Privacy Policy

1. Our commitment to privacy

We take your privacy seriously.

In dealing with your personal information we observe our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and comply with the Australian Privacy Principles, as well other relevant State legislation.

This policy sets out how we will collect, use, store, disclose and de-identify your personal information.

2. The types of information we collect

The types of personal information we collect include:

contact details (name, address, telephone numbers, email, etc);
complaint details;

Expressions of interest for volunteering or employment;

donation history; and

credit card and/or bank account details.

The types of sensitive information we collect include records of communication between us, which may include from time to time, information you provide us or that we collect from others. This includes, but is not limited to, the following types of information:

• tax file numbers;
• personal financial information;
• personal credit card data; and
• any personal information we obtain from you or others about you.

3. Why we collect private information about you

Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital is the largest mobile wildlife hospital in Australia, and the only dedicated, all-species wildlife hospital in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. Our mission is to conserve, protect and ensure positive welfare outcomes for Australian wildlife through treatment, rehabilitation, research and education. Everything we do is underpinned by important principles of ethics and animal welfare.


In order to fund ongoing veterinary care for injured, diseased and orphaned wildlife we are actively involved in fundraising and promoting our organisation to potential donors and sponsors.

We collect information about people to allow us to communicate with them, introduce them to our organisation, inform them of the work we do and encourage donations so we can continue to provide our veterinary services  and deliver wildlife conservation projects.
We do not use the information in any way other than in to promote, raise funds  or otherwise support our organisation.

We generally collect the information we need to deliver and improve the services we provide. This includes processing donations, providing receipts, maintaining accurate details of our donors’ history and sending you information about our work.

We might also use your information for the following purposes:

• for the immediate reason for which you have provided it to us (for example, to enable us to process your request, payment, registration, subscription, etc);
• to maintain contact with you about our work, to report to you about our work, or to encourage you to learn about what we do; and
• any other purpose directly related to our work and for which you have provided consent (where it is reasonably required by law).

We don’t rent or sell your information. In order for us to find new supporters, like-minded organisations both in Australia and overseas may allow us to contact their mailing list. In return we allow these organisations to mail our supporters with information we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive such communications you may contact us at [email protected]


It is our policy to not approach under 18s (where we have this information) to ask for donations. Under 18s should obtain parents’/guardians’ permission before donating or providing Personal Information.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that these organisations are bound by confidentiality and privacy obligations when handling your personal information.

If you don’t want your personal information disclosed to another organisation, please let us know either at the time we collect your information or any later time.

Sometimes we may be legally required to disclose your information, for example, to government departments.

We may also sometimes share non-personal, non-sensitive and de-identified information with research organisations.


4. How we collect your information

We may collect information from you either directly or from third parties. Information we collect from third parties may be by formal or incidental means.

Where we collect information from third parties and it is not personal information that is contained in a Commonwealth record, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the information as required by law.

We collect personal information about donors, supporters, volunteers, employees, contractors and visitors to our events. We collect your information in the following ways:

• face to face contact;
• electronically including through our website and online surveys;
• via social media messages or conversation;
• during phone calls;
• voice or image recordings;
• whilst delivering and administering services at our facilities;
• from forms, coupons and other correspondence (both in writing and electronically); and
• exchanging information with trusted like-minded organisations

5. How we use your information

We only use your personal and sensitive information for the reason we collect it as set out above and for the purpose(s) for which it was collected, or as otherwise permitted by law.

We will not disclose the above information that we collect to affiliates or third parties without your consent.

6. Accessing and correcting your personal information

You can access your information by asking us. Occasionally, we may need to refuse your request to access information, for example, where granting you access would infringe someone else’s privacy.

When you request access, we will ask you to provide some form of identification so that we can ensure that you are the person to whom the information relates.

In some cases, we may also ask you to pay a reasonable fee to cover the cost of access.

If you have a question about this privacy policy or want to access your personal information you can contact us at: [email protected] or call us tollfree on 1300 945 354. We are available to answer your calls 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday (New South Wales time):
We will aim to respond to you within 28 days of receiving your request.

If we’re not able to help with your request, you will receive a written explanation as to why.

7. Complaints about a breach of your privacy

If you are concerned about how we have collected or managed your personal information we request you follow the procedure set out below.

1. Contact us on 1300 945 354 and ask for our CEO.

2. Submit a written Complaint Form to: [email protected] or post to Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, 419 Hinterland Way Knockrow NSW 2479. In order to effectively address your complaint, we may request further information from you about your complaint and the reasons behind it.
4. After we receive all the information we need from you, allow us approximately 28 days to address your complaint.

If you’re not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint you can also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on http://www.oaic.gov.au/

The OAIC is a government body independent of us. It has the power to investigate complaints about possible interference with your privacy.

8. Disclosing your personal information overseas

Occasionally we may use overseas facilities or contractors to process or back-up information or to provide other services.

As a result, we may disclose your personal and sensitive information to our overseas facilities or contractors for these purposes.

However, any disclosure of your personal and sensitive information overseas does not change our commitment to safeguarding your privacy.

We do not otherwise disclose or transfer your personal information overseas.

8. Disclosing your personal information overseas

Occasionally we may use overseas facilities or contractors to process or back-up information or to provide other services.

As a result, we may disclose your personal and sensitive information to our overseas facilities or contractors for these purposes.

However, any disclosure of your personal and sensitive information overseas does not change our commitment to safeguarding your privacy.

We do not otherwise disclose or transfer your personal information overseas.

9. Securing your information

We take reasonable steps to ensure the security of personal and sensitive information we hold and to protect it against loss, misuse or unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure.

Our IT systems are protected and comply with applicable security standards.

Only authorised personnel are permitted to access these details.

It is our policy to:

• permanently de-identify personal information where reasonable and possible; and
• destroy personal information once there is no longer a legal or business need for us to retain it.

10. Anonymity

It is your right to be dealt with anonymously, provided that is it lawful and practicable.

We will try to accommodate a request for anonymity wherever possible, however we note that in some circumstances, this may prevent us from practically and effectively communicating with you.

If this is the case we will notify you.

11. Cookies and links to other websites

Cookies

When you visit our website a record of your visit is logged. The following data is supplied by your browser:

• Your IP address and/or domain name;
• Your operating system (type of browser and platform);
• The date, time and length of your visit to the website; and
• The resources you accessed and the documents you downloaded.

This information is used to compile statistical information about the use of our website. It is not used for any other purpose. If you do not want ‘cookies’ to be used please adjust your browser settings to disable them.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to third party websites, and third party websites may also have links to our website.

Our privacy policy does not apply to external links or other websites.

The operators of other websites may collect your personal information.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any website you link to from our website.