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PROTECTING YOUR PRIVACY

WFI, as a leading insurance company, is committed to adopting the highest standards to safeguard our clients' personal information.This privacy policy sets out how WFI handles personal information obtained from existing and potential clients. It includes information on how we collect, use and disclose your personal information, how we keep it secure and how we make it available to you if you wish to access or correct it. Like other companies operating in Australia, we are bound by the National Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

Collection of Personal Information

Personal information is information or an opinion about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.

We only collect your personal information to carry out our various business functions or activities, including deciding whether to provide you with insurance cover and, when we do, to manage our rights and obligations under that cover. We also collect information from you so that we and our related companies and business alliance partners can offer you services and products that we believe may be of interest to you. However, you may opt out of receiving such communications by contacting us, stating that you do not want to receive further marketing from WFI, by mail, phone or fax using the contact details overleaf or by email on privacy@wfi.com.au.

We may obtain information from you directly; for example, when you complete a proposal to obtain insurance from us or when you submit a claim form. If you do not provide this information, we may not be able to provide you with the services you require.

We may also collect personal information about you from other people. For example, this may be by way of reports from contractors who have provided services to you, or a report from a business alliance. If we obtain information in this way, we take steps to make sure you are informed of this.

Where you give us personal information about another person, you must be authorised to provide that information and agree to inform them of the information contained within this privacy notice.

On-line Privacy

When you visit WFI's website, our site will automatically send you a "cookie". A "cookie" is a piece of text sent from a web server to your computer, and is used to identify you only by a random number. This information does not personally identify you, but it does tell us that your computer has visited our site and what areas of the site have been browsed. You can decline cookies by adjusting the "accept cookies" setting in your browser, however, this may affect the functionality of the website.

When you visit the WFI site to read, browse or download information, our system will record/log your IP address (the address which identifies your computer on the internet), date and time of your visit to our site, the pages viewed and any information downloaded. This information will only be used for the purpose of site analysis and to help us offer you improved online service. We may automatically collect non-personal information about you such as the type of Internet browsers you use or the site from which you linked to our website. You cannot be identified from this information and it is only used to assist us in providing an effective service on our websites.

Disclosure of Personal Information

We only disclose your information to persons outside of WFI and its associated entities where:

  • necessary for the above purposes e.g. to a risk or claims assessor or investigator, lawyer, reinsurer, agent, sales associate, market research organisation or business alliance partner;
  • a lawful exception applies e.g. to lessen or prevent a serious and imminent threat to a person's life, health or safety; or
  • you consent to us doing so.

Access to and Correction of Personal Information

We will give you access to your personal information wherever possible. If we are unable to provide access we will explain the reason. If you establish that information we hold is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, it will be corrected. To ensure confidentiality, details of your personal information will be passed on to you only if we are satisfied of your identity.

Data Quality and Security

We make every effort to ensure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

Information stored within our computer systems can only be accessed by those entrusted with authority and computer network password sanctions. All WFI employees, agents and service providers acknowledge their responsibility for the security of your personal information entrusted to them by WFI or obtained by them for WFI. Personal information, but not necessarily its statistical data value, is de-identified or destroyed under supervision when we no longer require it.

Our Complaints Handling Procedures

The Privacy Act gives you the right to make a complaint if you consider your personal information has not been dealt with appropriately, or if you would like a review of the reasons provided for not releasing your personal information, where you have requested access.

If you have a complaint concerning a privacy issue, we will do everything possible to resolve your complaint on your initial contact with us. However if we cannot do so, your complaint will be referred to our Privacy Officer. We will respond to any privacy complaint within 15 business days, provided we have all necessary information.

If your complaint remains unresolved, we will treat it as a dispute and it will enter our Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) process. Your complaint will then be considered by a designated Internal Dispute Resolution Officer with the appropriate experience, knowledge and authority to deal with it. We will notify you of our final decision within 15 business days from the date your privacy complaint enters our IDR process, provided we have all necessary information. Details on how to contact our Privacy Officer are noted in this brochure.

Other Options

If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you can refer it to the Federal Privacy Commissioner who will investigate the matter in consultation with you and with WFI.

You can contact the Federal Privacy Commissioner at:

Director, Compliance
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001.
Phone: 1300 363 992
Internet: www.privacy.gov.au

Need help or more information?

If you have any concerns about the information we hold, would like to view your file or would like more information, please contact our Privacy officers.

Queensland, New South Wales and A.C.T
Eastern Operations Manager
Level 2, Toowong Tower
9 Sherwood Road, Toowong QLD 4066
Ph: (07) 3721 5100 Fax: (07) 3871 0776
 
Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia
Southern Operations Manager
Level 4, 440 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: (03) 9342 1200 Fax: (03) 9342 1260
 
Western Australia
Western Operations Manager
184 Railway Parade, Bassendean WA 6054
Ph: (08) 9273 5333 Fax: (08) 9378 2172