewed regularly and updated as required. This privacy document is current as at 13 January 2025.