Your privacy is important to The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland Ltd. We comply with Australian privacy legislation and this privacy policy sets out how we handle your personal information.
Personal information is information that identifies you or could be used to identify you.
We do not trade, sell or rent your personal information.
By providing us with personal information, you consent to that information being collected, used, disclosed and stored in accordance with this privacy policy.
In this policy, the reference to ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’ and ‘RGSQ’ is a reference to The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland Ltd (ABN 87 014 673 068; ACN 636 005 466) and its related projects and activities, such as RGSQ Traveller.
1. Staying Anonymous
You can browse our website anonymously. However, if you would like to become a member of RGSQ or use any of our services, you will need to identify yourself to us, and, at that point, we will collect your personal information.
If you do not give personal information to us, it may affect our ability to provide you with products or services.
2. Information Partners
At RGSQ we aim to bring together people who are interested in geography, and to do this, we do not work in isolation. Your personal information may be provided to or be accessible by organisations we work closely with to deliver services to you. We require these organisations to do their best to comply with Australian privacy legislation. To find out more about how they manage your personal information, please contact these organisations or check their websites.
3. Collecting Personal Information
At all times we aim to only collect the information we need for the services we are providing. The kind of information that we collect from users and members may include:
- your full name, residential address, contact details – phone, email
- your role or title, photograph or likeness
- your date of birth, gender
- your school, qualifications
- members of your household
- the activities you are interested in that RGSQ offers
- the volunteer assistance you could consider providing
- opinions and beliefs provided via surveys and questionnaires
The main way we collect personal information about you is when you give it to us, for example:
- when you complete a membership application form
- when you call our office
- when you send us an email
- when you enter into a competition
- when you borrow our library materials
- when you register to attend an event or purchase a product from RGSQ
- when you contact us via social media
- when you ask for access to information we hold about you
4. Collecting Information from Third Parties
We may also collect personal information that is given to us by a third party (e.g. a school, a friend or family member). This information forms part of the personal information described in this policy.
If you are providing personal information to us on behalf of other people (e.g. family members for Household Membership or event bookings) you do so on the basis that you confirm to RGSQ that you are authorised to do so and have the consent of those people to provide their personal information to us. You should also let them know that they can read this privacy policy at any time.
If you believe your personal information was shared with us without your consent, please contact us at info@rgsq.org.au. We will not intentionally collect personal information that is unintentionally disclosed.
5. Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
The information that we collect about you is used:
- to verify your identity
- to provide you with products, services or access to materials
- to provide you with information about events, products and services that may interest you
- to improve our services
- to facilitate the internal business operations of RGSQ and RGSQ Projects.
We do not make your personal information available to any party that is not involved in activities related to the services we provide to you.
We provide access to your personal information in accordance with Australian privacy law and may share your personal information with our professional advisors for the purpose of obtaining advice, or for compliance with our accounting or regulatory obligations.
6. The Australian Geography Competition
The Australian Geography Competition (AGC) is a joint initiative of the RGSQ and Australian Geography Teachers’ Association (AGTA).
The RGSQ collect information about individual school employees (i.e. teachers and administration staff) and students as part of the administration and running of the annual Australian Geography Competition.
School Teacher or Administration Staff personal information captured may include: name, school name, school contact details (postal and/or street address, telephone and facsimile numbers) and email address.
Student name, year level, school name, answers, and state or territory of origin are captured from the individual student competition answer sheet. Student names may be misspelled depending on how the student has completed their answer sheet. This data is used to analyse student answers to allow categorising of individual students into grades of “Top 1% in Australia”, “High distinction”, “distinction”, “credit” and “participated,” and is also used to determine national, state and territory winners. The student’s name, year level, answers and grading are used to generate certificates and result sheets to be provided to schools for distribution to students and may be provided as data files to the student’s school.
Winners of the competition, state and territory representatives for the Geography’s Big Week Out (GBWO), and Australian representatives for the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) will have their names, state or territory of origin and school provided via reports to AGTA and its associated Australian state and territory Geography Teachers’ Associations, and sponsors of the Australian Geography Competition, which may change from year to year and may appear on their websites.
National, state and territory winning student prize eligibility and name spelling are confirmed with the school contact teacher and/or administration staff. Parent and/or legal guardian permission is sought to make public the winning student name, school and state or territory.
Winners of the competition will also have their names, state or territory of origin and school published via media releases, on the Australian Geography Competition webpages https://geographycompetition.org.au, and social media.
Personal details of Year 11 students invited and who have accepted the invitation to participate in the GBWO are collected via forms sent to students and their parent and/or legal guardian via the school’s contact staff member.
Personal details of GBWO participants who are selected, invited and who have accepted the invitation to represent Australia at the iGeo are collected via forms sent to students and their parent and/or legal guardian via the school’s contact staff member. Australian representatives for iGeo will have their name, state or territory of origin and school published via media releases, on those webpages, and social media.
Australian representatives for iGeo personal information will be provided to the organisers of the iGeo for registration purposes with Australian representatives’ consent. If consent is not provided, the Australian representative may not be allowed to participate in the iGeo.
Photographs of participants in GBWO and iGeo, together with names, state or territory of origin and schools will be published via media releases, on the above organisations’ webpages, and social media.
7. Payment Details
Online payments for our events or products are processed remotely through a secure payment gateway provided by Stripe. Please see https://stripe.com/au/privacy regarding their management of your personal information.
Any credit card payments managed offline and by AGC online entries will be completed securely through eWay, https://www.eway.com.au/ and we will not keep those details after the transaction is completed.
8. Employment
Any personal information received by RGSQ associated with an application for employment will be stored securely on our human resource management system. Information about unsuccessful applicants will be securely destroyed within 30 days of filling a position.
9. Collecting Sensitive Information
RGSQ may collect sensitive information such as information about health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or criminal history. We collect this information to provide you with our services or cater to your needs, and we are only prepared to accept sensitive information on the condition that we have your consent. We will always provide the purpose for collecting sensitive information. For example, we may request health information in case of a medical emergency while you are travelling on an RGSQ organised trip so that we are able to provide this information where necessary to a health service provider for your wellbeing.
10. Children’s Privacy
RGSQ provides information and services for all age groups. Any person under the age of 18 years can become a member of RGSQ with the consent of a parent or legal guardian. Any information collected about a child will not be accepted without also requiring personal information about at least one parent or legal guardian.
11. Social Networking Services and Links to Other Websites
You can connect with us via our social media pages, e.g. on Facebook @RGSQld.
We may provide links to other websites or use our social networking pages to communicate with the public about RGSQ and related topics. These sites have their own privacy policies. When you communicate with us using these services we may collect your personal information. We will only use it to help us to communicate with you and the public. Each social networking platform will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. You should become familiar with the privacy policies of any service you use.
12. How We Use Cookies and Other Identifiers
We use a range of tools provided by third parties including our website host, Google Analytics, third party service providers and search engine browsers to collect or view access and traffic information for statistical, reporting and maintenance purposes. Third party providers have their own privacy policies. We may also use tracking pixels, cookies and session tools to improve your experience when accessing our online services.
The data collected by cookies do not usually identify you, but may be combined with other information to identify you. If we identify you using information from cookies, we may use that information to track how you use our online services and send you information more specific to your needs or to invite you to renew your membership, book an event or purchase our products or services.
The kind of information that can be collected includes:
- device specific information such as mobile network information
- server logs including your IP address, the times you use our services and system activity
- location information including IP address, GPS, and Wi-Fi access points
We use the information to help track your use of our online services to improve your user experience and the quality of our services.
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. Some features of our online services may not function properly without cookies. To find out how to opt out of tailored advertising and Google tracking please check the options available here – https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated?hl=en and https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
13. Security and Overseas Recipients
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. RGSQ will take reasonable steps to protect all personal information within our direct control from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we use respected hosting services, firewall and other electronic security procedures and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect from you.
We use traffic encryption (https) for all our online services.
We take reasonable steps to hold information securely in electronic or physical form in access-controlled premises or in electronic databases requiring logins and passwords. Our internal procedures may include risk assessment of misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure of your information, background tracking and records of changes made to your personal information.
None of the personal information collected via our online services is knowingly sent overseas through our services. Your information will be stored in our Membership Management System provided by Wild Apricot. See https://www.wildapricot.com/security–policy–overview for how they secure this information. Where possible, we request that data is stored in Australia.
You agree that, for compliance purposes, we may retain any of your personal information for a period of seven years, although we are not obliged to do so.
14. Cross Border Disclosure of Personal Information
As part of delivering a service to you, your personal information may be disclosed to third parties located overseas (e.g. when we make and/or facilitate your travel arrangements for a tour booked with RGSQ). For example, RGSQ may email your personal information to airlines to arrange air travel or third-party providers on the ground to arrange accommodation. When you make a booking for an overseas tour with us you consent that your information will be shared with overseas recipients for the sole purpose of us delivering a service to you. You consent to RGSQ making these disclosures as we deem necessary to administer and supply the requested services to you. You acknowledge that overseas recipients are not required to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and you acknowledge that you are not able to enforce your rights under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) if an overseas entity breaches that Act.
15. Opt-out/Unsubscribe
You will only receive communications from us through social media if you have liked our page.
Our online services include facilities to enable you to opt-out of different types of communications. Opting out of one type of communication (e.g. The Bulletin) does not necessarily mean you will stop receiving all communications (e.g. information about international events). Please check the communication settings on your membership account and the unsubscribe features of emails received from RGSQ.
If you continue to receive communications you have unsubscribed from, please contact us info@rgsq.org.au and we will fix the problem.
16. Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information
You can log-in to your membership account and update your contact details at any time.
You may request copies of the information we hold about you, which will only be provided electronically. You can make a request to amend or correct that information. If we do not agree with your requested change, we will keep a copy of your request with our information.
17. Mandatory Data Reporting
If any of your personal information is lost, accessed or disclosed by us, whether intentionally, unintentionally or through no fault of RGSQ we will comply with mandatory data breach notification requirements.
We are required to notify any affected person within 30 days if the loss or disclosure of data is likely to result in serious harm to that person.
18. Feedback, Comments or Complaints
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, please contact us at info@rgsq.org.au and let us know what the problem is. We will acknowledge receipt and then respond to your privacy concerns within 30 days.
At all times privacy complaints will be:
- treated seriously
- dealt with promptly and dealt with confidentially.
If you are not happy with how we manage your concerns, you can contact the Australian Privacy Commission, available at http://www.oaic.gov.au.