Privacy Policy

Bayside Church is a non denominational  situated in Cheltenham, Melbourne. Its mission as a New Testament church with Jesus at its foundation is to bring healing to people’s lives, as well as equipping God’s people to properly carry out their ministry in the Church Community and beyond. In fulfilling its mission it respects the privacy of its congregation, staff and visitors. Its Privacy of Information Policy as enumerated below fulfils the requirements of the Commonwealth Privacy Act (Amendment 2000) and related Victorian Government legislation (Information Privacy Act 2000).

Bayside Church reserves the right to amend its Privacy of Information Policy as required. 

This policy will be made available to any person requesting a copy.

1. Purpose and Scope

Bayside Church is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of members, visitors, staff, Board members, volunteers and stakeholders in the way information is collected, stored and used.

This Policy outlines how we deal with your personal information as to our legal obligations and rights to that information. If we agree with you to use or disclose any of your personal information in ways which differ to those stated in this Policy, the provisions of that agreement will prevail to the extent of any inconsistency.

2. Definitions

Privacy provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 govern the collection, protection and disclosure of personal information provided to Bayside Church (the Church) by members, visitors, Board members, staff, volunteers, and stakeholders.

Confidentiality applies to the relationship of confidence. Confidentiality ensures that information is accessible only to those authorised to have access and is protected throughout its lifecycle. Confidential information may be marked as such or deemed confidential by its nature, e.g. it is information that is not available in the public domain.

Consent means voluntary agreement to some act, practice or purpose. Consent has two elements: knowledge of the matter agreed to and voluntary agreement.

Individual means any person such as a member, visitor, staff person, Board member, volunteer, contractor or a member of the public.

Organisational information includes publicly available, and some confidential, information about organisations. Organisational information is not covered in the Privacy Act (1988) but some organisational information may be deemed confidential.

Personal information means information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database) about an individual (Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, 2001). It may include information such as names, addresses, bank account details. The use of personal information is guided by the Federal Privacy Act (1988).

The public domain in relation to confidentiality is “common knowledge,” i.e. information that can be accessed by the public.

3. Principles

Bayside Church is committed to ensuring that information is used in an ethical and responsible manner.

This Policy sets out how we manage your information. It sets out:

  • What information we collect and hold
  • How we collect and hold information
  • Why we collect, hold, use and disclose your information
  • How you can access your information
  • How you can correct your information
  • How you can complain about the handling of your personal information.

4. Policy Detail

4.1 Information we collect and hold

The Church collects personal information from church attendees, visitors, staff, and other individuals primarily for the purpose of providing personal ministry to those individuals, to administer their engagement with the Church and ministries (including any volunteer activities) and to provide information about the Church’s events and ministries. Without personal information, it is not practicable for the Church to provide such services to individuals.

The main types of information that the church collects are name and contact details and pastoral history. Our records also include details of events, services and volunteer activities in which the person has participated.

4.2 How we collect your Information

We collect most of this information directly from those individuals, such as when someone attends a Church meeting, personally provides information to a Church staff member, leader or volunteer, or fills in a Church survey or contact card.

4.3 How we use your information

The Church does not routinely disclose personal information to external individuals or organisations without consent. Only Church staff, leaders and selected volunteers access the information in order to use it for the purposes for which it was collected. The circumstances when we might disclose this information include:

  • when required by law
  • when it is necessary for the purpose for which the information was collected such as providing booking details to a conference organisation
  • when it is necessary or desirable to protect the personal safety or welfare of the individual or another person
  • when a change in the Church’s organisational structure makes it necessary

Like most organisations, from time to time the Church may use contractors who could have access to personal information on our systems, such as IT technicians. Any contractors who have access to personal information relating to the church attendees are required to adhere to the Privacy Act and may not retain this information or use it for any unauthorised purpose.

4.4 How we hold your information

We hold your information in our onsite filing system. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal information held is protected from:

  • Misuse, interference and loss
  • Unauthorised access, disclosure or modification.

When we no longer require personal information (including when we are no longer required to keep records relating to you), we take reasonable steps to ensure that it is destroyed or deidentified. Computer records are archived securely.

4.5 Electronic Communication

4.5.1 Visiting our Website

Anytime you access an unsecured part of our website, (that is, a public page that does not require you to log on), we will collect information about your visit, such as:

  • The time and date of visit;
  • Any information or documentation that you download;
  • Your browser type; and
  • Internet protocol details of the device used to access the site.

4.5.2 Cookies

A “cookie” is a small text file which is placed on your internet browser and which we may access each time you visit our website. When you visit the secured pages of our website (i.e. pages that you must provide login details to access) we use cookies for security and personalisation purposes.

When you visit the unsecured pages of our website (i.e. public pages that you can access without providing login details) we use cookies to obtain information about how our website is being used.

You may change the settings on your browser to reject cookies; however, doing so might prevent you from accessing the secured pages of our website.

4.5.3 Email

When we receive emails, we will retain the content of the email and our response to you where we consider it necessary to do so.

4.5.4 Security

We use up-to-date security measures on our website to protect your personal information. Any data containing personal, credit card or related information which we transmit via the internet is encrypted.

4.6 Accuracy

We take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information that we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, if you believe your information is incorrect, incomplete or not current, you can request that we update this information by contacting Bayside Church.

4.7 News and information

We may use your personal information, including your contact details, to provide you with information about our activities.

We will consider that you consent to this, unless you opt out. You may opt out at any time if you no longer wish to receive information through a channel, like email, or by unsubscribing from weekly email updates. You can also make this request by contacting Bayside Church.

4.8 Changes to the Privacy Policy

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time (without notice to you) that are necessary for our business requirements or the law. Our current Privacy Policy is available on our website.

4.9 Questions and complaints

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about this Policy, or the handling of your personal information, please contact Bayside Church. You can also contact Bayside Church if you believe that the Privacy of your personal information has been compromised or is not adequately protected.

Once a complaint has been lodged, Bayside Church will respond to you as soon as possible. We will aim to deal with your complaint at the time of your complaint. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, please let us know and we will investigate further and respond to you.

If you remain unsatisfied, you may contact the Federal Privacy Commissioner (see below).

Bayside Church

Telephone: (03) 9585 2455
Email: privacy@baysidechurch.com.au

Federal Privacy Commissioner

Post: GPO Box 5218  Sydney  NSW  2001
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Website: www.oaic.gov.au

Formulated and Approved by the Board of Bayside Church Inc. August 2019