Office of the Merit Protection CommissionerPrivacy notice about your personal information
Reviews of actions
It is important that you read this notice so that you understand how your personal information will be handled as part of your application for review by the Merit Protection Commissioner.
The Merit Protection Commissioner collects personal information about individuals for the purpose of conducting reviews of employment actions under the Public Service Regulations 1999.
This notice is to advise you of the collection of your personal information, how your information will be used and the circumstances in which it may be disclosed to another party. It is issued in accordance with Australian Privacy Principle 5 (APP 5) contained in the Privacy Act 1988. This notice also provides you with information about how you can access and correct your personal information, and how you can make a complaint about the way your personal information has been handled by the Merit Protection Commissioner.
The Merit Protection Commissioner’s privacy policy is available at the Applications page on the MPC website. Further details about the handling of your personal information are provided below.
Applicants for review of action – APP 5 Notice
Who is collecting your personal information? / Your personal information is being collected by the Office of the Merit Protection Commissioner. The Office of the Merit Protection Commissioner is the Merit Protection Commissioner and employees of the Australian Public Service Commission who assist her. Our contact details are listed below.What sort of personal information are we collecting? / Reviews of action cover a broad range of matters. This office may collect information about you where this is relevant to your review application including but not limited to:
- biographical information
- information about your employment history
- information about your conditions of employment including salary and related matters
- information about your employment dispute with your agency
- information about your conduct and behaviour at work, and outside work where this is in connection with your employment
- the opinions of managers and colleagues about your behaviour, performance and other work related matters.
- racial or ethnic origin
- membership of a political association, trade union or professional/trade organisation
- sexual preferences or practices
- criminal record
- health information.
Authority for collection and use of your personal information / The Merit Protection Commissioner has the function of conducting reviews of employment actions in accordance with sections 33 and 50 of the Public Service Act 1999. This includes:
- primary and secondary reviews conducted under Division 5.3 of the Regulations
- reviews of determinations that a former employee had breached the Code of Conduct under Division 7.3 of the Regulations.
- Regulation 5.30 requires an agency head to provide the Merit Protection Commissioner with any documents relevant to the primary review undertaken by the agency. The agency head is also required to provide the review applicant with a copy of all the information provided to this Office.
- Regulations 5.35 and 7.2F compel an agency head or APS employee to provide documents and information specified in a notice given by this Office.
Why does the Merit Protection Commissioner collect your personal information? / This Office collects your personal information for the purpose of reviewing the employment actions you are concerned about and providing recommendations to the agency head.
What would happen if the Merit Protection Commissioner did not collect your personal information? / The Merit Protection Commissioner would be unable to conduct a review of the employment actions you are concerned about if this Office was unable to collect your personal information.
How are we collecting it? / This Office collects personal information about you in three ways:
- where the agency provides information to the Merit Protection Commissioner in response to your request for a review
- where you provide information to this Office as part of your application for review
- where inquiries are undertaken by this Office, for example by interviewing witnesses or your managers.
How will your personal information be used? / The Merit Protection Commissioner is able to use your personal information to conduct the review, form conclusions about the actions you are concerned about and to make recommendations to the agency head.
Your personal information may also be used by the Merit Protection Commissioner in the following ways directly related to the review function:
- to assess the performance of her office, for example by analysing how long it took to complete reviews and the quality of the review decisions
- to provide you with an opportunity to give anonymous feedback on the review process
- to apply the lessons learned from conducting reviews to prepare policy submissions for agencies, the APS, government and Parliament.
Who will the Merit Protection Commissioner disclose your personal information to? / Care is taken to treat the personal information you provide confidentially. However, this office cannot give an absolute guarantee that personal information submitted or given to the office on an ‘in-confidence’ basis will not be disclosed. The Merit Protection Commissioner may disclose your personal information in the following circumstances:
- where comment or response is sought from a third party about information you have provided
- where a third party is afforded procedural fairness before this Office makes a review recommendation. Public Service Regulation 5.33 requires the Merit Protection Commissioner to have due regard to procedural fairness.
- where comment or response is sought from the agency about information you have provided
- The Merit Protection Commissioner will prepare a review report which contains her recommendations and which is provided both to you and the agency. Public Service Regulations 5.31 and 7.2D require the Merit Protection Commissioner to provide reasons for her recommendations in writing to the agency head and the review applicant.The Merit Protection Commissioner also publishes case summaries for the purpose of informing APS employees and agencies about the outcomes of reviews and to assist agencies to improve their people management practices. These are published:
- on the APSC website
- in the Merit Protection Commissioner’s annual report.
The Merit Protection Commissioner may also disclose your personal information in the following circumstances in the interests of the effective and ethical management of the Australian Public Service:
- Where the Merit Protection Commissioner becomes aware of information through a review that suggests that an APS employee may have breached the Code of Conduct, she will refer that information to the relevant agency head, in accordance with Public Service Regulation 9.2(3).
- where the Merit Protection Commissioner considers it to be in the public interest and/or that of the individual or agency, in accordance with subsection 72B(5) of the Public Service Act 1999. Such circumstances may include a risk to health and safety or security and/or unlawful or improper practices.
- where required by law, including but not limited to, an application for access to information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 or as a result of a court/tribunal order.
Access to and correction of your personal information. / The Merit Protection Commissioner’s privacy policy contains information about how you may access and seek correction of your personal information that is held by her Office.
Privacy complaints. / The Merit Protection Commissioner’s privacy policy contains information about how you may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how her Office will deal with complaints.
Overseas disclosure of your personal information. / It is unlikely that your personal information will be disclosed to any overseas recipients.
If you wish to contact the Merit Protection Commissioner about a privacy-related matter, including questions about this notice, please direct your inquiry to:
The Privacy Contact Officer
16 Furzer Street
WODEN ACT 2605
Telephone: 02 6202 3735
Email:.