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Privacy Policy

Veteran Mindfulness Australia Pty Ltd

Purpose

This Privacy Policy applies to everyone who interacts with Veteran Mindfulness Australia Pty Ltd ACN 641 718 247 (VMA).

We are committed to protecting your privacy and collect, store, use and disclose personal information responsibly and transparently when we deliver our services and conduct our businesses. 

This Privacy Policy will tell you how we may collect, hold, use and disclose personal information about you, in accordance with the requirements under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Act) and other applicable legislations. Please be sure to read this entire Privacy Policy before submitting personal information to us, our agents or contractors.

In this Privacy Policy, “we” and “us” refers to VMA and “you” refers to any individual about whom we collect personal information.

What is personal information?

Personal information is any information about an individual, such as name, age, telephone number, email address, profession or occupation. If the information we collect personally identifies you, or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered personal information.

What personal information does VMA usually collect and hold? 

The type of personal information we collect and hold may include:

  • your personal details, such as your name and date of birth; 
  • your contact details including postal address, email and phone number;
  • details about your next of kin;
  • health-related information, such as health summary, medical diagnosis, specialists reports, medication requirements, hospital discharge summary, DVA accepted conditions, or your GP details;
  • information relevant to administering your payment arrangements such as your banking details and billing address;
  • government identifiers such as Medicare number, driver licence, Department of Veterans’ Affairs file number etc; 
  • employment information (if necessary e.g. applying for a job with us) such as work history, contact details of referees etc. 
  • any other types of personal information which enables us to deliver our services, perform our activities and functions. 

If you are receiving services from us, all information we collect from you is classified as “sensitive information” under the Act. We will collect, use and/or disclose your personal information with your consent, or otherwise as permitted by law. 

If you are not a client, we will collect, use and/or disclose your personal information in accordance with the Act.

Passive information collection

When you visit VMA’s website and other online resources, our quality and performance software and internet service providers record anonymous information for statistical purposes only, including:

  • the type of browser, computer platform and screen resolution you are using
  • your traffic patterns through our site such as: 
  • the date and time of your visit to the site
  • the pages you accessed, and documents downloaded
  • the previous page you visited prior to accessing our site
  • the Internet address of the server accessing our site

Our quality and performance software uses cookies when collecting this information. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies.  Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but depending on your browser, you can modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of our website.

No attempt is or will be made to identify you or to use or disclose your personal information except where required under a law, for example, a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect our service providers’ logs.

How we collect your personal information

We will, where possible, collect your personal information directly from you, unless it is unreasonable or impracticable for us to do so.

We may collect your personal information in a number of ways, including:

  • directly from you, when you provide it to us or our agents or contractors, such as in an application and other forms, over the telephone or in person;
  • from publicly available resources, such as My Health Record;
  • by analysing our own records of your use of our services; or 
  • monitoring devices such as surveillance cameras installed at various places; 

We may also collect your personal information from:

  • your authorised representatives, for example your legal representative or nominated support person;; 
  • other healthcare and service professionals and health service providers involved in your care if you have given them consent to or as authorised by law;
  • government agencies responsible for administering applicable benefits and entitlements (such as Services Australia, Medicare, Department of Social Services, National Disability Insurance Agency, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other government agencies responsible and/or associated with your services).

We may also collect information about you from your employers, family members, a carer, an attorney, a guardian or other authorised person.

Where our services require payment from you, or where a cancellation fee is charged to you, data may be collected via Stripe to process payments through Stripe. Please refer to Stripe’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy for further details: https://stripe.com/au/legal/ssa

Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?

We require personal information to operate as a business. Non-disclosure or withholding some of your personal information may mean we are unable to meet your request or provide our services to you.

The personal information you provide us may be used for a number of purposes connected with our business operations, which include to:

  • meet your goals;
  • support your chosen quality of life; 
  • verify your identity;
  • facilitate provision of our services to you;
  • create a customer profile and account in our system;
  • administer contracts into which we may enter with you;
  • communicate with you regarding the information provided to us;
  • assist in determining your suitability for a position as an employee or contractor;
  • address or respond to any requests from you;
  • inform you of existing and proposed services which we provide;
  • develop and improve the quality and scope of the services we provide, and seek your feedback; 
  • to assist in investigating your complaints, feedback and inquiries; and
  • for other purposes which are reasonably necessary in connection with our normal functions and activities.

Direct marketing communications

Please note if you are receiving regular email or SMS communication services from us as part of your services delivery, they are not considered as direct marketing communications. 

We will not use or disclose your personal information we hold for the purpose of direct marketing unless you have provided your consent to us, or alternatively as authorised by law. 

You always have the right to opt out of receiving this information and if you would like us to stop, please contact our Privacy Officer and we will remove your contact details from our marketing database within 30 days and for free. 

Who will my personal information be disclosed to?

We may disclose your personal information in certain circumstances, such as where we are required or authorised by law or where you have consented to us doing so.

We may also disclose your personal information to:

  • others in accordance with a request made or consent given by you;
  • persons engaged in providing us with professional, business, technology and corporate services, when reasonably required; and
  • relevant government agencies which regulate or oversee services, operations and activities.  

When making such a disclosure we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient is bound by privacy obligations.

Without your consent, we will not disclose your personal information to third parties.

We may also need to disclose your personal information where we:

  • are under a legal duty to comply with any legal obligation or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions; or
  • need to disclose it to protect our rights, property or safety of our customers or others, including the exchange of information with other companies, organisations and/or governmental bodies for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Does my personal information leave Australia?

We are an Australian organisation and primarily store and manage personal information within Australia. However, to assist us in providing timely and effective services, we may disclose personal information to third-party service providers who support our operations.

Some of these providers (including virtual assistants, administrative support, IT and secure cloud service providers) may be located outside Australia, including in the Philippines, South Africa, the United States or other countries in which our service providers operate.

Overseas recipients may be subject to privacy laws that differ from those in Australia and may not be subject to the Australian Privacy Principles. We recognise the importance of protecting your privacy and, where we engage overseas service providers, we take steps such as implementing confidentiality requirements, maintaining appropriate access and security controls, and limiting access to personal information to what is reasonably necessary for them to perform their functions.

By providing your personal information to us, you acknowledge and consent to its disclosure to overseas recipients in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Access and correction

You have the right to access the personal information that we hold about you. For enquiries regarding access to your personal records, please contact us as specified under “how to contact us” below. 

Any requests for information will be processed within a reasonable timeframe (usually within 15 business days). If the retrieval of information involves accessing archived information and will take longer than normal, we will endeavour to provide you with an estimated timeframe.

You may also request to change the personal information about you. We will take reasonable steps to correct any information that is inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date or misleading. 

If the information retrieval process requires us to allocate additional staff or resources to meet your request, we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee for the costs of retrieval and supply of any requested information.

Under some circumstances, we may refuse you access to personal information where denying access is required or authorised by law, for example if access would pose a threat to life or the health of anyone, where the request for access is regarded as frivolous or vexatious, or where information relates to anticipated or existing legal proceedings. If you are denied access to your information, we will explain why.

While we recognise your rights under APP 12 to access your personal information, we may lawfully refuse direct access if we believe it could pose a serious threat to your health or safety, or that of others, or if it might lead to misinterpretation of complex medical information causing distress or confusion. If you wish to access your information, please contact us directly. We will assess your request and advise you of the appropriate way to access your records. In some cases, we may recommend releasing the information to your treating health professional or a relevant support officer, who can help interpret it accurately. In other situations, we may advise that you submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. If FOI is appropriate, we will provide guidance and the necessary form at that time. Each request will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and we will inform you of any decision and your options. If you do obtain a copy, we strongly advise interpreting it with the support of a qualified medical professional.

Storage and security

We will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard your information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification, disclosure or destruction.  We may store your files on paper format and/or electronically. We implement a range of physical and electronic security measures to protect the personal information that we hold, including physical access restrictions, password protection, multifactor authentications, access being restricted to authorised personnel and encryption of personal information before sending to third party storage providers.

We will retain your personal information while it is required for any of our business functions, or for any other lawful purpose. We will destroy or de-identify personal information in accordance with our data security and data destruction policies or when our legal obligations to retain the information have expired and the information is no longer needed by us.

Notifiable Data Breaches scheme

In the event of any loss or unauthorised access or disclosure of your personal information that is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will:

  • investigate; and
  • notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as soon as practicable, in accordance with the Act.

What if I have a complaint or question?

If you have any questions or concerns about our collection, use or disclosure of personal information, or if you believe we have not complied with this Privacy Policy or the Act, please contact us as set out below.  Our Privacy Officer will investigate the complaint and determine whether a breach has occurred and what action, if any, to take. 

VMA will take any privacy complaint seriously and will aim to resolve any such complaint in a timely and efficient manner, and our target response time is less than 30 days. 

VMA expects our procedures will deal fairly and promptly with your complaint. However, if you remain dissatisfied, you can also make a formal complaint with the Officer of the Australian Information Commissioner (which is the regulator responsible for privacy in Australia):

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)

Complaints must be made in writing

1300 363 992

Director of Compliance, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner 

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001

www.oaic.gov.au

How to contact us

To access and update your personal information, or should you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, or our information practices please contact our Privacy Officer:

Privacy Officer

Email:  info@veteranmindfulness.com.au

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time as updated on VMA’s website: https://veteranmindfulness.com.au/privacy-policy/. Before providing us with personal information, please check this Privacy Policy on our website for any changes.

 

This Privacy Policy was last updated in March 2026.