Privacy Policy | daisykdaniell

1. Background

This document sets out the policy of the TriSea Financial Group relating to the protection of the privacy of personal information. The TriSea Financial Group consists of TriSea Pty Ltd ABN 95 140 623 007 and TriSea Financial Group ABN 79 197 422 123 and all other related entities of TriSea Financial Group.

This policy document is intended to enable those who interact with the TriSea Financial Group to understand what types of personal information we collect, and what we do with such information in performing our functions and in light of our privacy obligations.

We hold a Tax Agent Registration; we are an Approved SMSF Auditor, and we hold a Limited Australian Financial Services Licence under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (2016). We can authorise representatives who meet the relevant criteria to provide independent financial advice services to their clients - (2016-2021)

We are committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information we collect and receive. This Privacy Policy seeks to explain how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise handle personal information. It also seeks to explain how you can access and correct the personal information we hold about you or complain about any suspected privacy breach.

1.1. What is personal information?

Personal information means information or an opinion, whether true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not, about a living individual who is either identified or reasonably identifiable.

1.2. Our obligations

We are required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). The APPs regulate the manner in which personal information is handled throughout its life cycle, from collection/receipt to use and disclosure, storage, accessibility and disposal.

2. The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

As a business services organisation, our ability to provide you with comprehensive advice on taxation, audit, financial and various business services is dependent on us obtaining personal information about you including:

your name, contact details and date of birth, and those of your partner/dependant;
employment details and history;
financial details including information about your financial needs and objectives, your current financial circumstances including your assets and liabilities, income, expenditure, insurance cover and superannuation;
details of your investment preferences and risk tolerance;
details of any related entities including family trusts, partnerships, and incorporated businesses;
information about your family commitments and social security eligibility;
your Tax File Number (TFN), your Australian Business Number (ABN), etc.
some details in relation to estate planning.

Failure to provide the personal information referred to above may expose you to risks in respect to the services and recommendations made to you and may affect the adequacy of appropriateness of advice we give you.

We will not collect any personal information about you except when you have knowingly provided that information to us or authorised a third party to provide that information to us.

We will only collect, maintain and use personal information about you when it is necessary for us to adequately provide you with the services you have requested including:

consultation, preparation and lodgment of annual tax returns for your individual, company, trust, partnership and self-managed superannuation funds;
preparation and lodgment of GST and IAS statements;
financial advice in relation to taxation and self-managed superannuation fund.

Any information acquired by us in the course of our engagement is subject to strict confidentiality requirements. Information will not be disclosed by us to other parties except as required or allowed for by law or professional standards, or with your express consent. We will not use or disclose personal information collected by us for any purpose other than:

The purpose for which it was provided or secondary related purposes in circumstances where you would reasonable expect such use or disclosure; or
where you have consented to such disclosure; or
where the National Privacy Principals authorise use or disclosure where required or authorised under law, in circumstances relating to public health and safety and in connection with certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body.

Our files may, however, be subject to review as part of the quality control review program of CPA Australia which monitors compliance with professional standards by its members. We advise you under this Privacy Policy, if requested, our files relating to any engagement will be made available under this program. Should this occur, we will advise you. The same strict confidentiality requirements apply under this program as apply to us. We are also obliged pursuant to the Corporations Act to maintain certain transaction records and make these records available for inspection to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

We may collect Personal Information about your representatives, your clients and others when we provide services to you. If we do, you agree to work with us to ensure that we both meet the obligations that we each may have under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (as amended) (Privacy Act). The obligations may include notifying the relevant person to whom the personal information relates who we are and how we propose to use their personal information. Where you have collected personal information, you confirm that you have collected the personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act, that you are entitled to provide this personal information to us and that we may use and disclose the personal information for the purpose/s we provide our services to you. We will handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act.

We may use the personal information collected from you for the purpose of providing you with material and articles that may be of interest to you, however, you may, by contacting us, request not to receive such information in which case we will immediately honour your request.

We may disclose your personal information to superannuation fund trustees, insurance providers, and product issuers for the purpose of actioning your financial plan and the recommendations made by us.

In order to ensure that you receive a personal and tailored service, your personal information is made available to (one or more) of our authorised representatives who will be your primary point of contact with the organisation. It is a condition of our agreement with each of our representatives that they adopt and adhere to this Privacy Policy. You can be assured that all representatives of TriSea Financial Group will maintain your information in accordance with this policy. If you have any concerns in this regard, you should contact us.

We may disclose your personal information to certain contractors or third parties in order to assist or to facilitate giving effect to the delivery, administration, or management of the financial plan or recommendations made by us. Examples of the types of organisations to which we may disclose your personal information include:

Accountants for the purpose of specific taxation advice;
Lawyers for the purpose of specific legal advice (such as Estate planning);
Doctors or other medical service providers for the purpose of assessing any application for life insurance products;
Organisations undertaking compliance reviews or reviews of the accuracy and completeness of our information;
Organisations maintaining, reviewing, or developing our business systems, infrastructure, procedures or computer systems;
Organisations involved in printing our standard documents and correspondence, and posting services;
Organisations providing analysis and research

We seek to make it a condition of our agreement with each of our external contractors or third parties that they adopt and adhere to this Privacy Policy. We will make all reasonable endeavours to ensure that the privacy of your information will be maintained by any contractor or third party to whom it is disclosed in accordance with the Privacy Policy and National Privacy Principles. If you have any concerns in this regard you should contact us.

2.1.Other activities

We may also collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for other purposes explained at the time of collection or:

which are required or authorised by or under law (including, without limitation, privacy legislation); or
for which the individual has provided their consent.

3. Sensitive information

Under Australian law, sensitive information is a subset of personal information that is generally afforded a higher level of privacy protection. Sensitive information includes health and genetic information and information about racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record and some types of bio-metric information.

Our policy is only to collect sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities and either:

the individual has consented; and
we are required or authorised by or under law (including applicable privacy legislation) to do so.

3.1. What if you don’t want to provide your personal information?

If you don’t provide us with your personal information when requested, we may not be able to respond to your request or provide you with the product or service that you are seeking.

4. How we collect and hold personal information

4.1. Methods of collection

We are required by the Privacy Act also to collect personal information only by lawful and fair means. If it is reasonable and practicable, we will collect personal information we require directly from you.

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

by email
over the telephone
through written correspondence (such as letters, faxes and emails)
on hard copy forms
in face to face interviews
through surveillance cameras (which we use for security purposes); and
from third parties, including:

the ATO or ASIC
public sources, such as telephone directories, membership lists of business, professional and trade associations, public websites. ASIC searches, bankruptcy searches and searches of court registries

Where we collect personal information directly from you, our policy is to take reasonable steps to notify you of certain matters. We do this at or before the time of collection, or as soon as practicable afterwards. The matters include:

our identity and how to contact us
the purposes for which we are collecting the information
whether the collection is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court or tribunal order
the third parties (or types of third parties) to whom we would normally disclose information of that kind
whether any of those third parties are located overseas and, if practicable to specify, the countries in which they are located; and
the fact that this Privacy Policy contains information about how to access and correct personal information and make privacy complaints (and how we will deal with those complaints).

Where we collect information about you from a third party, our policy is to take reasonable steps to make sure that you are made aware of the collection details listed above and, if you may not be aware that that we have collected the information, of the fact and circumstances of the collection.

4.2. Unsolicited information

Unsolicited personal information is personal information we receive that we have taken no active steps to collect.

We may keep records of unsolicited personal information if the Privacy Act permits it (for example, if the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities). If not, our policy is to destroy or de-identify the information as soon as practicable, provided it is lawful and reasonable to do so.

5. Disclosure of personal information to third parties

Under the our policy, personal information may be disclosed to the following third parties where appropriate for the purposes set out under heading 2 above:

regulatory bodies for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter- Terrorism, and combating fraud and other crime, in compliance with legislative requirements
bodies such as the Financial Ombudsman Service for the resolution of complaints and disputes
ASIC and similar bodies to comply with our legal obligations
ATO to access information on tax portals
contracted service providers, including:

information technology service providers
mailing houses, freight and courier services
external business advisers (such as advisers, auditors and lawyers)
regulatory bodies as required by law

In addition this may include for Authorised Representatives and their Advisers to insurers, financial services organisations, fraud bureaus or other organisations to identify, investigate or prevent fraud or other misconduct and external dispute resolution schemes.

In the case of these contracted service providers, the CPA Australia Group may disclose personal information to the service provider and the service provider may in turn provide us with personal information collected from you in the course of providing the relevant products or services.

6. Use of government related identifiers

Our policy is to not:

use a government related identifier of an individual (such as a Medicare number or driver's licence number) as our own identifier of individuals
otherwise use or disclose such a government related identifier; and
unless this is permitted by the Privacy Act (for example, where the use or disclosure is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court or tribunal order).

7. Data quality and security

7.1. General

We hold personal information in a number of ways, including in client files, electronic databases, email contact lists, and in paper files held in drawers and cabinets, locked where appropriate. Paper files may also be archived in boxes and stored offsite in secure facilities. Electronic files may also be archived in external drive and stored offsite in secure facilities. Our policy is to take reasonable steps to:

make sure that the personal information that we collect, use and disclose is accurate, up to date and complete and (in the case of use and disclosure) relevant; and
protect the personal information that we hold from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

You can also help us keep your information up to date; by letting us know about any changes to your personal information, such as your email address or phone number.

7.2. Security

The steps we take to secure the personal information we hold include McAfee security (such as encryption, firewalls, anti-virus software and login and password protection), secure office access, personnel security and training and workplace policies.

7.3. Third party websites

Links to third party websites that are not operated or controlled by us, are provided for your convenience. We are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of those websites, which are not covered by this Privacy Policy. Third party websites should have their own privacy and security policies, which we encourage you to read before supplying any personal information to them.

8. Access and correction of your personal information

Individuals have a right to request access to the personal information that we hold about them and to request its correction.

8.1.Access

Our policy is to provide you with access to your personal information, subject to some exceptions permitted by law. We may provide access in the manner that you have requested provided it is reasonable and practicable for us to do so. We may however charge a fee to cover our reasonable costs of locating the information and providing it to you.

8.2.Correction

If you ask us to correct personal information that we hold about you, or if we are satisfied that the personal information we hold is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, our policy is to take reasonable steps to correct that information to ensure that, having regard to the purpose for which it is held, the information is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

If we correct personal information about you, and we have previously disclosed that information to another agency or organisation that is subject to the Privacy Act, you may ask us to notify that other entity. If so, our policy is to take reasonable steps to do so, unless this would be impracticable or unlawful.

8.3.Timeframe for access and correction requests

Except in the case of more complicated requests, we will endeavour to respond to access and correction requests within 30 days.

8.4.What if we refuse your request for access or correction?

We will not provide you with access to your personal information if:

providing access would be unlawful;
denying access is required or authorised by or under law;
providing access would pose a serious threat to the life of or health of a person;
providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
the information is related to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between us, and would not be irrecoverable in those proceedings;
providing access would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations with you in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations;
the request for information is frivolous or vexatious;
providing access would be likely to prejudice certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body, or an enforcement body requests that access not be provided on the grounds of national security

If we refuse your access or correction request, or if we refuse to give you access in the manner you requested, our policy is to provide you with a written notice setting out:

the reasons for our refusal (except to the extent that it would be unreasonable to do so); and
available complaint mechanisms.

In addition, if we refuse to correct personal information in the manner you have requested, you may ask us to associate with the information a statement that the information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, and we will take reasonable steps to associate the statement in such a way that will make it apparent to users of the information.

9. Complaints

If you have a complaint about how we have collected or handled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer.

Our Privacy Officer will endeavour in the first instance to deal with your complaint and take any steps necessary to resolve the matter within one week.

If your complaint can’t be resolved at the first instance, we will ask you to complete a Privacy Complaint Form, which details (for example) the date, time and circumstances of the matter that you are complaining about, how you believe your privacy has been interfered with and how would you like your complaint resolved.

9.1.Complaints process

We will endeavour to acknowledge receipt of the Privacy Complaint Form within five business days of receiving it and to complete our investigation into your complaint in a timely manner. This may include, for example, gathering the facts, locating and reviewing relevant documents and speaking to relevant individuals.

In most cases, we expect that complaints will be investigated and a response provided within 30 days of receipt of the Privacy Complaint Form. If the matter is more complex and our investigation may take longer, we will write and let you know, including letting you know when we expect to provide our response. Our response will set out:

whether in the Privacy Officer’s view there has been a breach of this Privacy Policy or any applicable privacy legislation; and
what action, if any, we will take to rectify the situation.

10. Retention of personal data

All personal data that has been collected from you by us will only be kept for a limited duration that is relevant to the purpose for which your personal data is to be used and for as long as required by applicable law.

11. Further information

Please contact the TriSea Financial Group if you have any queries about the personal information that we hold about you or the way we handle that personal information. Our contact details for privacy queries and complaints are set out below.

Privacy Officer (Mrs Daisy Daniell) on 0411 820 648

12. Changes to this policy

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time with or without notice.