CORPORATE PRIVACY POLICY of Australian Writers Guild Ltd and its controlled entities (“the guild”)
The guild is a “small business” for purposes of the Privacy Act 1988 (amended by the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000) (the “Act”) that, prima-face, is excluded from the provisions of the Act. However, we receive certain funding that might be seen to be under one or more contracts with the Commonwealth. We also act as a professional association and as a trade union, meaning that we hold information that, under the Act, is classified as “sensitive”. Having regard to these circumstances, we have determined to comply with the Act, albeit our obligation to do so is uncertain.

The guild takes its potential obligations under the Privacy Act very seriously and would like to take all reasonable steps in order to comply with the Act and protect the privacy of the personal information that we hold. Our Corporate Privacy Policy sets out how we intend to do this. It comprises six Parts:
•    Privacy statement
•    Contact details
•    Privacy policy
•    Website - additional privacy statement
•    Complaints
•    Changes

PART 1 - Privacy Statement
The guild has adopted the National Privacy Principles (“NPP’s”), as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (amended by the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000). To comply with the NPP’s we have a Privacy Policy that sets out how we manage privacy in our organisation. You are welcome to find out more information about the Policy by visiting our website www.awg.com.au or by contacting the guild Privacy Officer.

PART 2 - Contact details
Our contact details in connection with our Corporate Privacy Policy are:
The Privacy Officer
Australian Writers Guild
5 Blackfriars Street
Chippendale NSW 2008
p  02 9319 0339
f   02 9319 0141

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Normal business hours of the national office are 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday.

PART 3 - Privacy Policy

NPP 1: Collection
When you join the guild as a full, associate or student member (“membership”), or renew your membership, or
if you use our services as a non-member, we may ask you for the following personal information:
•    Full name
•    Pen name(s)
•    Company name
•    Address and other contact details
•    Agent’s name and address
•    Details of work produced
•    Earnings from your writing

When you are employed by the guild we will ask you for the personal information that we are authorised and/or obliged at law to hold about you in connection with your employment. When you are a contractor or supplier of goods or services to the guild we may ask you for the following
personal information:
•    Full name
•    Company name
•    Address and other contact details
•    ABN and GST status
•    Business references and evidence of competence

When you voluntarily participate in a survey or questionnaire we may ask you for personal information that will assist our analysis of other data collected at the same time. We also may collect personal information by renting mailing lists and by analysis of published data, such as
writing credits listed in trade publications. However, we don’t collect information that we don’t need.

NPP 2: Use and disclosure
The guild collects and uses the information so that we can provide you with our services, manage our relationship with you and communicate with you effectively. We don’t sell, trade or rent information. However, as a not-for-profit organisation, we may enter into sponsorship or other arrangements with third parties from time to time. Our main objective in doing this is to keep membership fees at a low level. This means that we sometimes may inform you about products and services offered by the third parties.
We would otherwise disclose personal information only if we were required to do so by law or as otherwise permitted by the Act.

NPP 3: Data quality
We take steps to make sure the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. We do this by asking that you tell us immediately there is a change in your details. In the case of members, associates and students we also remind you of this each time you renew your membership.

NPP 4: Data security
We take steps to ensure the personal information we hold is protected from such risks as unauthorised access, misuse, modification, disclosure, loss or destruction. We do this by password-protecting computer files, storing hardcopy files in locked facilities and creating secure backups of key information.
Within the guild, we limit access to personal information to authorised personnel. It is a condition of their employment that our staff and contractors maintain the confidentiality of personal information and only use it for the purposes for which we collected it.
We securely destroy any personal information that is no longer needed.
Our security procedures particularly are informed by “Information Sheet 6 – 2001 Security and Personal
Information”, issued by the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner.

NPP 5: Openness
Copies of this policy are available on our website or will be sent to you by our Privacy Officer upon request. Our Privacy Officer also will answer any questions you have about it. Contact details for our Privacy Officer are given in Part 2.
General details about personal information held by us will be made available to you upon request by our
Privacy Officer. We will tell you what sort of information we hold, the purposes for which we hold it as well
as how we collect, hold, use and disclose it. Specific access to your own personal information is covered in
the next section of this Policy.
Our complaints procedure in respect of our privacy practices is given in Part 5.

NPP 6: Access to and correction of your personal information
We will provide you with access to the personal information that we hold about you. You need not provide a reason for seeking access. Usually, we will not charge you for access.
Access will be by way of a photocopy of hardcopy information and a printout of electronic data. We will assume, unless you tell us otherwise, that your request only relates to our current records about you. These current records will include personal information about you in our databases and hardcopy files that we use on a day-to-day basis. If personal information about you is duplicated across our files we may only provide you with one copy of it, rather than multiple copies of the same information.
In some circumstances you may wish access to information that is not in our current records. For legal and administrative reasons we may have stored this information in our archives. If you request this information we may charge you for the cost of providing access.

You can request access in person at the guild national office during normal business hours. You will be asked to complete a written request and to produce acceptable photographic identification, such as a current passport or driver’s licence. Requests in person are best made by prior appointment with the Privacy Officer.
You also can request access by contacting the guild national office via post, telephone, fax or email. You will be asked to complete a written request. We will verify the request before responding by receipted delivery post. We will only send information to you at an address already on our records. For security, we will not provide information by telephone, fax or email.

For security, our branch offices are not authorised to grant access to the guild’s records.
If you believe that personal information about you is not accurate, complete or current please contact our Privacy Officer and request a correction. You will be asked to provide a written claim for correction. We will consider your claim in a timely way and tell you our response. In the unlikely event that we cannot agree on what changes should be made to the information, we will explain our reasons and attach a record of your claim to the information.
Our contact details are given in Part 2. Our complaints procedures, should you not be satisfied with our response to your request for access or correction, are given in Part 5.
Our access and correction procedures particularly are informed by “Information Sheet 4 – 2001 Access and Correction”, issued by the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner.

NPP 7: Identifiers
We will not use prescribed identifiers, such as Tax File Numbers (TFN’s), that you may provide to us as our own identifiers in respect of personal information, nor disclose them except as allowed by law.

NPP 8: Anonymity
We respect your right to deal with us without identifying yourself insofar as is lawful and practical. We remain mindful, however, that this may be precluded by our Constitution (in the case of membership) or other laws and regulations (in the case of employees, contractors and suppliers).

NPP 9: Transborder data flows
Generally, we will not transfer personal information to foreign countries without your express permission. However, certain of our activities on behalf of members, associates and students may require us to transfer personal information to third parties in foreign countries. This can occur, for example, when we are collecting overseas royalties on your behalf. In these cases we regard the transfer as being one envisaged by Schedule 3, Cl 9(d) of the Act, insofar as we are acting in performance of a contract concluded in your interest between the guild and the third party. We therefore will not seek your specific permission.

You should contact us if at any time you don’t wish us to act in this way on your behalf; our contact details are given in Part 2.

NPP 10: Sensitive information
We recognise that the nature of the guild, as both a professional association and a trade union, means that personal information that identifies our membership is classified as “sensitive” information under the Act. We regard each member, associate and student, by virtue of them applying for membership, as having consented to us collecting that information in accordance with Schedule 3, Cl 10.1(a) of the Act. This is because membership of the guild requires your prior agreement to be bound by the guild’s Constitution, and the Constitution requires you to provide certain information to the guild.

We also regard the information as being collected in accordance with Schedule 3, Cl 10.1(d) and that you have given individual consent to us disclosing the information, as envisaged by Schedule 3, Cl 10.1(d)(ii). Our use and disclosure policy is given at NPP 2 above. You should contact us if at any time you don’t want us to disclose your information; our contact details are given in Part 2.

PART 4 - Website privacy statement
Using our website introduces particular privacy issues, in addition to the wider issues addressed by our overarching Privacy Policy. We therefore have adopted an additional Website Privacy Statement.

Collection
When you visit our website, our internet service provider (“isp”) may record your visit for statistical
purposes. The information collected may include:
•    Your web address
•    The pages you visit and any information you download from us
•    The previous site you visited
•    The type of browser you are using

If you make a payment to us from our website, the entire transaction is handled by a separate, secure server. We do not receive details of the credit card that you use in the transaction but do receive all the other information that you provide. Details of the credit card and certain other details you provide are processed within the banking system by which the secure server processes your payment; we have no control over this and no access to it. Our isp receives no information whatsoever about the transaction and no access to it.

If you choose to send us an email then your email address will be recorded along with whatever information you include in the email itself.

Cookies
Our website only uses “session cookies” and then only during a search query of the site itself. Our isp has assured us that no cookies are employed on our website except for those associated with the search engine. When you close your browser after visiting our website the session cookies set by it are destroyed and no personal information is kept which might identify you should you visit our website again.

Use and disclosure
Our ISP will only use the information it logs about your visit for statistical purposes. We do not see the logs and our isp has assured us that they are not disclosed to third parties. Neither our isp or the guild will attempt to identify users of our website or their personal browsing activities. However, in the unlikely event of an investigation by an agency empowered by law to do so, our isp’s logs of information collected may be inspected by that agency.

Contact
Our Privacy Officer can be contacted in respect of this Website Privacy Statement by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Our general Privacy Statement and Privacy Policy can be viewed on our website www.awg.com.au or copies can be requested from:
The Privacy Officer
Australian Writers Guild
5 Blackfriars Street
Chippendale NSW 2008

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

PART 5 - Complaints
In the first instance, any specific complaint about our privacy practices and your personal information should be addressed to our Privacy Officer, who will make every effort to resolve it with you. Contact details for the Privacy Officer are given in Part 2.
If our Privacy Officer does not resolve your specific complaint or if you wish to make a general complaint about this Corporate Privacy Policy, please write to:

CONFIDENTIAL – PRIVACY COMPLAINT

Jacqueline Woodman
Executive Director
Australian Writers Guild,
5 Blackfriars Street
Chippendale NSW 2008

The Executive Director will table your complaint at the next meeting of the guild’s governing body, the National Executive Council (“NEC”). The NEC will consider your complaint in a timely way and provide a written response.

PART 6 - Changes
The guild reserves the right to change its Corporate Privacy Policy at any time and to notify these changes by posting an updated version of the Policy on our website.