Privacy Policy

Voiceless, the animal protection institute (‘Voiceless’) deals with the collection, use and disclosure, storage, security, accessibility and correction of personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘Privacy Act’) and any other relevant legislation. We are committed to protecting your privacy and have developed the following policy which sets out our procedures for handling personal information.

Contacting us about this Privacy Policy

Voiceless Limited
16 Goodhope Street
Paddington NSW 2021
Tel: 02 9357 0723
Fax: 02 9357 0711
Email: info@voiceless.org.au

Collection of personal information 

What personal information do we collect?
As part of Voiceless’s activities, Voiceless may collect personal information such as your name, address, telephone number(s), e-mail address, work/business address, job title and employer. If you have made a donation to Voiceless, received a grant or have contracted with us, we may also collect information about your financial details, details relating to donations made to us or any relevant payment or billing information (including account details, credit card details, billing address and invoice details).

Do we collect sensitive information?
‘Sensitive information’ is a special category of personal information. Sensitive information includes but is not limited to information or an opinion about an individual’s political opinions, membership of a political association, and religious or philosophical beliefs. In general, we attempt to limit the collection of sensitive information from you. Sometimes we might ask you for sensitive information, for instance, about what makes you passionate about animal protection issues and/or your values or opinions, as this helps us communicate with you better. In accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles, Voiceless will only collect sensitive information with your consent unless we are otherwise required or entitled to do so by law.

How do we collect your personal information?
Voiceless collects personal information which is voluntarily supplied by the individual to whom that information relates, or information that is otherwise publicly available. We collect personal information when you interact with us, for example, by making an enquiry, subscribing to our mailing list or making a one-off or monthly donation. We may also collect personal information if you volunteer or contract with us, participate in our fundraising activities, educational programs and other events, or provide feedback on our resources. Sometimes we might collect personal information from a marketing list which we have purchased on the basis that it was collected and used in accordance with the law.

How do we use your personal information? 
Voiceless uses the personal information collected from you for the primary purpose of providing you with information and material about our organisation, our campaigns and events, for fundraising purposes and for other reasonably incidental secondary purposes. We may also occasionally contact you to invite you to participate in market research activities with third parties to help us improve our materials and programs. Voiceless may use your personal information to contact you via a variety of mediums, including email, direct mail and social media.

Direct marketing
If you have subscribed, donated or participated in fundraising activities with Voiceless (a ‘Supporter’), we may directly send you information to tell you about products, services, events, fundraising or any other activity which we consider may be of interest to you (‘Direct Marketing Communications’). Where you are a Supporter, you consent to us using your personal information to send you Direct Marketing Communications. We will only send you Direct Marketing Communications in accordance with privacy laws and any other relevant legislation.

Unsubscribing
If at any time you do not wish to receive further electronic messages from Voiceless, or if you do not wish to have your personal information used by Voiceless for the purposes outlined in this policy, you may:

• contact our Privacy Officer;
• send a blank email to info@voiceless.org.au and enter ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line.

You may also opt-out of Direct Marketing Communications by clicking ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of our emails.

How do we protect your information?
Voiceless understands the importance of protecting your information from misuse, loss, modification or disclosure. We take all reasonable steps to keep your information safe, whether electronic or in hard copy, and implement a range of physical, operational and technological measures. Access to your information is restricted to authorised Voiceless staff, and its related or associated entities. Information which we collect is kept confidential to the best of our ability, and all Voiceless staff, volunteers and contractors are bound by confidentiality obligations. We also commit to destroying or permanently de-identifying any of your information if it is no longer needed for any authorised purpose.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed as totally secure. Accordingly, Voiceless does not, and cannot, warrant or ensure the security of any information which you transmit to us. Any information which you transmit to us is transmitted at your own risk, and Voiceless is not and will not be held liable for any unauthorised access to your information. Nevertheless, once we receive your transmission, we will take reasonable steps to preserve the security of such information.

Privacy on our website
When you visit Voiceless’s website, the website may collect certain information from your computer. This information is used in an aggregated manner to analyse how people use our site, such that we can improve our website and the information we provide on our website. The website may also utilise “cookies”, which will not identify you personally but may identify your computer. Cookies enable us to monitor traffic patterns to our website, and help us to deliver information on our website more efficiently. Most browsers allow you to manage cookies, including by removing them from your browser history when you leave our website. You can configure your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie and to enable you to either accept or reject it in each instance.

From time to time, our website may contain links to other websites not owned or controlled by us. We are not responsible for these sites, their privacy policies and practices, or the consequences of you visiting these sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of each linked website you visit.

When will we disclose your personal information?
Voiceless will only share your information with third parties for the reasons set out below, or where your consent has first been obtained.

Third parties
Voiceless may at its discretion use third parties to provide essential services to our website, provide you with information and materials about our work, to assist with our events and programs, or to provide other services reasonably necessary for the proper operation of our organisation. We may share your personal information solely for the purposes of facilitating the delivery of those services, events or programs. Third parties are prohibited from using your information for any other purpose. We may also share your personal information with third-party market research companies if you have expressly consented to participate in market research to improve our materials or programs.

Cross-border sharing
Voiceless may sometimes use overseas cloud storage facilities, data hosting facilities or third-party service providers to assist with our day-to-day operations. This does not change our commitment to safeguard your privacy. By submitting your information to us, you expressly agree and consent to the use, storing or processing of your personal information outside of Australia. In providing this consent, you understand and acknowledge that countries outside Australia do not always have the same privacy protection obligations as Australia. If you do not agree to the transfer of your information outside Australia, please contact our Privacy Officer.

Legal
Voiceless reserves the right to disclose your information as required or otherwise permitted by law, or when we believe such disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order or other legal process.

Special provisions

Photographing/filming attendees at Voiceless events
All attendees at Voiceless events agree that videographers and/or photographers may be present at the event. By registering for the event and/or agreeing to this Privacy Policy, attendees agree that Voiceless may use the attendees likeness and/or photographic/video image (whether digital or film) for our business purposes. These may include, but are not limited to, use in material for our website, publications, posters, newsletters and video collages, and our editing of such images for these purposes. By agreeing to this Privacy Policy, attendees release and forever discharge Voiceless, its agents, officers and employees, from any and all claims and demands arising out of or in connection with the use of said photographs/film, including but not limited to, any and all claims for invasion of privacy, defamation, or financial compensation. Please contact our Privacy Officer if you do not consent to this provision.

Information for under 15s
If you are 15 or over, we will assume that you can make your own privacy decisions. If you are under the age of 15, you should obtain your parent’s or guardian’s permission before you share your personal information with Voiceless. Our Website is not intentionally targeted at children under the age of 15, and we consider that it is the responsibility of parents to monitor their children’s use of our Website. However, Voiceless recognises that we have a special obligation to protect information obtained from children. If you are a parent/guardian who would like your child’s information deleted from our records, please contact our Privacy Officer.

Accessing or correcting your information 

Accessing your information
You are entitled to access the personal information that Voiceless holds about you by contacting our Privacy Officer. However, we reserve the right to reasonably refuse access to that personal information on the basis of the exemptions set out in the Privacy Act or any other relevant laws.

Correcting your information
Voiceless uses its best endeavours to ensure your personal information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you wish to update any personal information that you have previously given us, please contact our Privacy Officer. If you wish to have your personal information deleted, we will take reasonable steps to delete it unless we need to keep it for legal, auditing or internal risk management reasons.

Resolving your privacy issues 
At Voiceless we greatly value the contribution our supporters make to our work, so if you have a complaint please let us know. We will do our best to address and resolve any issues you have. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about what is explained here or about our privacy practices generally, please contact our Privacy Officer using the heading “Privacy”. Where you ask for a response, you can expect to hear from us within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your privacy complaint, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Please follow this link to read more about our Complaints Handling Policy.

Changes to this policy
Voiceless may review and update this policy at any time. We may amend this policy by posting an updated version on this website and updating the revision date at the bottom of this page. The updated Privacy Policy will apply from that revision date. We, therefore, encourage you to check our Privacy Policy regularly to stay informed of any updates.

Consent
By using our website or by accepting the terms of one of our terms and conditions which refer to this Privacy Policy, you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Policy last updated: 16 August 2021.