PRIVACY POLICY

We are committed to handling your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth). We are required to comply with this law to the extent that it is not inconsistent with our law enforcement functions under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW) and regulations made under that Act (see specific statement in this respect below). We respect your right to privacy and have outlined our commitment to protecting your personal details and privacy below.

1. About us

We are an animal welfare charity that works with the people of NSW to rescue, rehome and rehabilitate animals in need. We investigate complaints of animal cruelty and/or breaches of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW) and regulations made under that Act. We offer education services and information online and via workshops and special projects, conduct programs to assist pet owners whose personal circumstances limit their ability to properly care for their pets, and offer products for sale on our Online Store. As we receive less than two per cent of our funding from the government, we rely almost entirely on the generosity of our supporters to maintain our vital community services.

2. Protection of your privacy and personal information 

This Privacy Policy sets out how we deal with your personal information. We are committed to handling your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). We are required to comply with applicable Australian privacy laws to the extent that such laws do not conflict with our law enforcement functions under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW) and the regulations made under that legislation (see specific statement in this respect below). We respect your right to privacy and have outlined our commitment to protecting your personal details and privacy below.

3. What personal information does RSPCA NSW collect?

‘Personal Information’ is information about an identifiable individual, and may include information such as the individual’s name, email address, telephone number, bank account details, taxation details, and accounting and financial information. The personal information we collect is that which is necessary to provide by law, or is used to market our organisation, products and services to you. This information may also be used to solicit donations.

The nature of personal information that we collect and maintain includes information pertaining to:

    • Inspectorate cruelty complaints
    • legal records
    • bequest records, including wills
    • customer contact details
    • volunteer contact details
    • member contact details
    • student enrolment information
    • records of purchases
    • donations
    • credit card information
    • other bank account details

Personal information held by us may include your name, date of birth, current and previous addresses, telephone or mobile phone number, email address, bank account or credit card details, occupation, driver licence number and history with RSPCA NSW, as well as certain details about your personal interests.

We also want to present information that is tailored to your needs. For this reason, we may ask you to provide personal information when filling out a survey, official paper work (such as adoption information) or an online form. We will use this information to try to ensure that the content, products and/or services that we provide are tailored to your current and future needs.

4. How RSPCA NSW collects personal information

Generally, we collect personal information directly from you, for example when you deal directly with us in person, over the telephone, by completing RSPCA NSW standard forms, via appeal letters or online via websites, our Online Store, social media or email.

We sometimes collect personal information from a third party or from a publicly available source, but only if:

  • you have consented to such collection or would reasonably expect us to collect your personal information in this way; or
  • it is necessary for a specific purpose, such as the investigation of a cruelty complaint

We may collect website visitors’ (including Online Store visitors’) contact information, such as their email addresses. This information may be shared with the national and other state and territory RSPCAs and may be used to:

    • send news, information about our activities, products and services, and general promotional material which we believe may be of interest to you
    • monitor who is accessing RSPCA websites, using services offered on the websites or buying products offered on the Online Store
    • profile the type of people accessing websites controlled or managed by RSPCA NSW, including the Online Store

If you do not wish to have your personal information used in this manner or for any other specific purpose, please advise us by writing to the Privacy Officer at RSPCA NSW, PO Box 34, Yagoona, NSW 2199, Australia or sending an email to privacy@rspcansw.org.au.

5. Use of personal data 

We use personal information you provide us for the purpose for which it was provided to us, other related purposes or as permitted or required by law. Such purposes include:

    • processing donations, memberships and Animal Advocate pledges
    • processing purchases made through our Online Store
    • issuing receipts
    • adoption and veterinary hospital paperwork and forms
    • the gathering of evidence for the purpose of investigation and/or prosecution in regards to alleged breaches of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 and/or the Prevention of Cruelty Animals Regulation 2012
    • responding to your comments or questions
    • providing follow-up information about RSPCA NSW activities
    • supporter research, for example asking you to participate in a survey about your involvement with RSPCA NSW
    • requesting financial or animal welfare support
    • providing clinic, hospital, consult room and shelter follow ups, including post-adoption surveys and calls, and scheduled health check reminders
    • improving our websites, for example by conducting research groups
    • ensuring compliance with registered training organisation regulations on student enrolment data
    • measuring the level of support received and the effectiveness of our campaigns
    • providing you with marketing material such as our newsletter (if you opt in to receive such information)
    • any other purposes identified at the time of collecting your information

If we also obtain your sensitive information (within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)), we will only use this information (such as your racial or ethnic origin or health information) for the purposes listed above, or other directly related purposes or purposes to which you otherwise consent.

Also, your personal information is collected so that we can promote and market services and products to you, including by way of direct mail, telemarketing, websites, social media, email, SMS and MMS messages. This is to keep you informed of products, services and donation appeals and may continue after you cease acquiring services or products from us. If you do not wish us to contact you to promote and market products, services and special offers to you, please contact us at privacy@rspcansw.org.au.

6. Direct marketing

RSPCA NSW may use your personal information to identify products and services which may be of interest to you and keep you informed and up to date about our latest products and services. Our direct marketing may include the following:

    • appeal emails, direct mail, websites, social media mentions, telemarketing, SMS and MMS
    • communications from branches if you have consented to such communications
    • clinic, hospital, consult room and shelter follow ups, including post adoption surveys and calls, and scheduled health check reminders
    • event emails, direct mail, websites and social media mentions
    • other marketing materials including newsletters, magazines, emails, direct mail, websites, social media mentions, telemarketing, SMS and MMS

If you would prefer that your information is not used in this way, please contact us at privacy@rspcansw.org.au.

7. Disclosing and sharing of personal data

Your informed consent is important to us. As such, we will endeavour not to use or disclose your personal information in any way that is contrary to your expectations. However, you should be aware that if you do not consent to certain uses and disclosures of your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with our products and services.
We will make reasonable endeavours to prevent the disclosure of your personal information except to the extent:

    • indicated at the time you supply information to us
    • expressly permitted under any agreement with you
    • required for us to provide you with the goods and services requested from us
    • required under compulsion of law or provided in cooperation with any government authority
    • where it is already publicly available
    • where it is used in the context of the investigation and/or prosecution of offences under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW)or associated regulations
    • required by us to comply with our constitution

Your personal information may be disclosed on a confidential basis to organisations/agencies within and/or outside Australia including, but not limited to:

    • in the course of normal business practice, including our solicitors, accountants, recruiting consultants, collection agencies, product manufacturers, printers and other suppliers
    • courts
    • insurers
    • SafeWork NSW
    • the Australian Taxation Office
    • superannuation providers
    • the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)
    • the NSW Police and/or other authorised bodies and persons under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW)
    • municipal councils
    • microchip animal registries
    • RSPCA NSW-appointed street and telephone marketers
    • the RSPCA in the state you live

RSPCA NSW undertakes not to sell, rent or trade your personal information to any individual or entity

8. Overseas disclosure

We use the services of certain third party service providers which may have offices or other operations outside of Australia. As a result, your personal information may be disclosed to overseas recipients. All service providers that have access to personal information held by us are required to keep the information confidential and not to make use of it for any purpose other than to provide services in accordance with their engagement.

9. Data security

We take commercially reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse, loss, interference and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. For example, whenever we ask for your financial details online, we use security-encrypted response forms.

However, data protection and security measures are never completely secure (particularly for information sent online) and, despite the measures we have put in place, we cannot guarantee the security of your information. You must take care to ensure you protect your personal information (for example, by protecting any usernames and passwords, etc.) and you should notify us as soon as possible after you become aware of any security breaches. If you don’t wish to make your financial contribution online, please contact us to receive a hard copy form.

Your personal information is held on site at RSPCA NSW and/or with a third party storage provider in accordance with RSPCA NSW policies and procedures.

10. Cookies

When you visit our websites, we will collect and store your computer’s assigned IP address, the date and time of your visit, the information accessed and the referring page. We will also collect other non-identifying data for statistical purposes. This information is not linked to your personal information unless required by law.

Like many websites, our websites may use cookies from time to time. Cookies are small text files that a website transfers to your computer through your web browser to enable the website’s systems to recognise your computer. Cookies may also be used to record non-personal information such as the date, time or duration of your visit, or the pages accessed, for website administration, statistical and maintenance purposes. Cookies help us monitor how visitors are using our websites and allow us to improve our sites and to deliver a more personalised web experience. Some of the cookies we use are essential for the sites to operate, whereas others are aimed at enhancing and personalising your user experience. Any such information obtained through the use of cookies will be aggregated and not linked to particular individuals unless required by law. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings in your browser. Please note that some parts of our websites may not function fully for users who disallow cookies.

11. Email monitoring

If you send us an email, the message content may be monitored by our Internet Service Provider or RSPCA NSW employees if email abuse is suspected, or for troubleshooting and maintenance purposes. Email is an unsecure communication medium; it should not be used for confidential correspondence.

12. Third party links

Our websites contain hypertext links to other third party websites. RSPCA NSW is not responsible for the content of such websites or their privacy practices, which will be governed by the privacy policy of third parties.

13. Accuracy, access and correction

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we collect and hold is accurate, complete and up to date. However, we rely on you to advise us of any changes to your personal information to help us maintain accurate, complete and up-to-date information.
We will, on request, provide you with access to the personal information we hold about you unless we are otherwise required or permitted by law not to disclose such information. We will notify you of the basis for any denial of access to your personal information.
To request access to your personal information or, if you wish to update or correct your personal information, please contact us via the contact details provided below.

14. Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint about a breach of this Privacy Policy or the privacy principles of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), you can contact us using the contact details below. You will need to provide us with sufficient details regarding your complaint as well as any supporting evidence and/or information.

We will investigate the issue and determine any steps that we may undertake to resolve your complaint. We will contact you if we require any additional information from you and will notify you in writing of the outcome of the investigation. If you are not satisfied with our determination, you can contact us to discuss your concerns or complain to the Australian Information Commissioner via www.oaic.gov.au.

15. RSPCA NSW Child Safe Policy

We take your child’s safety seriously and the wellbeing of children in our care will always be our priority. All children who attend our programs have a right to feel and be safe. RSPCA NSW has zero tolerance of child harm and is committed to creating and maintaining a child safe and child friendly organisation where all children are valued and protected from harm, abuse and neglect. Please read our Child Safe Policy for more information.

16. Specific Information regarding Privacy and the RSPCA NSW Inspectorate 

The RSPCA NSW Inspectorate is an enforcement body under the Privacy Act in so far as its activities relate to the investigation of breaches of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW) and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Regulation 2012 (NSW). The RSPCA NSW Inspectorate will collect and disclose personal information about individuals in connection with its enforcement related activities, and may disclose information to the NSW Police and/or other authorised bodies and persons under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW). In most cases, access will not be granted to personal information collected by the Inspectorate in the course of enforcement-related activities as providing access may have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals, may prejudice one or more of the enforcement activities undertaken by the Inspectorate and/or would be contrary to law. To the extent of any inconsistency with another part of this Privacy Policy the provisions of this Clause apply.

17. RSPCA NSW contacting people via the phone 

RSPCA NSW may contact supporters and members of the public via telephone for the following reasons:

    • To return telephone enquiries left on our voicemail systems
    • To undertake follow up calls in relation to matters such as donations, membership, merchandise purchases, bequests, cruelty complaints, animal adoptions, student enrolment and legal matters

From time to time, our external customer service provider will contact supporters and members of the public on behalf of RSPCA NSW in order to offer raffle tickets and RSPCA NSW products for RSPCA NSW fundraising purposes.

RSPCA NSW, through a third party supplier, may also call, SMS or MMS supporters or members of the public to ask for donations over the phone.

If you receive a telephone call and are concerned that the caller is not an official RSPCA NSW representative, or is not officially calling on behalf of RSPCA NSW, please do not proceed with the call and do not provide any personal or credit card payment details. Instead, ask for the representative’s name and a contact number, and then call RSPCA NSW on 02 9770 7555. You will then be able to verify the telephone number and contact details with our staff. The same process also applies for all SMS, MMS or other correspondence from RSPCA NSW.

If you have made a transaction over the phone and believe that you have been the victim of fraud, please report details to NSW Fair Trading for investigation on 13 32 20.

18. Contacting us

18.1 Privacy Policy
Enquiries about this Privacy Policy, complaints or concerns about your privacy, and requests for access to personal information held by RSPCA NSW may be referred to the Privacy Officer as follows:

By post to:
The Privacy Officer
RSPCA NSW
PO Box 34
Yagoona NSW 2199

By fax: (02) 9782 4445
By phone: 1300 278 358
By email: privacy@rspcansw.org.au marked to the attention of the Privacy Officer.

18.2 Requests pursuant to the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (‘GIPA’)
The NSW GIPA allows access to documents, subject to certain exemptions, held by RSPCA NSW. All requests for access to documents under GIPA must be made in writing using the GIPA application form available here. Please send your completed application form to our GIPA Officer as follows:

By post to:
The GIPA Officer
RSPCA NSW
PO Box 34
Yagoona NSW 2199

By email: GIPA@rspcansw.org.au

Please ensure your request is accompanied by the prescribed application fee as set out in the form. If you are paying by cheque or money order, please make payable to RSPCA NSW.

We maintain a public disclosure log in accordance with section 25 of the GIPA Act. To view our disclosure log, please click here.

For more information, please phone our GIPA Officer on 1300 278 358 or email GIPA@rspcansw.org.au.

18.3 How to report suspected child abuse or child harm

If the child is in immediate danger call Police on 000 (triple zero)

For immediate concerns contact the police and /or the Child Protection Helpline on 132111 (open 24 hours/7 days)

To report behaviour of an RSPCA NSW employee or volunteer contact via email: EducationCentre@rspcansw.org.au

RSPCA NSW takes all reports of child harm seriously and will thoroughly investigate in line with our Child Safe Policy

19. Further information
To learn more about our management of personal information, please see our Personal Information Collection Notice here.

The privacy policies of RSPCA Australia and other State/Territory RSPCA Member Societies are available at the links below: