Purpose

This privacy policy outlines the personal information handling practices of Moths and Butterflies Australasia Inc. (MABA).

Overview

The Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 (‘Privacy Act’) requires MABA to have a privacy policy. We will update this privacy policy if our personal information handling practices change. The specific legal obligations of MABA when collecting and handling your personal information are outlined in the Privacy Act and in the Australian Privacy Principles in Schedule 1 of that Act.

Scope

This Privacy Policy only applies to MABA. It does not apply to any other company or organisation we associate with, including member bodies and organisations whose services are in some way linked to MABA through online content or services (such as apps, social media platforms). When we engage with third parties and contractors to perform services for us that involve handling of the personal information, we require the third party service provider and contractors to handle all personal information in accordance with the obligations that apply to MABA under the Privacy Act.

Definitions

Personal information means information or an opinion about an individual who is identified, or who can reasonably be identified, from the information, whether or not the information or opinion is true or recorded in a material form, and includes sensitive information.

Sensitive information means information or an opinion that is also personal information, about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, memberships of political, professional and trade associations and unions, religious and philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or practices, criminal history, health information, and genetic and biometric information.

Policy statement

Overview

1. We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information to enable us to meet legal obligations and for a range of internal governance purposes. These include:

a. For members, to administer joining, membership fees, access to MABA services, internal business reporting;

b. For service users, to administer access to MABA services, communications around service use.

2. Material that contains your personal information that is created when you sign up for membership or service use is protected and handled in accordance with this privacy policy.

3. Sometimes we collect, use or disclose personal information in situations where it is impracticable to obtain your consent or provide you prior notice, but only when we reasonably believe it is necessary to do so, such as:

a. to lessen or prevent a serious threat to life, health or safety;

b. when we are required by or authorised under, a law or court or tribunal order to do so;

c. to take appropriate action in relation to suspected unlawful activity or serious misconduct;

d. to assist authorities to locate a person reported as missing;

e. establishing or defending a legal or equitable claim, or participating in a confidential dispute resolution process; or

f. for enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body.

Collection of personal information

4. MABA collects a limited range of personal information in the course of its operations, for purposes that are directly related to its core functions or activities. MABA collects personal information about you:

a. because we need it to provide a service you have requested – such as providing you access to the Butterflies Australia platform;

b. because you have provided it to us – by signing up as a member, paying for your membership fees, signing up to MABA online services, or attending a MABA annual event;

c. because we are required by law to collect it.

5. At all times we aim to collect only the information we need for the particular function or activity we are carrying out. We may not be able to provide the assistance or services you ask for if you don’t provide us with the personal information, we ask for, when we request it.

Collecting sensitive information

6. We do not collect or store sensitive information about you.

Anonymity

7. Where practicable and lawful, we will allow you to interact with us anonymously or using a pseudonym. However, we usually need your name and contact information or your Butterflies Australia username, and enough information about the particular matter to enable us to respond to your inquiry, request, application, donation or complaint.

8. We host or manage some publicly accessible blogs and other interactive media. If you choose to interact with these media, you can do so anonymously or using a pseudonym.

Collecting through websites

9. MABA has its own public website at https://maba.org.au. When you look at the MABA web site our server makes a record of your visit and logs some or all of the following information:

a. your browser’s internet address;

b. the date and time of your visit to the site;

c. the pages you accessed and documents downloaded;

d. the previous site visited;

e. the type of browser you are using; and

f. the username entered if accessing a restricted site.

10. MABA uses this information for statistical purposes and for system administration tasks to maintain this service. We do not attempt to identify individuals, however, in the event there is an investigation, MABA, a law enforcement or other government agency may exercise their legal authority to inspect our server’s logs.

11. Entry to some MABA web services is restricted by user log-in protocols. We require you to use your username to access these sites to help us keep the information accessible through these sites secure from unauthorised alteration, use or disclosure.

Social Networking Services and Apps

12. If you choose to communicate with us or access information about MABA through a social network service or App, the social network or App provider and its partners may collect, hold, use or disclose your personal information, in Australia or overseas, for its own purposes and according to its own policies. This policy does not apply to those services.

13. We sometimes use social networking services to communicate with the public about our activities or achievements. If you choose to communicate with us using these services we may collect your personal information, but if we do, we will only use it to communicate with you. However, the social networking service may also collect or handle your personal information and use it for its own purposes according to their own privacy practices and policies. This policy does not apply to the acts or practices of those services.

Email Distribution lists

14. We collect your email address (and other contact details) when you sign up as a member. We only use this information to contact you for administrative purposes related to your membership with us.

15. If you register to attend an event, we usually collect the contact details you provide at registration to communicate with you about the event you registered for. With your consent, we will communicate with you about other events we think you might be interested in. You can opt out of receiving further emails at the time you register for an event, or you can unsubscribe from further events emails by replying to the email you received.

Use and Disclosure

16. We generally use or disclose personal information only with your consent and for the purpose we collected it, unless you consent to us using or disclosing it for a different purpose. We generally do not disclose personal information about members or users without their consent.

17. Sometimes we use or disclose your personal information in circumstances where you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose it, the Privacy Act permits the disclosure, and it is impracticable to obtain your consent.

18. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that any third parties who receive your personal information from MABA are bound by substantially similar privacy standards and obligations as MABA.

19. Common situations in which we disclose personal information include:

a. in publications about the award of prizes and scholarships;

b. in publications about research activities involving MABA in which you have chosen to be involved;

c. when we are required by law to disclose the information.

20. If you seek an external review of a MABA decision or make a complaint to an external complaint handling body we are usually required to disclose some personal information to the external review body, as part of the external review process.

21. If you make a complaint or report an incident, or seek internal review of a MABA decision, in most circumstances we need to disclose some of your personal information to other people involved, in the incident or decision, in order to act on your complaint or request. We may be unable to act on a complaint or allegation without your consent to this kind of disclosure.

Overseas disclosure

22. In performing and managing our functions and activities, we sometimes need to make personal information available to third party service providers, such as cloud services and website hosts, for example to enable access to MABA systems and software. These third parties are sometimes located overseas. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any third parties located overseas that engage to handle personal information are bound by substantially similar privacy standards and obligations as MABA.

Disclosure of sensitive information

23. We only disclose your sensitive information:

a. for the purposes for which you gave it to us;

b. for directly related purposes you would reasonably expect;

c. if the Privacy Act allows us to disclose it; or

d. if you agree.

This information includes disclosures made in accordance with MABA policies and procedures, and applicable laws

Quality of personal information

24. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, up to date and complete by:

a. asking you from time to time to confirm or update your details are correct when you use our systems;

b. recording information in a consistent format;

c. where necessary, confirming the accuracy of information collected from a third party or a public source;

d. adding updated or new personal information to existing records.

Storage and security of personal information

25. We take reasonable physical, electronic, and procedural steps to protect the security of the personal information we hold from both internal and external threats by regularly assessing the risk of misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure of personal information. Measures taken may be physical, electronic, or procedural.

Access and correction of your personal information

26. You have the right under the Privacy Act to ask for access to the personal information that we hold, and ask that we correct that personal information we hold about you, and to ask us to correct it. You can ask for access or correction by contacting the Privacy Officer, who will respond within 30 days. Contact information for inquiries is at the end of this policy.

27. If you ask to, we will give you access to your personal information unless there is a law that allows or requires us not to give you access. We will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information if we agree it is incorrect, unless there is a law that allows or requires us not to correct it. We will ask you to verify your identity before we give you access or correct it. If we refuse to give you access to, or to correct it, we will tell you in writing why we made that decision. Contact information for inquiries is at the end of this policy.

28. If we do make a correction and we have disclosed the incorrect information to others, you can ask us to tell them about the correction. We will do so unless there is a valid reason not to. If we refuse to correct your personal information, you can ask us to attach a statement to it stating that you believe the information is incorrect and why.

29. You can also ask us under the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) for access to documents that we hold and to ask for information that we to be changed or annotated if it is incomplete, incorrect, out-of-date or misleading.

How to make a complaint

30. If you wish to complain to us about how we have handled your personal information you should complain in writing.

31. If we receive a complaint from you about how we have handled your personal information we will determine what (if any) action we should take to investigate and resolve the complaint.

32. We will acknowledge receipt of complaints promptly and will notify you of our proposed response within 30 days.

33. If you are not satisfied with our response you may complain to the Privacy Commissioner.

34. For any assistance in lodging a privacy complaint, you can contact us using the details below.

​

For enquiries, complaints and requests regarding privacy and handling of personal information contact enquiries@maba.org.au

DOCUMENT DATE: 25th October 2024