Privacy Policy

Australian Medical Association (Victoria) Limited and its associated entities the Medical Society of Victoria Incorporated and Solution Plus Training Limited (collectively AMA Victoria, we or us) values and respects the privacy of the people we deal with. We are committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles in the Act.

This Privacy Policy (Policy) describes how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information, and how we maintain the quality and security of your personal information. It applies to AMA Victoria staff, contractors and members, including Board, Committee and Council members.
 

What is Personal Information?

“Personal information” means any information or opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable. In general terms, this includes information or an opinion that personally identifies you either directly (e.g. your name) or indirectly.
 

What Personal Information do we collect?

The personal information we collect about you will depend on the nature of your dealings with us or what you choose to share with us.

The personal information we collect about you may include your contact information including your name, email address, mailing address and telephone number. Sometimes it is necessary for us, with your consent, to collect sensitive demographic and professional information to enable us to provide services to you. This can include information about your gender, workplace, professional memberships and health status. We will only disclose sensitive personal information with the express consent of the individual, or if required to by law.

You do not have to provide us with your personal information. However, if you choose not to provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with our services or otherwise interact with you.
 

How do we collect your Personal Information?

We collect your personal information directly from you when you:

• Interact with us over the phone, in person, by email or correspondence or online;
   
• Participate in surveys or questionnaires;
   
• Attend, or apply to attend, an AMA Victoria event; and
   
• Apply for AMA Victoria membership or for a position with us as an employee, contractor or volunteer.

We may also collect your personal information from third parties, including AMA Limited (“Federal AMA”) or through publicly available sources, cookie management and digital tracking of activities.

In every mode of collection or use, we comply with the Australian Privacy Principles.
 

How do we use your Personal Information?

We use personal information for purposes in connection with our functions and activities as a membership organisation, including the following purposes:

• To advance the interests of AMA Victoria members and pursue commercial opportunities with other businesses that will be of benefit to members.
   
• As a member, to provide you with information or services that you request from us and to respond to your needs and expectations promptly and efficiently;
   
• To deliver to you a more personalised experience and service offering;
   
• To improve the quality of the services we offer;
   
• For internal administrative purposes; and
   
• For marketing and research purposes.

Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties

We may disclose your personal information to third parties in accordance with this Policy in circumstances where you would reasonably expect us to disclose your information.

For example, we may disclose your personal information to third party service providers, including our insurers, IT providers, marketing providers and professional services providers.

As membership of AMA Victoria automatically entitles you to membership of Federal AMA, AMA Victoria also discloses your personal information to Federal AMA.  Federal AMA may use and disclose this information in accordance with its own privacy policy.  A copy of its Privacy Statement can be accessed at www.ama.com.au.

As membership of AMA Victoria also automatically entitles certain salaried members to membership of the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (“ASMOF”),  AMA Victoria discloses those members’ personal information to ASMOF. ASMOF may use and disclose this information in accordance with its own privacy rules. 

If AMA Victoria enters into contracts with third parties for the provision of services, we take measures to ensure that those parties treat any personal information we provide to them in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.
 

Transferring Personal Information overseas

Some of the third-party service providers we disclose personal information to may be based in or have servers located outside of Australia including the USA.

Where we disclose your personal information to third parties overseas, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that data security and appropriate privacy practices are maintained. We will only disclose to overseas third parties if:

• you have given us your consent to disclose personal information to that third party; or
   
• we reasonably believe that:
  
  - the overseas recipient is subject to a law or binding scheme that is, overall, substantially similar to the Australian Privacy Principles; and
  
  - the law or binding scheme can be enforced by you; or
   
• the disclosure is required or authorised by an Australian law or court / tribunal order.

How do we protect your Personal Information?

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we hold about you is kept confidential and secure, including by:

• Maintaining a robust physical security of our premises and databases / records;
   
• Implementing information technology measures and controls in relation to our computer systems and electronic records, including anti-virus software, a firewall and regular penetration testing.

Online Activity

Cookies

The AMA Victoria website uses cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers the website puts on your device if you allow it. These cookies recognise when your device has visited our website before, so we can distinguish you from other users of the website. This improves your experience and our website.

We do not use cookies to identify you, just to improve your experience on our website. If you do not wish to use the cookies, you can amend the settings on your internet browser so it will not automatically download cookies. However, if you remove or block cookies on your computer, please be aware that your browsing experience and our website’s functionality may be affected.

Website analytics

Our website uses third party data analytics services to report statistics, identify issues that are important to members, and to better target our services to members and prospective members. Although this data is mostly anonymous, it is possible that under certain circumstances, we may connect it to you.

Direct marketing

We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our services, opportunities, or events that we consider may be of interest to you if you have requested or consented to receive such communications. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS, fax and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Australian Spam Act 2003 (Cth). You consent to us sending you those direct marketing communications by any of those methods.

You may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us at any time by following the instructions to “unsubscribe'' set out in the relevant communication or by contacting us using the details set out in the “How to contact us” section below.

How to access and correct your Personal Information

We will endeavour to keep your personal information accurate, complete and up to date.

If you wish to make a request to access and / or correct the personal information we hold about you, you should make a request by contacting us and we will endeavour to respond promptly.

For security, if you contact us to request access to your personal information you may need to provide sufficient information to enable us to verify your identity. Depending on the nature of your request we may ask you to submit it to us in writing.

Links to Third Party websites

The AMA Victoria website may contain links to websites operated by third parties. If you access a third party website through our website, personal information may be collected by that third party website. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party provider or website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party provider or website. Third party providers / websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

Policy Compliance

Any staff or member who becomes aware of any actual or possible instances of non-compliance with this Policy (other than fraud) should report it to the Privacy Officer (who is our Company Secretary), the Chief Operating Officer or the Chief Executive Officer.

Queries and Complaints

If you have a query, concern or complaint about how AMA Victoria handles, processes or manages your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact details below. We may require proof of your identity and full details of your request before we can process your request.

We will acknowledge your query, concern or complaint in a timely manner, investigate it, and make a decision about the steps we will take to resolve your complaint within a reasonable timeframe

It will not always be possible to resolve a complaint to everyone’s satisfaction. If you are not satisfied with our response to a complaint, you have the right to contact the Office of Australian Information Commissioner (at www.oaic.gov.au) to lodge a complaint.

How to contact us

Email: companysecretary@amavic.com.au

Contact Number: (03) 9280 8722

Post:

Attention: Privacy Officer
AMA Victoria
AMA Victoria House
293 Royal Parade
PARKVILLE VIC 3052