Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (‘ARACY’, ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’) is committed to protecting your personal information as well as complying with obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles.

This policy applies to all initiatives of ARACY including, Thriving Queensland Kids Project and The Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children. This policy explains how ARACY collects personal information, what information we collect, what we do with it, how you can access it and most importantly, how it’s protected. 

Who does this policy apply to?

This policy applies to:

• all of our current and past members whose personal information we have collected; and
• all individuals who interact with us whose personal information is collected by us such as newsletter subscribers, event attendees (both in person and online), professional development participants, partners, contractors, prospective employees and participants in our programs.

What information we collect

Personal information is any kind of information in any form about a person that could be used to identify the person.

Depending on the circumstances, the types of personal information we collect may include a person’s name, occupation, educational qualifications, contact details, financial information for the purposes of processing payments, associations with other organisations such as employers or tertiary institutions as relevant, photographs and videos.

We do not generally collect sensitive information unless it is relevant to the specific program or service, and the person has provided their consent.

How we collect your information

We will generally collect personal information directly from you and the most common circumstances in which we collect your personal information are:

• when you sign up to receive email newsletters from us;
• when you communicate with us through our website;
• when you register for and participate in our events, programs, activities and initiatives;
• when you engage with social media accounts (for example, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn.)

You have the right to not provide personal information to us. However, if you choose not to provide us with the information, then we may not be able to provide you with our services.

If you provide personal information to us about someone other than yourself you confirm that those individuals whose information you have provided have consented to us collecting, using and disclosing their personal information in accordance with this privacy policy.

Purpose of Collection

This collection of personal information may be required to allow you to receive information from us, to register to become a member, to order resources, participate in our events or to receive information about or become involved in our work or other initiatives. 

If you are a service provider, contractor or prospective employee, we collect your personal information to fulfil any purpose related to the reason you provided the information to us.

Where you have agreed to receive emails from us, we may use your personal information to send you emails about our resources, programs, events, training or activities. You will be provided with an opportunity in each email communication to opt out of any further communications from us by unsubscribing. 

Working with children and young people

ARACY aims to provide opportunities for children and young people to have a say and be involved in our work as outlined in our ‘Children’s Voice Position Statement’. To guide our work with children and young people ARACY has a documented process Engaging Children, Young People and Adults in Our Work: Consultation and Remuneration which outlines the type of consent required for participation including providing details about privacy and data security to participants.

Website and digital information

In general, you can browse our website without submitting your personal information to us.

We collect metadata relating to website usage, including by using cookies, to improve our communications activities. A cookie is a small summary file containing a unique ID number sent to your computer that enables us to recognise your computer each time you visit our website.

The types of information collected include a person’s server address, domain name or IP address, the date, time and duration of the visit, the pages accessed, and documents downloaded, and other information.

We use Google Analytics to collect information regarding how people use our website. Google Analytics uses both first person and third-party cookies to record standard internet traffic information and the information is used by us to understand how people use our website.

We may also use other analytics services to understand how visitors reach our website, including from social media platforms and email newsletters, usage patterns on our website, and visitors’ social media profiles.

If a person does not wish to receive any cookies they may set their browser to refuse cookies. However, this may impact on website functionality and the services provided to them.

Our website may also contain links to other websites. While these links are provided for convenience, if you are navigating to these sites, please be aware that the information handling practices of the linked websites may differ from ours. While we try to link only to sites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not unable to guarantee the privacy practices of other websites. 

This privacy notice does not cover the links within this website linking to other websites. Those sites are not governed by this Privacy Policy. If you have questions about how a site uses your information, you will need to check that site’s privacy statement. 

Security and disclosure of information

ARACY will take reasonable steps to ensure that all personal information we collect is held in a secure format and protected from loss and misuse, as well as unauthorised access, modification, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. The information may be held either in hard copy or electronically.

We will hold the information we collect on systems managed and maintained by us and/or our third-party cloud storage service provider who may create a backup of our data and store that backup overseas.  Any such backups of the data may be held in the United States of America. Otherwise, we do not, generally, disclose personal information to recipients outside of Australia.

ARACY will not use or disclose personal information for any secondary purpose, unless the following applies:

• that secondary purpose is related to the primary purpose for which the personal information was collected;
• the person would reasonably expect the use or disclosure; or
• the person consents to the use or disclosure.

We may disclose your personal information to individuals or organisations including:

• our agents and service providers;
• payment systems operators;
• debt collectors and credit reporting agencies;
• our professional advisors;
• other parties to whom we are authorised or required by law to disclose information.

Accessing your information

You can ask us to correct any personal information we hold about you and we will take reasonable steps to amend any information which is incorrect or out-of-date.

You can request access to personal information that we hold about you. You can do this by contacting the Privacy Officer via the contact details provided below.  

We will seek to provide you with access to the information if it is reasonable and practicable to do so. If we cannot provide you with access to the personal information we hold, then we will advise you via return email. We may refuse a request for access include, where providing the information may pose a threat to the health or safety of an individual or the public; may have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of another individual or is not allowed by law.

Complaints or Concerns

If you have any concerns or queries about how your personal information is being handled, please contact our Privacy Officer.

If you wish to make a complaint regarding the handling of your personal information, please send your complaint in writing to our Privacy Officer.

We will acknowledge your complaint as soon as we can after receipt of your complaint. We strive to resolve complaints within 30 business days, but some complaints do take longer.

If we have not responded to you within a reasonable time or if your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you are entitled under the Privacy Act to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Information about making a complaint can be found at http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/making-a-privacy-complaint.

Contact our Privacy Officer

Privacy Officer

GPO Box 2807
Canberra City ACT 2601

02 6204 1610
privacy@aracy.org.au

Changes to this privacy policy

Our Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time.

Policy dated December 2024