About this statement

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) gives consular help to Australians overseas. To do this, we must collect, use, share and store personal information.

The privacy of consular clients and their families is important to us. This statement explains how we collect, use, share and store personal information related to consular cases in line with:

• the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act)
• DFAT's privacy policy.

Why, how and when we collect personal information

We collect your personal information to do our consular work. In most cases, we collect it from you or someone you nominate to act for you. We may also collect it from other sources, such as foreign governments, prisons or hospitals.

Where possible, we'll always ask for your consent before we collect your personal information. This includes sensitive personal information which will only be collected if you give consent unless an exception in the Privacy Act applies.

You can:

• choose not to give us your personal information
• remain anonymous or adopt a false name when dealing with us.

Doing these may limit the help we can give you.

Collecting personal information without your consent

The Privacy Act lets us collect your information without your consent if we need it to do our consular work.

In some cases, we may:

• ask another person for your information
• get it from a publicly available source.

For example:

• You're arrested overseas, and we learn about the arrest through the media.
• Another person raises concerns about your welfare with us. We'll try to contact you to see if you need consular help. We'll tell you that another person gave us your personal information.
• We're required or authorised by Australian law or a court or tribunal order to get your personal information from someone else.

How we use and share personal information

Using and sharing your personal information is essential to helping you overseas. We'll only use or share your personal information to give you consular help, unless one of the following applies:

• You consent to us using or sharing it for another purpose.
• You would reasonably expect the information to be used or shared for another purpose related to our helping you. Or in the case of sensitive information, the purpose of using or sharing it is directly related to the reason we're helping you.
• We're required or authorised by law or a court or tribunal order to use or share it.
• We reasonably believe we need to use or share it:
  • to lessen or prevent a serious threat to your or another's life, health or safety, or public health or safety
  • for our diplomatic or consular work
  • for activities done by or on behalf of an enforcement body.
• We're otherwise allowed to use or share it by the Privacy Act.

We won’t give your personal details to the media. In some limited circumstances, we'll confirm to the media that we're helping you. Or we'll correct and clarify information about what help we're providing.

We may also use and share your personal information to ask for your feedback on our consular services. We do this for quality assurance and training purposes. Giving feedback is always optional. It will not affect your ability to get consular help. You can opt out of getting requests for feedback by contacting us on the details below.

You can consent to us sharing your personal details and information about your situation with someone you choose to act for you. This may be a family member or someone else. It's up to you how much information is shared. We don't share any information without your consent unless the Privacy Act lets us. We may use discretion when we think you can’t give informed consent.

We will not use or share your personal information if you refuse consular help unless it's allowed by the Privacy Act. If you refuse consular help, you can still ask for it later.

Using and sharing your personal information without consent

We will do our best to respect your privacy in all dealings with you. We'll always try to get your informed consent before using or sharing your information. But we may need to use or share it to help you when you refuse or can't consent.

The Privacy Act lets us use or share your personal information without consent where we 'reasonably believe that the… use or disclosure is necessary for [our] consular functions or activities.'

This may happen in situations like:

• emergencies
• when someone has reported you missing
• when you can't give informed consent due to a physical, psychiatric or drug-induced incapacity.

For example:

• You get sick or injured and can't or refuse to consent. We may tell your family or nominated contact for the purpose of providing consular help.
• You are arrested or jailed and don't consent to sharing your personal information. We may confirm, clarify, and correct information already available in the media if asked by your family or other contacts.
• Your family or nominated contact asks about your welfare and whereabouts. We may use information they give us to contact you. If you don't want to tell them where you are, we may tell them we have contacted you but you don't consent to sharing any information.

We take seriously any decision to use or share personal information without your consent. Senior officers in Canberra must approve this before it can happen.

Sharing personal information with an overseas recipient

Giving you consular help overseas may mean sharing your personal information with a recipient that is outside of Australia.

The recipient’s location will depend on where you are and the kind of help you need. We might not be able tell you who will get the information in advance.

When you give us consent to use or share your personal information, you accept that:

• we can’t ensure when we share your personal information with an overseas recipient that they will not breach the Privacy Act
• we will not be accountable under the Privacy Act for breaches by an overseas recipient
• you won’t be able to seek redress under the Privacy Act for breaches by an overseas recipient.

How we store and protect personal information

We securely manage personal information held by DFAT in Commonwealth records in our recordkeeping systems. They’re stored in line with DFAT’s security and retention policies and practices.

Access to personal information in consular files is strictly limited to a need-to-know basis. Only authorised people can access sensitive personal information stored in our databases to work on particular:

• enquiries
• complaints
• applications
• cases.

Our databases have an audit trail whenever personal information is viewed, added, changed, or deleted.

We take steps to protect the personal information we hold against:

• misuse
• interference
• loss
• unauthorized access
• changing
• sharing

Personal information we no longer need to keep as part of a Commonwealth record is destroyed in line with the Archives Act 1983 (Archives Act).

Accessing and correcting personal information

You can ask for access to your personal information held by DFAT. This includes personal information in consular case files.

You can ask us to change your personal information if you think it is:

• inaccurate
• out of date
• incomplete
• irrelevant
• misleading

To access your personal information or request a change, contact privacy@dfat.gov.au. Our Privacy Policy is available at dfat.gov.au. It provides more information on how to access your personal information or request a change.

Complaints

We take your privacy seriously. You can raise any concerns about our handling of your personal information with senior officials in the Consular Operations Branch. This may allow us to resolve your complaint informally. Submit your complaint online using the 'Feedback' category.

Our Privacy Policy is available at dfat.gov.au. This Policy provides more information on how to make a privacy complaint and how your complaint will be handled.

How to contact us

Telephone: 1300 555 135 in Australia, or +61 2 6261 3305 from overseas.

Email: centre.conops@dfat.gov.au

From time to time, we will review and revise this privacy collection notice. We reserve the right to amend this notice at any time.