This Privacy Statement explains how Ministerial and Parliamentary Services (MaPS) within the Department of Finance (the Department) will handle your personal information.
MaPS administers the provision of non-travel related work expenses and services to parliamentarians and their respective employees, as well as providing car-with-driver services via COMCAR to eligible clients. Some services extend to former Prime Ministers and their staff. MaPS also administers the employment framework for staff of parliamentarians and provides a number of human resources and support services.
Why do we collect personal information?
MaPS collects personal and sensitive information:
- for the administration and provision of resources to current and former Members of Parliament, including their employees and their eligible dependants, under the parliamentary work expenses framework including the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017
- to enable the payment of salaries, benefits and allowances to employees under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (MOP(S) Act)
- to provide support and advice to parliamentarians and MOP(S) Act employees in relation to human resources and work health and safety matters.
- for other purposes such as, maintaining personnel and salary records, recording freedom of information (FOI) requests under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), and assisting with inquiries in relation to alleged misuse of parliamentarians’ work expenses.
What information do we collect?
In order to undertake our functions for the Department, MaPS collects personal and sensitive information, including:
- identifying information such as name, date of birth and gender
- contact information such as postal or other address, phone number, email address
- financial information such as your bank account details, details about your financial situation, superannuation fund details and information and your tax file number*
- information about current and previous employment, performance and conduct information, workers compensation claims and qualifications
- general information that assists us to provide services such as travel preferences, work related expenses, personnel records, citizenship details, immigration status, next of kin, driver's license details and passport information, child support information
- sensitive information, including health information, criminal records and information about racial or ethnic origin.
* We will collect your tax file number for the purpose of managing your pay. You are not required to provide it, but if you do not, it will change the way we withhold tax for you and report to the Australian Taxation Office.
How do we collect personal information?
MaPS generally collects personal information about you by, through or from:
- recruitment and employment documentation
- security clearance documentation
- claim forms
- certifications and acquittals
- telephone, email and other communications from Senators and Members and employees
- other organisations (such as service providers and portfolio departments, if applicable).
The information collected may form part of material kept by the Department including records of:
- use of work expenses claimed by Members of Parliament
- payments system for MOP(S) Act employees
- material prepared for enquiries in relation to alleged misuse of parliamentarians’ work expenses, and
- personnel and recruitment records.
At or before the time we collect your personal information (or as soon as practicable afterwards), we may provide you with a notice (also known as a ‘Privacy Notice’, ‘Privacy Collection Statement’ Notice’ or ‘Australian Privacy Principle (APP) 5 Notice’) containing the following information:
- the purpose for which the information is collected
- if the collection is required or authorised by law, or
- any person or body to whom we usually disclose the information.
MaPS provides this notification on online portals (including PEMS) and paper forms.
How do we use and disclose the information we collect?
MaPS only uses and discloses personal and sensitive information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988. Consistent with this, MaPS may disclose personal information in certain circumstances that include:
- where you have consented to the personal information being disclosed
- for the purpose for which the personal information was collected
- where you would reasonably expect personal information to be disclosed, or we have told you your personal information will be disclosed, for example:
- by disclosing information to external service providers to assist in the provision of services
- by disclosing details, including personal and sensitive information, to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (PWSS) to assist it to perform its functions, including providing support, and reviewing and making recommendations, in relation to MOP(S) Act staff and parliamentarians in the course of their work or employment
- by providing details of expenditure to Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) for publishing on the IPEA website
- by tabling information in the Parliament
- where the disclosure is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order.
How to request access to or correction of information we hold about you, or make a complaint
Details about how you can gain access to or correction of the information we hold about you can be found in the Department's Privacy Policy. The Department's privacy policy can be found here: https://www.finance.gov.au/about-us/privacy-policy-summary