Privacy Policy

This policy outlines the personal information handling practices of Transition Australia.

Transition Australia also has a short version of this privacy policy.

Personal information has the meaning given to it by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“the Act”). In general terms, it is any information that can be used to personally identify an individual. If the information we collect personally identifies an individual, or they are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered personal information.

This policy is written in simple language, addressed from the perspective of Transition Australia’s obligations (“we”, “us” and “our”) to individuals whose personal information we manage (“you” and “your”).

Our specific obligations when collecting and handling your personal information are outlined in the Act and, in particular, in the Australian Privacy Principles (“the APPs”) found in that Act. A summary and the full text of the APPs can be accessed at https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles/australian-privacy-principles-quick-reference/.

We will update this privacy policy when our information handling practices change. Updates will be publicised on our website and through our newsletter.

Overview

We collect, hold and disclose personal information to carry out our functions and activities in accordance with our purposes, which are set out in our Rules of Association.

These purposes are to support the effectiveness of Transition Towns and other not-for-profit organisations in Australia that are working to advance an ecologically regenerative and socially just future by:

raising and distributing funds to support the ability of these organisations to carry out activities that advance an ecologically regenerative and socially just future;
providing a platform for all people interested in creating an ecologically regenerative and socially just future so they can identify common needs and community-led possibilities for positive change, discuss best practices and share inspiration and learnings;
curating, developing and distributing tools, training and other resources to support organisations to carry out activities that advance an ecologically regenerative and socially just future;
engaging with the public, private and civic sectors across Australia to advance the aims of ecological regeneration and social justice in regard to public policy and decision-making processes; and
being affiliated with the international Transition Network and liaising with other national Transition Town Hubs and national not-for-profit sustainability groups in seeking to achieve an ecologically regenerative and socially just future throughout the world.

Collection of your personal information

At all times, we try to collect only the information we need for the particular function or activity we are carrying out.

The types of personal information we collect and hold may include your name, email address, phone number, place of residence (town, post code, municipality, state), age or date of birth, and other information about you that you choose to provide such as the group you’re affiliated with and your areas of interest or activity.

How we collect your personal information

The main way we collect personal information is when you give it to us. For example, we collect personal information such as name and contact details when you:

email or otherwise correspond with us;
subscribe to our newsletter;
register as a member of Transition Australia;
join our Committee as an office bearer or ordinary Committee member;
register for, attend, or participate in one of our meetings or other events;
submit an event to our online events calendar on our website;
submit a group to be listed on our website;
request permission to create and administer a group sub-site on our website;
create or edit articles for our website or other distribution platforms;
collaborate in the delivery of services;
make donations or provide other financial support.

In some circumstances, we may be provided with personal information about you from a third party, usually in situations where you would reasonably expect that information to be provided. For example, a transition or sustainability group with whom you are associated may identify you as the group’s primary contact person to respond to enquiries or requests.

Collection when accessing and using our website

Our website is hosted on a server in Sydney, Australia.

We use Google Maps API to generate search results by distance when you use our mapping tools to find a group or event near you.

We also use Google Analytics to collect data about your interaction with our website. The main purpose of collecting your data in this way is to improve your experience when using our site. We also use this data to understand and report on which content pages and downloads are accessed by visitors.

The types of data we collect with these tools include:

your device’s IP address (that is, the electronic addresses of computers connected to the internet)
search terms and pages visited on our website
date and time when pages were accessed
downloads, time spent on page, and bounce rate
referring domain and out link if applicable
device type, operating system and browser information
device screen size
geographic location (city).

You can prevent Google Analytics from tracking your site visit by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

In some cases we may collect your personal information through the use of cookies. When you access our website, we may send a “cookie” (which is a small data file containing a unique ID number) to your computer for record keeping purposes and to enhance functionality on the website. This enables us to recognise your computer and greet you each time you visit our website without bothering you with a request to register.

If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can set your browser preferences so that your computer does not accept them.

Social media services

We use social media services (such as Facebook) to communicate with the public about our work. When you communicate with us using these services, we may collect your personal information, but we only use it to help us to communicate with you and the public.

The social media service will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. These services have their own privacy policies. You can access the privacy policies for Facebook and other social media services on their websites.

Use and disclosure

We generally use and disclose your personal information only for the primary purpose for which you provided it, for a reasonably expected secondary purpose, where required by law, or otherwise by consent.

Common situations in which we use and disclose personal information include:

to answer your inquiries or provide information or services requested by you;
to process applications for membership of Transition Australia;
to notify members of upcoming annual general meetings and other activities;
to grant you access to an online meeting or in-person event;
to provide you access to protected areas of our website (such as editor access to a group’s sub-site);
to update our records and keep your contact details up to date;
to assess any claim made under our insurance policies;
to assess the performance of the website and improve its functionality and operation;
to comply with any legal obligation under any law or direction of a regulator or law enforcement body (such as disclosure of the Committee members’ details to the ACNC as required under the ACNC Act 2012 (Cth)).

We do not provide your personal information to other organisations for the purposes of direct marketing.

Disclosure of personal information overseas

Our website server is hosted in Australia.

Our CRM (customer relationship management, including mailing lists and registrations) are managed by SupporterHub, which is based in Australia and is bound by the Australian privacy legislation. SupporterHub operates globally and may transfer data to countries outside of Australia. As noted in its Privacy Policy, where an overseas country does not have an equivalently strong data protection law in place, SupporterHub will ensure strict contractual protection applies to ensure adequate privacy safeguards are in place.

Web traffic information is disclosed to Google Analytics when you visit our website. Google stores information across multiple countries. You are able to opt-out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

When you register or attend one of our online events through Zoom, your personal data may be transferred, stored and processed overseas. Zoom operates globally and protects personal data in accordance with its Privacy Statement wherever it is processed.

When you communicate with us through a social media service (such as Facebook), the social media provider and its partners may collect and hold your personal information overseas. These services have their own privacy policies. You can access the privacy policies for Facebook and other social media services on their websites.

Quality of personal information

To ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, up-to-date and complete we endeavour to:

record information in a consistent format
where necessary, confirm the accuracy of information we collect from a third party or a public source
promptly add updated or new personal information to existing records
regularly audit our contact lists to check their accuracy.

We also review the quality of personal information before we use or disclose it.

Storage and security of personal information

We take steps to protect the security of the personal information we hold from both internal and external threats by:

regularly assessing the risk of misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure of that information
taking measures to address those risks, for example, we keep a record (audit trail) of when someone has added, changed or deleted personal information held in our electronic databases and regularly check that staff only access those records when they need to
conducting regular internal and external audits to assess whether we have adequately complied with or implemented these measures.

Accessing and correcting your personal information

You may request access to any personal information we hold about you at any time by contacting us (see the details below). We will ask you to verify your identity before we give you access to your information or correct it, and we will try to make the process as simple as possible. Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will try to provide you with suitable means of accessing it (for example, by emailing it to you).

There may be instances where we cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold. For example, we may need to refuse access if granting access would interfere with the privacy of others or if it would result in a breach of confidentiality. If that happens, we will give you written reasons for any refusal.

If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request us to amend it. We will consider if the information requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment, you can ask us to associate (for example, attach or link) a note that you believe the information is incorrect and why.

How to make a complaint

If you believe your privacy has been breached, please contact us using the contact information below and provide details of the incident so we can investigate it. We request that privacy complaints be made in writing so we can be sure about the details of the complaint.

If we receive a complaint from you about how we have handled your personal information, we will determine what (if any) action we should take to resolve the complaint. We will contact you, usually in writing, to advise you of the outcome and invite a response to our determination. If we receive a response from you, we will assess it and advise if we have changed our view.

Contact information

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, any concerns or a complaint regarding the treatment of your privacy or a possible breach of your privacy, please contact the Secretary of Transition Australia using the details set out below.

We will treat your requests of complaints confidentially and will aim to ensure that we respond to you in a timely and appropriate manner.

Please contact the Secretary at:

The Secretary

Transition Australia

Email: info@transitionaustralia.net

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. Any updated versions of this privacy policy will be posted on our website. Please review it regularly.

This privacy policy was last updated on 17th November 2021.