Privacy Policy

Privacy statement

Youth Law Australia complies with the Privacy Act 1988 and follows the National Privacy Principles guidelines in its information management practices. As a result, this policy applies to all records containing personal or sensitive information. This includes all information collected through the Youth Law Australia website, or its services including e-mail or phone advice and TeachLaw.

Purpose

Youth Law Australia is committed to protecting the privacy of its clients, staff, volunteers and Board of Directors members. This policy outlines how Youth Law Australia collects, stores or uses any personal or sensitive information collected through the website or its services for the provision of legal advice, information or referrals.

General principles

When handling personal information, Youth Law Australia will:

obtain consent before collecting personal information from any individuals;
collect and store only necessary personal information, and ensure individuals know what information is being held, and why it is being held;
Include a privacy policy in all written legal advices or information pages explaining what information is held, why it is being held, and how it is used;
ensure that any data stored digitally is restricted to authorised personnel and/or protected password access;
destroy or permanently de-identify personal information no longer needed after legal requirements for retaining documents have expired (being 7 years from the close of a file, OR 7 years after the 18th birthday for any client under the age of 18 at the time of information collection). Where this is not possible due to electronic filing, the information must be stored in a protected and restricted file at all times until the file is destroyed.

Client privacy and confidentiality

Youth Law Australia uses personal information collected from clients to assist with providing legal services and for monitoring and assessing the Centre’s services through statistical data.

Youth Law Australia collects sensitive information from clients, such as ethnic or racial origin, in order to better assess relevant services or for funding purposes. This information is only collected with the client’s consent and will only be disclosed for the purpose outlined above once it has been de-identified.

Staff, volunteers and Board members must not communicate, publish, release or disclose any information provided to Youth Law Australia that may directly or indirectly identify clients, except:

when delivering services to clients, and with their consent;
with the informed consent of the client or the client’s parent or legal Guardian or Attorney under the Power of Attorney;
as required by NACLC’s Risk Management and CLC Practice for the purpose of annual cross-checks;
as required by law; or
as required by PII in the case of a notification or claim regarding the particular matter.
Youth Law Australia follows the guidelines and procedures outlined in the Legal Practice File Management Policy that ensure the security of client information.

If you request further information or advice through phone, webchat, e-mail, use the feedback function, donate to Youth Law Australia or otherwise contact Youth Law Australia the following information may be requested and stored:

Your full name;
Your date of birth;
Your postcode, suburb and state;
Your gender;
Your Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander status;
The full names of other parties involved in your matter (for written advice); or
Credit card details (in the case of donations – these details will not be stored).

Youth Law Australia will not use your personal information for any other purpose unless you give permission. Your email and contact details will not be passed on to any other organisation, unless required by law or if you give permission to do so.

Youth Law Australia website

When you visit the Youth Law Australia site, our servers may record information about:

your server address;
domain name (eg, .com, .net, .gov, .au, etc);
the type or browser and operating system you used;
date and time of your visit;
the previous website you visited;
which pages you have look at;
the time spent on each page and the Lawstuff site overall;
which files have been downloaded.

This will not reveal any information about whom or where you are. Youth Law Australia may publish statistics about how many visits we had, the length of the visit, number of pages accessed per visit, the search engine and search terms used to find us. This is to determine how useful the site is and improve it.

Storage

Client files are stored electronically in the Lawmail content management system (Jira) & CLASS which is only accessible through secure login. Any hard copies of client files are stored securely when not in use and are not left lying on desks, in central work areas or anywhere where the client’s name or any other information can be seen by others.

Complaints

Complaints about breaches of privacy should be handled in accordance to the complaints management policy. You can contact Youth Law Australia at [email protected] if you have questions about this policy, or would like to obtain a copy of the complaints policy.

Contact

Please contact Youth Law Australia at [email protected] for any other queries.

If you live in SA, NSW, TAS or QLD, you can also call us on 1800 950 570 Monday – Friday, 9.30am to 5pm (AEST).

If you do not live in these states, you can still call us on (02) 9067 6510 Monday – Friday, 9.30am to 5pm (AEST).