Privacy Policy

ACIRT needs to collect personal information in order to establish and maintain your membership, contact you and pay your benefit (when you are entitled to a benefit). Personal information includes:

• name
• date of birth
• address
• email address
• tax file number (TFN)
• contact phone number(s)
• marital status
• family and/or personal relationship details
• employment details
• banking information

ACIRT will collect your personal information directly from you whenever practicable. However, there will be times when your employer will provide some information on your behalf.

All information collected will be held in the strictest confidence and will only be disclosed (including to third parties) as necessary for the proper management of the fund. If you wish to authorise another person to receive information about your membership you must notify ACIRT in writing. If you require any further information please telephone our Contact Centre on 1800 060 467.

Personal information is not used or disclosed for any other purpose without your consent except where required by law. In addition to the Privacy Act 1988 there are also other laws that may require us to disclose personal information such as the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). The law may prevent us from disclosing to you that your personal information has been provided for that purpose.

Your membership application asks you to provide ACIRT with personal information to assist us in administering your membership and keeping you informed about your membership. Over time, additional personal information may be required that is reasonably necessary for us to provide you with services in relation to the administration of your account.

We may at times collect information directly from your employer to assist us in fulfilling our obligations in providing you with your benefit. In the future, additional personal and at times sensitive information may be required. For example, in the event of a claim by your relatives for a funeral benefit, this additional information will be required to assess the claim made.

The information provided may be viewed by our administrator or third party as reasonably necessary to assist us in processing your claim.

We may also collect statistical information electronically from internet traffic through the ACIRT website. When you visit our website we receive technological data known as ‘cookies’ which tells us how many visitors our site has had and how they are navigating through our web page.

Your information is stored in a combination of secure computer storage facilities and paper-based files maintained by ACIRT and our administrator. These facilities and files are regularly audited by our service providers to ensure that your personal information is secure.

ACIRT will ensure that your personal information is held in a secure environment. Access to your information whether personal or sensitive is only given to approved ACIRT and AAS employees who must use a password to access the administration system. In addition, personal information is protected further by assigning ‘restricted access rights only’ to administrative personnel who require specific system functionality.

When ACIRT captures your personal information it is passed through a secure server using 128-bit encryption technology. This scrambles your information to ensure it is protected over the internet. Notwithstanding the above, members should be aware that there may be inherent risks associated with the transmission of information via the internet.

ACIRT is unlikely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients.

If you visit the ACIRT website, information will be collected which does not identify you. It is therefore ‘cookie free’ and no unsolicited information will be sent to you. However, when you log into ‘Member Online’ (which is a secure part of ACIRT requiring authentication and a password) ACIRT will use ‘cookies’ that collect data. These don’t identify the member or any member specific information. Examples include account balance query, last employer contribution payment, claims queries or other similar issues. This information is provided to the Trustee in a monthly report.

ACIRT has appointed third parties to provide you with services and manage the fund on our behalf. These service providers are required to adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles and requirements. Our service providers will only use the information that is reasonably necessary to provide services to you. These third parties are:

• Our fund administrator (AAS) – for opening and administering your account. AAS may also collect information from you directly when you contact our Contact Centre
• Your representatives – for processing and paying benefits that arise
• Your spouse or former spouse – as required by law
• Auditors and lawyers – for accounting, auditing, and legal requirements
• IT service providers – for providing services to ACIRT to assist in administering your account including your online login verification
• Other redundancy funds – for transferring or rolling over benefits as requested
• Service providers – which cross-match personal information with other funds to help locate any other accounts in a member’s name
• Records management companies – to maintain the forms you provide on behalf of ACIRT and to de-identify or destroy these documents when no longer required
• Mailing companies – to provide you with correspondence from ACIRT
• Regulators – courts, tribunals or other government authorities including the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
• Market research companies and consultants – for conducting research on our member services for the purpose of improving the management of the fund

ACIRT also discloses to its union sponsors contribution status including pursuing arrears and other information that is not sensitive information and does not assist in disclosing sensitive information.

If you do not provide ACIRT with the information we request we may not be able to provide your benefits or provide you with the service you expect. ACIRT will ask for information that is reasonably necessary to administer your account in accordance with your instructions, the relevant laws and regulations and for the purposes described in this policy. If you do not provide the information ACIRT requests this may affect:

• our ability to contact you
• the completeness or accuracy of the information we hold about your account
• any taxation or other benefits that you may be entitled to, or
• the payment of benefits.

Please contact our Contact Centre on 1800 060 467 if you have any questions.

It is important that your information is accurate and up to date. Please notify us if any of your details change. Members have access to the personal information that is held in relation to them personally, with limited exceptions under the Australian Privacy Principles. Please apply for the release of that information to our Contact Centre.

Depending on circumstances, a fee may be payable for the provision of that information. You have the right to ask us about accessing the personal information we hold about you, however, we are permitted to refuse access to personal information in certain situations. You also have the right to ask us to correct any information we hold about you if you believe it to be inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. Please see our contact details below.

If we refuse to give you access to the information you are requesting or disagree with the correction you are requesting, we will provide you with a written explanation setting out the reasons for our refusal or disagreement and how you may complain about our refusal or disagreement. If we are satisfied the information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading or you request that we correct the information we will take reasonable steps to correct that information.

We will keep your information for as long as legally required. This will usually be for the period of your membership plus any further period we are legally required to retain your information, or we believe we still need the information for any purpose for which it may be used. Once this period has ceased we will remove any identification details or destroy the records entirely.

The ACIRT Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. Any changes will be posted on our website.

If you believe that ACIRT has breached any privacy requirements in regard to your personal or sensitive information you can complain to the General Manager who acts as the Privacy Officer.

Email your complaint to [email protected]

Alternatively, you can make your complaint in writing by sending it to:

ACIRT Privacy Officer
PO Box 3604
Rhodes NSW 2138

The Privacy Officer will investigate your complaint and endeavour to reply within 30 days unless a detailed investigation is required. If you are not satisfied with the ACIRT Privacy Officer’s response you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). This privacy commissioner will only deal with a complaint that has been sent to the ACIRT Privacy Officer in the first instance.

Contact details for the Privacy Commissioner are:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
Tel: 1300 363 992
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.oaic.gov.au