General

The Evangelical Free Church of Australia (Our Church) is bound by the National Privacy Principles (IPPs) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). The IPPs regulate how our Church may collect, use, disclose and store personal information and how individuals may access and correct personal information held about them. For more information about these principles please visit the Federal Government privacy web site.

Our Church treats the privacy of its members or congregation seriously. The following policy sets out how our Church comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988. If you have any questions or suggests please contact us.

Personal Information

In this privacy policy, personal information takes the meaning as defined in the Privacy Act. That is, it means information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database), whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.

Collection

Our Church usually collect personal information directly from the individual.
We occasionally collect personal information from related parties (such as the Fellowship of Evangelical Free Church of Australia Inc or its members churches), but only if the individual has consented to such collection or would reasonably expect us to collect their personal information in this way, or if it is necessary for a specific purpose such as the investigation of a privacy complaint.

We only collect personal information for purposes which are directly related to our functions or activities of our Church.

We do not collect personal information about you if you only browse this website. Personal information may be collected through the online forms or email that you specifically submit to us.

Non-personal information may be collected. As is commonly the case with other websites, when you visit the website to browse or download information, the web server will record information about your visit. Information that may be collected includes: date and time of your visits, your IP Address(es), the web pages viewed and the information downloaded. These information will be used for statistical and for website development purposes.

Use and Disclosure

We only use personal information for the purposes for which it was given to us, or for purposes which are directly related to one of our functions or activities, and we do not give it to other organisations or anyone else unless one of the following applies:

• the individual has consented
• the individual would reasonably expect, or has been told, that information of that kind is usually passed to those individuals, bodies or agencies
• it is required or authorised by law
• it will prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to somebody's life or health
• it is reasonably necessary for the enforcement of the criminal law or of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty, or for the protection of public revenue.

When an individual's email address is received by us because they sent us a message, the email address will only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which they have provided it and it will not be added to a mailing list or used or disclosed for any other purpose without the individual's consent.

Data Quality

We take steps to ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, up to date and complete. These steps include maintaining and updating personal information when we are advised by individuals that their personal information has changed, and at other times as necessary.

Data Security

We take steps to protect the personal information we hold against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure and against other misuse. These steps include password protection for electronic files, securing paper files in locked cabinets and physical access restrictions.

When no longer required, personal information is destroyed in a secure manner or deleted.

Access and Correction

If an individual requests access to the personal information we hold about them, or requests that we change that personal information, we will allow access or make the changes unless we consider that there is a sound reason under the Privacy Act or other relevant law to withhold the information.

Photo and Video on Church Websites

Our Church has published some guidelines regarding the display of photos and videos on our Websites.