Aware Super is committed to safeguarding the privacy of information provided to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, hold and disclose information that we obtain about you, and your rights in relation to that information.
Your privacy is important to us
This Privacy Policy is addressed to individuals outside our organisation with whom we interact. This includes our members and clients, individual employer clients, authorised representatives of employer client organisations, visitors to our offices and website and users of our mobile app.
We must manage your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”) provides user-friendly information about privacy law and your privacy rights: https://www.oaic.gov.au.
We encourage you to read this Policy carefully, and to regularly check this page to review any changes we might make to this Policy. We have procedures to ensure that the policy is revised after changes to the law or changes to the way we manage personal information.
When we collect Personal Information
We collect personal information from you as part of providing our products and services. The personal information we collect will depend on the context of your interactions with us, and the choices you make, including the products and services you use. We may also obtain personal information about you from third parties.
Whilst you can deal with us anonymously or with a pseudonym where it is lawful and practicable to do so, due to the nature of our business, we may be limited in our ability to provide our services and products applicable to your particular circumstances.
The main way we collect your personal information is when you give it to us directly (e.g. when you complete an application form). We may also collect your personal information:
(i) from your employer when they open a superannuation account on your behalf;
(ii) from another superannuation fund if you transfer benefits into or out of Aware Super;
(iii) when you visit our website or use our online services (including our mobile app);
(iv) when you complete online forms on our public website (e.g. our online complaint form);
(v) when you attend our member seminars, the Annual Member Meeting, or other hosted events;
(vi) when you visit our offices and register as a visitor;
(vii) from other representatives, authorised by you to act on your behalf (e.g. financial adviser, power of attorney, legal adviser);
(viii) when you apply for a role or work placement opportunity, open day or recruitment events with us;
(ix) when government agencies (e.g. the Australian Tax Office, law enforcement authorities) send your personal information to us.
Types of Personal Information Collected
The personal information we collect may include:
- Name, date of birth, address, email address, mobile phone number and other contact details;
- Tax File Number (TFN);
- Government-related identifiers (passport number, driver's license number, Medicare number, Centrelink Reference Number, etc.).
- Payment information including bank account and credit card details;
- Personal information of your nominated beneficiaries;
- Details about your citizenship, residency or visa status.
Financial Advice Clients only:
- Financial information such as bank balance, superannuation balance, assets, liabilities, investments, insurance, income and expenditure;
- Information about your family corporate structure, such as entities or any trusts, including beneficiaries and settlors;
- Information about your family commitments and social security eligibility and entitlements;
- Details of your financial circumstances and objectives including your risk tolerance.
Job applicants only:
- Employment details, educational qualifications and employment history.
Collection of Sensitive Information
Sensitive information includes health information, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, and other items. It has a higher level of privacy protection under the APPs. This is because inappropriate handling of sensitive information can have adverse consequences. For example, discrimination or mistreatment is sometimes based on a person’s health background or ethnic origin.
Sometimes we may need to collect sensitive information about you. For example, to process an insurance claim or to manage a complaint. Some of this information may be collected from you and provided to our insurers. If required, we may obtain independent medical reports directly from your medical practitioner(s).
We will only collect sensitive information with your explicit consent.
Use of Personal Information
We use your personal information to carry out our functions or activities or to provide you with a product or service, including to:
- open and administer your member/client account and records;
- administer the financial and superannuation products and services that you acquire from or through us;
- manage insurance claims for superannuation members;
- locate different superannuation accounts in your name and, if necessary, use your TFN to match your accounts and consolidate them;
- provide you with financial planning advice and related services, including the preparation of advice documents and implementation documents (i.e. to implement financial planning recommendations for you);
- conduct identity verification (for security purposes and/or to comply with AML/CTF obligations);
- directly market our products and services to you, including through web pages, social media and other digital platforms;
- undertake market research*, member/client satisfaction surveys and member/client data analysis;
- improve our products and services;
- facilitate our internal review procedures;
- assist employers in meeting their superannuation obligations;
- administer deceased estates;
- conduct pre- and ongoing employment background checks; and
- comply with all applicable laws.
If you apply for a job with us, we will collect your information for recruitment purposes, to manage your application and your ongoing employment.
*On some occasions (such as participating in a market survey), you may have the option to deal with us anonymously or use a pseudonym.
Disclosure of Personal Information
We may disclose your personal information to third parties. We will only do so if you have consented to it, or if we are permitted to do so by law. This includes disclosure to:
- our related entities;
- financial institutions, payroll platforms, clearing houses;
- our legal advisers and auditors;
- your employer or former employers
- our service providers (which may include data hosting or document management companies, IT service providers, marketing and research companies, or other advisers (including those that use artificial intelligence systems or algorithms);
- other super funds, retirement savings account providers, or annuity providers (when you transfer into or out of our fund);
- our insurer, and any relevant medical, health and wellbeing professionals, in connection with an insurance claim;
- any relevant third-party provider, where our website and our app use third-party advertising, plugins or content. We recommend that you review that third party’s privacy policy before interacting with its advertising, plugins, or content.
- any party you have authorised to act on your behalf (such as your power of attorney, trustee or financial adviser);
- government agencies and regulatory bodies (such as APRA, ASIC, ATO, Centrelink, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, WorkCover);
- your spouse or former spouse as required by a court order under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)
- international organisations with your consent (such as a KiwiSaver fund);
- any relevant party, law enforcement agency or court, as required by law; and
- any relevant third-party acquirer(s), in the event that we sell or transfer all or any portion of our business or assets (including in the event of a reorganization, dissolution or liquidation).
If we disclose your personal information to service providers that perform business activities for us, they may only use your personal information for the specific purpose for which we do disclose it to them.
Direct Marketing
We use your personal information to send you direct marketing communications and information about our services and products. In doing so we comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth), and any other applicable legislation.
You can opt out of receiving direct marketing communications by logging into your account online, contacting us using the details provided in this Policy, or by using the relevant opt-out facilities provided in each communication (e.g. an unsubscribe link).
We engage third party service providers to assist us with delivering direct marketing via various channels, including through social media and other digital platforms. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is protected when disclosing information to such third parties. Sometimes, we may de-identify your information before disclosing it to third parties to facilitate our marketing activities.
We generally do not use sensitive information for direct marketing. We would only use or disclose your sensitive information for direct marketing with your express consent.
Cookies
We use cookies and other similar technologies, such as marketing and tags, for several purposes. This includes collecting information about the number of visitors to the site and customer demographics. This information is used to improve the customer experience of the site and tailor advertising campaigns we do on external websites.
Cookies are small text files that may be stored on your computer or mobile devices (including tablets) when you visit a website. They help websites remember information about your visit, like your country, language and other settings to make your browsing experience as friendly as possible. Cookies may also retain IP address information.
Some cookies are temporary and will disappear when you close your browser. Others are persistent and will stay on your computer for some time.
You can change your browser settings for each website you visit. Different browsers make different controls available to you. Generally, your browser will offer you the choice to accept, refuse or delete cookies from providers that the website owners use (i.e. third-party cookies) or those from specific websites. Each browser’s website should contain instructions on how you can do this.
Consumer Insights
We may collect, use or disclose personal information about you to combine the information that we hold about you with information collected from or held by other trusted partners or from public sources. We do this to enable the development of consumer insights about you so that we and other trusted companies can serve you better.
This includes being able to better understand your preferences and interests, personalise your experience, enhance the products and services you receive, and to tell you about products and services.
We may also use trusted service providers to create these consumer insights. If you don’t want us to develop and use these insights about you, you must “Opt-out”. To do so, please contact us using the information provided in the contact details section below.
Holding Personal Information
We may hold personal information in hardcopy and electronic formats, including cloud storage. Hardcopy documents are securely stored by a third-party provider located in Australia. The data centres for our major third-party providers (registry systems) are located in Australia.
Storing personal information overseas
In some cases, we engage third parties to host electronic data (including data in relation to the services we provide) on our behalf. These data warehouses may be located overseas including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the EU. The data protection laws in these countries may be different from those in Australia. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipients of your data are subject to appropriate contractual obligations to safeguard and protect your personal information and comply with applicable privacy obligations.
Keeping your personal information secure
We utilise various security measures to protect your personal information. These include physical measures (for example, security passes to enter our offices and storage of files in lockable cabinets) and electronic measures (for example, access restrictions, firewalls, encryption, user-logons and passwords, multi-factor authentication and digital certificates).
Members, clients and employers have access to their accounts online, where their personal information is held in a secure environment. If you visit an unsecured area of our public website, that does not require your log in details, we will not collect or retain your personal information. If you complete any forms on the public website, we will keep your contact information secure.
As far as reasonably practicable, we make sure that our relationships with third parties include appropriate protection of your personal information.
Access to and correction of your information
You have a right to know what personal information we hold about you and to access it or correct it.
We can usually supply this information free of charge. However, for complex requests we may charge a fee for access if the relevant legislation allows us to do so. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) provides limited circumstances in which some or all access to your information may be denied. If this applies to you, we will explain this to you when you ask for your information.
The easiest way to correct your personal information is to log into your account online and update your personal details. You can also send us a hardcopy form or call us. For some updates, such as a change of name, we need you to supply supporting documentation.
Enquiries and complaints
If you have any comments, questions or concerns about data privacy or would like to make a complaint about a breach of your privacy, please visit our Enquiry Form, or contact us using the details below.
Contact details
Phone: 1300 650 873 Mon-Fri 8AM-7PM (AEST/AEDT)
International: +61 (3) 9131 6373
Email: enquiries@aware.com.au
Web: www.aware.com.au
Post: GPO Box 89, Melbourne VIC 3001
Generally, we will endeavour to respond to or resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. If you are not satisfied with the outcome provided, or we have not responded within 30 days of receipt of your complaint, you can submit a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):
OAIC
Online form: oaic.gov.au
GPO Box 5288,
Sydney NSW 2001
Call: 1300 363 992
If your complaint includes both a privacy-related issue and a non-privacy related issue, you can contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA):
AFCA
Online form: www.afca.org.au
GPO Box 3 Melbourne VIC 3001
Email: info@afca.org.au
Call: 1800 931 678
This privacy policy applies to the following entities:
- Aware Super Pty Ltd (ABN 11 118 202 672) as the trustee for Aware Super (ABN 53 226 460 365);
- Aware Financial Services Australia Limited (ABN 86 003 742 756);
- Aware Super Legal Pty Ltd (ABN 91 606 835 170; and
- Aware Super Services Pty Ltd (ABN 67 633 384 059).
References to “Aware Super”, “we”, “us” or “our” throughout this document refer individually or collectively to the above entities.
Last updated: May 2025