About this privacy notice
This is the AusCheck privacy notice – National Health Security.
The Department of Home Affairs (the department) is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in Schedule 1 to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). The APPs regulate how we collect, use, store and disclose personal information, and how you may seek access to, or correction of, the personal information that we hold about you.
This notice explains why we (the department) are collecting your personal information and how we will manage it. Further information about our personal information handling practices is available from the department’s privacy policy.
The AusCheck Act 2007 (AusCheck Act) and the AusCheck Regulations 2017 (AusCheck Regulations) authorises and requires the department to collect certain personal information to administer background checking.
This document explains:
- what personal information is collected when a National Health Security (NHS) entity lodges a background check on your behalf
- how your personal information will be used and disclosed, and
- where you can find more information about the department’s handling of personal information.
Why we collect your personal information
We collect your personal information to verify your identity and conduct background checks on you which allows your NHS entity to determine your eligibility to be an authorised person.
Under the Security Sensitive Biological Agent Standards 2013 (SSBA Standards), a person who does not currently hold a national security clearance of Negative Vetting Level 1 (NV1), Negative Vetting Level 2 (NV2), or Positive Vetting (PV) must undergo an AusCheck coordinated background check before they can be authorised to:
- handle Tier 1 Security Sensitive Biological Agents (SSBAs)
- access a facility where Tier 1 SSBAs are handled, or
- access sensitive information relating to Tier 1 SSBAs.
NHS entities registered to handle Tier 2 SSBAs under the SSBA Regulatory Scheme may also require persons to undergo a background check. Your NHS entity will apply to AusCheck for a background check on your behalf.
Persons who have undergone a background check are required to notify their NHS entity of any changes to their name within 30 days of the change. Your NHS entity will notify AusCheck of the change of name within 2 business days.
Consent
Under the AusCheck Act and AusCheck Regulations, by accepting this privacy notice and applying to become an authorised person under the SSBA standards, you are taken to have consented to an AusCheck coordinated background check and to your identity being verified.
This consent applies to the initial background check required as part of your National Health Security (NHS) application, as well as any further background checks required or permitted by the AusCheck Act or other legislation. This includes:
- a further background check in circumstances where it is reasonably suspected that the information provided for the original background check was incomplete, the application requirements were not met, or the advice given as a result of that check was inaccurate or incomplete, and
- a further background check in circumstances where an authorised person is convicted of a health security relevant offence. You must report this conviction to your NHS entity. The NHS entity will report the conviction to AusCheck and a new background check will be undertaken. Your authorised person status will be suspended pending the outcome of the new background check.
You will be prompted to provide consent to have your identity documents electronically verified with the document issuer or official record holder through third party systems. Failure to provide this consent, or withdrawing this consent, means an identity check cannot be undertaken. If an identity check is not undertaken, AusCheck cannot perform the background checks.
What personal information is being collected about me?
Your personal information will be collected by the NHS entity and disclosed to the department to conduct a background check and to perform online verification.
The personal information required by regulation 5 of the AusCheck Regulations includes:
- identity information: your full name, all former full names, all other names, titles, pseudonyms and aliases which you are or were known by, use or have used to identify yourself (variants, including variants in spelling are taken to be different name, titles pseudonyms or aliases), date and place of birth, gender, contact details, current residential address, and all other previous residential addresses for the past 10 years
- a recent photograph showing your full face, and head and shoulders
- work and study information: the name, telephone number and business address of your employer and/or the name and business address of the institution where you are studying.
If an ‘immigration check’ is requested by your NHS entity, AusCheck will also need the following information:
- immigration information: your passport number, and the number and expiry date of any visa granted to you enabling you to travel to and enter, remain and/or work in Australia.
If your NHS entity or employer or institution has asked you for any additional personal information, you should contact them to clarify why that additional information is required.
AusCheck may request you or your NHS entity to provide further information if doing so is necessary for the purposes of meeting background check application requirements, ensuring all required information is provided for completing a background check. This request may be given whilst the background check is being undertaken, or whilst your background check is valid.
What happens if my personal information is not collected?
If AusCheck does not collect your personal information, a background check cannot be conducted, and you would be unable to be an authorised person.
How will my personal information be used?
Your personal information will be used, disclosed and stored securely in accordance with the APPs in the Privacy Act.
AusCheck will store your personal information in the AusCheck database, and only use and disclose your personal information for purposes permitted by law, including:
- verifying the identity of an individual - this includes a comparison of your personal information, including photograph, against information of other applicants for the purpose of identity assessment by AusCheck. Steps are taken where possible to limit the ability to re-identify any comparison information
- determining whether a background check is required or permitted
- conducting and advising on the outcome of a background check
- updating information on an individual who has undertaken a background check
- providing updated advice on the outcome of a background check if the initial advice was inaccurate or incomplete (this may involve further background checking)
- providing an online verification service that will verify if a person is eligible to become an authorised person
- responding to a national security incident
- performing functions relating to law enforcement or national security by the Commonwealth, a Commonwealth authority, or a state or territory authority.
Your personal information will be stored in the AusCheck database for these permitted purposes.
Your personal information may be disclosed to an overseas recipient but only in specific instances where this disclosure is permitted by the Privacy Act.
When conducting a background check, AusCheck will disclose your personal information to:
- The Department of Home Affairs: AusCheck will disclose your personal information to other parts of the department to electronically verify your identification, or to check your citizenship status or your legal right to work in Australia. This information may also be used for immigration compliance purposes.
- Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO): ASIO will assess your background and any past activities to determine whether there could be a threat to national security. ASIO will keep your information and use it for national security purposes, including those purposes set out in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979.
- The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC): The ACIC will check your criminal record in the databases of all Australian legal jurisdictions and supply a copy of your criminal record to AusCheck. AusCheck will provide you with an opportunity to review your security relevant offences before finalising the eligibility assessment. If you dispute the details of these offences, you are required to contact AusCheck in the first instance. AusCheck can provide details of your dispute to the ACIC, but you may need to contact the relevant police in the jurisdiction in which the offence occurred to directly query your criminal record. The ACIC may also use and store your information to perform functions related to law enforcement purposes, including those purposes set out in the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002.
What happens after my background check is complete?
AusCheck will use the results of these checks to advise your NHS entity if you have:
- an ‘adverse’ criminal record as collected by the ACIC
- an ‘adverse’ or ‘qualified’ security assessment as assessed by ASIO
- the right to work in Australia.
If you have a qualified criminal record, your NHS entity has discretion about whether to authorise you on the basis of your criminal record. AusCheck will provide your NHS entity with the details of your convictions for health security relevant offences to assist them when making this decision. Your NHS entity may authorise you for up to 12 months before you must undergo a new background check to be reauthorised.
AusCheck will keep your personal information on the AusCheck database. NHS entities, inspectors for the SSBA Regulatory Scheme (where access is provided by NHS entities), as well as Commonwealth, state and territory authorities seeking access for the purposes of performing functions relating to law enforcement or national security can access this information in certain circumstances authorised by law.
Transfer of result of background check to new entity
Under the SSBA Standards, if you commence work at a different NHS entity from the one that applied for the background check, you can consent to the transfer of the result of that background check to the new NHS entity. The new NHS entity may then consider that result when deciding whether to authorise you under the SSBA Standards. The new NHS entity will contact AusCheck to verify the result of that background check following your consent to transfer results.
If the result of that background check was that you have a qualified criminal record, AusCheck will provide the new NHS entity with the details of your convictions for health security relevant offences to assist them when deciding whether to authorise you under the SSBA Standards.
The new NHS entity can authorise you for the period up until when a new background check would have been required. For an ‘eligible’ result, this is two years from the initial background check. For a ‘qualified’ result, this is 12 months from the initial background check.
How you can access or correct your personal information
You can make a request for access or correction of your personal information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) and the Privacy Act. Our privacy policy explains how you can seek access to the personal information that we hold about you, or how can you seek to have this information corrected.
Concerns and complaints
The department is committed to protecting the personal information with which it is entrusted in accordance with the Privacy Act. If you believe that the department has handled your personal information in a way that breaches our obligations in the APPs, our privacy policy explains how you can make a complaint and how we will deal with your complaint.
How to contact us
Contact AusCheck(Opens in a new tab/window).
Alternatively, you can provide feedback by:
- using the department's online feedback form(Opens in a new tab/window)
- writing to
The Manager Global Feedback Unit
GPO Box 241
Melbourne VIC 3001
Australia