Who we are
In this Privacy Policy “we”, “our”, and “us” refers to Avant Mutual Group Limited ABN 58 123 154 898, and each of its related entities. We, and our related entities, offer professional indemnity insurance, health insurance, life risk insurance and other general insurance products and services as well as member services. We, and our related entities, may maintain additional rules, practices and policies, which are consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Purpose
We are committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information and to handling your personal information in a responsible manner in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the National Privacy Principles.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and disclose your personal information.
This Privacy Policy is current from December 2012. From time to time we make changes to our policy, processes and systems in relation to how we handle your personal information. We will update this Privacy Policy to reflect any changes.
Collection
We collect your personal information in various ways, such as over the phone, in one of our offices, over the internet if you transact with us online, or when you apply for products or services we offer, membership or renewal, report an incident or otherwise transact with us.
The personal information collected and stored by us about you (and other people) may include your name, address, date of birth, gender, health information, details of claims, complaints, incidents and proceedings regarding you or others covered on your policy, credit card and direct debit details, your claims and insurance history and status, practice details, education details and contact details. When you apply for or we need to facilitate a specific product or service, we may also collect information from you related to that product or service.
Personal information of patients and other people
Where necessary, we also collect relevant personal information from you about someone else, such as patients or the persons covered on your policy. If you provide information to us about another person, then you are responsible for telling the other person that you have provided information about them to us. You should tell them who we are, that they may access their personal information, and you may also wish to refer them to this Privacy Policy.
Unless we are notified otherwise, all information, including that of all persons covered on the policy, may be disclosed to you or to the person authorised by you to have access to your policy.
If you are a health practitioner, we recommend you check your place of work has a privacy policy in place and a notice displayed which informs patients that they may, from time to time, pass on personal information about patients to us.
Sensitive information
If we collect sensitive information about you, we do so in accordance with the National Privacy Principles. If you apply for membership, for certain insurance products, for services such as medico-legal advice or risk advice, or make a claim under a policy, we may need to collect sensitive information about you. In administering policies and providing services to you we may also need to collect sensitive information about your patients or the persons covered on your policy. Depending on the policy or situation, this may include details about income, health and medical issues and criminal history.
Collection of personal information from third parties
Whenever possible, we collect your personal information from you. However, there may be occasions when we collect personal information about you from someone else. For example, you may apply for a product or service through a broker, corporate group, association or financial adviser.
We may also obtain information about you from other insurers if, for example, we need to obtain details of prior claims. We may also obtain information about you from medical providers, government bodies or other professional experts in order to provide you with a policy or assess or facilitate a claim you make.
Irrespective of the source of the information, we respect and protect the privacy of personal information.
Use
We will use your personal information in accordance with the National Privacy Principles, such as for the purposes for which it is collected, to provide you products and services, and (subject to this Privacy Policy) for marketing purposes. For example, if you apply for membership or insurance with us, we will collect and use your personal information to:
- assess your application
- underwrite, price, issue and administer any policy
- provide assistance, legal advice and legal defence
- provide risk management and education services
- provide medico-legal and ethical advice \
- investigate, assess and pay any claim made by or against you under your policy, and
- contact you as necessary on issues relating to your insurance or our services.
We also need to collect, use and store your personal information so that we can answer any questions you may have regarding any products or services.
Sharing and disclosure of your information
In providing insurance and other member services to you, we may need to disclose your personal information to third parties including our distributors, agents and brokers, other insurers and reinsurers, solicitors, actuaries, government regulatory bodies, tribunals, courts of law, hospitals, doctors and other ancillary providers, debt collection agents and those involved in managing corporate risk or strategies. We may also disclose information collected between our related entities (this excludes sensitive information, except where it is in de-identified form).
Other than as set in this Privacy Policy, we will not disclose information about you to a company which is not a related entity unless the disclosure is required or authorised by law, or you have consented to our disclosing the information about you.
We may, as permitted by the law, disclose your personal information in an emergency, investigation of suspected criminal activity or where we are authorised or required by law.
We may occasionally need to transfer your personal information to a foreign country, including the United Kingdom, to administer a claim or incident relating to your policy. Should this be necessary we will endeavour to ensure that the recipient will not hold, use or disclose that information in a manner which is inconsistent with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and National Privacy Principles.
We may also from time to time provide statistical data to third parties for research purposes.
We may disclose information about you to outside contractors to carry out activities on our behalf, such as a mailing house, marketing agency, service provider, solicitor or debt collection agent. We impose security and confidentiality requirements on how they handle your personal information. Outside contractors are required not to use information about you for any purpose except for those activities we have asked them to perform.
Receiving marketing material from us
It is our aim to provide you with a range of leading products and services offered by us and our related entities. To do this, we use the information you provide to us for market research so we can better understand your needs. We then provide you with information, marketing materials, and related publications on products and services that we believe will be of interest to you, as well as access to offers and competitions.
We may share your personal information on a confidential basis with our related entities so that they can also offer you products and services.
We will not use or disclose any of your sensitive personal information in any direct marketing.
We provide you with a choice to opt out of our marketing activities, and will respect your request not to receive marketing material from us. If you do not wish to receive marketing material from us, we ask you to contact us. You should inform us if you do not want your personal information to be used and disclosed for marketing purposes. We will implement your request as soon as we can, and apologise if you do receive any materials during the intervening period.
Security
Personal information that we hold is protected by:
- securing our premises;
- placing passwords and varying access levels on databases to limit access and protect electronic information from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure; and
- providing locked cabinets for the storage of physical records.
Our staff have training and information on the National Privacy Principles and the Privacy Act.
We will keep your information so that we can continue to provide the products and services you have requested from us.
Accessing, updating and complaints about personal information
We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
For access to personal information we hold about you, if you believe that the information we have about you is not accurate, complete or up-to-date, or if you have a complaint about the privacy of your personal information, we ask that you contact us in writing:
The Privacy Officer
Avant Mutual Group Limited
PO Box 746
Queen Victoria Building NSW 1230
We will, wherever possible, allow you access to the information we hold about you and correct that information if it is wrong. If we decline a request for access or refuse to update information we will provide you with reasons together with an outline of the procedure that you can follow to have this decision reviewed. No costs will be associated with this request.
Upon receipt of a complaint we will consider the complaint and attempt to resolve it in accordance with our complaints handling procedures.
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of a complaint or the outcome you may make an application to the Australian Information Commissioner. The Australian Information Commissioner will make a determination in accordance with the Privacy Act and the National Privacy Principles.
Privacy Online
Please read our online Terms of Use, which outline how we will treat your personal information when you transact with us on the internet.
