Vera Living Pty Ltd (ABN 55 631 060 029) (us, we, our) maintain a policy of confidence concerning the personal information we collect from and about individuals (you, your) (Privacy Policy).

This Privacy Policy details how we deal with your personal information and has been developed in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

By providing your personal information to us directly or indirectly you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy.

For the purpose of providing you with our services, where directed, through forms you submit, contact forms you complete, eligibility forms you fill-in or phone calls you have with us, we will collect your name, contact information including address, email address and telephone number, demographic information such as age, guardian or carer details, and any other personal information that you submit to us, via our website or otherwise, including www.veraliving.com.au, our publicly affiliated partner sites, social media websites and others (Sites).

If you connect with us in order to find out more about Specialist Disability Accommodation or to move into Specialist Disability Accommodation, we will collect information about your living arrangements and gender. We may also collect information including health information such as disability and accessibility needs where it is relevant to finding you the most suitable accommodation with your consent.

For the purposes of recommending you appropriate third parties such as Support Coordinators or Occupational Therapists, with your consent, we may collect information including your NDIS number, NDIS plan details, health reports, hospital discharge summaries and information about health needs, individual and informal supports, current living and family situation and other health plans, again in order to provide you with options targeted to your needs. We understand this information is sensitive and will only use it with your consent in accordance with this policy.

We may also from time to time ask for your personal experience of working with us, which may include information on your NDIS plan goals, impact the NDIS has had on you and your family, experiences in previous accommodation and impact on your health among other questions which, with your consent, we may publish on our Sites and other promotional media. We may also ask to collect photographs and/or video footage of you with your consent, which may be used in advertising and promotional materials.

We will only collect sensitive information if you consent and it is relevant to providing our services.

We collect your personal information directly from you in person, over the phone, by email, through digital interaction with our Sites as described above or where a person using our services provides us with your information (for example, if you are the carer of a person with a disability who uses our services and you provide their information as their contact person or advocate). The main ways we collect personal information about you are when you:

We will only collect your personal information from third parties if you give the third party your consent to provide the information to us or it would be reasonably expected. If in doubt, we will always check with the third party if you have provided your consent.

We will only collect sensitive information with your consent.

If someone other than you provides us with personal information about you that we did not ask for, or you provide us with unsolicited personal information, we will only hold, use or disclose this information if we determine that we could have collected this information from you had we asked for it. In this circumstance we will take all reasonable steps to notify you of the collection of that information. If we could not have collected this personal information, we will lawfully de-identify or destroy that personal information.

This Privacy Policy deals with personal information of the Sites’ users, service providers and other third parties.

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which it was given to us, or for purposes which are directly related to the provision of our services.

A number of these purposes may include:

We may also disclose your personal information to anyone authorised by you, or to whom you have provided your consent (either expressly or impliedly) or where another permitted general situation applies (as defined in Section 16A of the Privacy Act).

If we go through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its or their assets, your personal information may be among the assets transferred.

We will not disclose information that personally identifies you to any third party other than as set out in this Privacy Policy.

If you are under 18 years of age you must ask your parent or legal guardian to approve your provision of personal information before you submit your personal details to us.

Cookies are small text files which your web browser saves on your computer or device. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but if you wish you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of our Sites. Cookies help website owners analyse website traffic, and also help certain web applications provide functionality and content tailored to you as an individual. One way cookies can do this is by collecting and remembering information about your browsing preferences. We may use cookies for traffic logging purposes to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and in turn improve our Sites in order to tailor them to user’s needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes. All in all, cookies can help us realise which pages are not optimised or ineffective and therefore alter it to best suit our user’s needs. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

We use personal information about you for the primary purpose of providing you with our services. We may also use it for other purposes for which you might reasonably expect us to use that information. You authorise us to use any email address or other contact information you provide to use at any time for such above purposes.

You can opt out of receiving electronic communications (which may include newsletters, update emails and other communications) at any time. You agree and acknowledge that even if you opt out of receiving information about future events or other services offered by us, we will still send you essential information that we are required to send you relating to the services we provide.

The security of your personal information is of the utmost importance to us and we use all reasonable endeavours to keep your information in a secure environment and to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. If you reasonably believe that there has been unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information please contact us using the details below.

We keep records of the personal information we gather from you and we either password protect these, or store these on a secure server or in locked facilities. You warrant that you will not act in a manner that results in us collecting, using or storing information that is in breach of our obligations at law.

If we no longer need your personal information, unless we are required under Australian law or a court or tribunal order to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy, securely delete, or de-identify your personal information as appropriate.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information held by us is accurate, complete and up to date. If you believe that any of your personal information is inaccurate, please contact us using the below details and we will take reasonable steps to correct it.

We may vary the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time. You should check this Privacy Policy regularly so that you are aware of any variations made to this Privacy Policy.

We may disclose personal information to third parties like technical support writers and communication distributors located overseas, to the extent we use your personal information for these purposes. To the extent that the laws and rights of these countries are not equivalent to the laws of Australia, you agree to be bound by the laws and rights of the relevant extraterritorial jurisdiction. Such countries have data protection laws that are not equivalent to the laws of Australia and you may not have equivalent rights of enforcement.

You may request access to the personal information we hold about you. If you do so we will respond to your request within a reasonable period of time and, where reasonable and practicable, give access to the information in the manner you request. This will be subject to any exemptions provided under the Privacy Act. You may request this information by writing to our Privacy Officer on the details below.

Where it is practical to do so, when contacting us, you have the option to either not identify yourself or to use a pseudonym. However, this will not apply if we are required or authorised under Australian law (or a court or tribunal order) to only deal with individuals who have identified themselves.

If you wish to make a complaint about a breach of the Privacy Act by us, you may do so by providing your complaint in writing to the contact details listed below. You may also make a complaint verbally. We will seek to respond to any complaint within a reasonable period of time. We may seek further information from you in order to provide a comprehensive and complete response.

You may also make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). You may contact the Australian Information Commissioner via telephone on 1300 363 992, by submitting a complaint or inquiry online at www.oaic.gov.au or by writing to the OAIC at GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001.

If you have any questions, or if you wish to contact us for any reason described in this document or other information provided by us, including to correct or access the information we hold about you or to make a complaint, please contact us on the following information:

Attn: The Privacy Officer

Email: info@veraliving.com.au

Address: Suite 11.03, 323 Castlereagh Street, Haymarket NSW 2000