Privacy Policy

Stage Managers Association Australia Ltd recognises the importance of protecting the privacy and the rights of individuals in relation to their personal information. This document is our Privacy Policy and it tells you generally how we collect and manage your personal information.

We respect your rights to privacy under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and we comply with all of the Act’s requirements in respect of the collection, management and disclosure of your personal information.

 

What is personal information?

When used in this Privacy Policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Act. In general terms, if the information we collect personally identifies you, or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered personal information.

Some personal information we collect may be also be classed as sensitive or health information. We collect this information when it is necessary with the individual’s consent, and where possible, we will de-identify the data once it’s received, unless it is collected for legal reasons or a serious and imminent threat to life or health applies. This information is handled in a careful manner.

 

What personal information do we collect and hold?

We may collect the following types of personal information including:

  • basic personal details such as your name, preferred name, age and job title;
  • contact information such as residential address, email address and contact phone number;
  • financial data such as payment related information;
  • demographic data such as your race, gender, sexuality, sexual identity, other preferences and interests;
  • background verification data such as your curriculum vitae (CV), supporting letter, and details of your referees;
  • images and recordings of you at our events such as a video recording of a meeting, photo of you at a social event;
  • website usage and other technical data such as details of your visits to and interactions with our website or information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies;
  • data that you provide to us when registering for and attending events or meetings, including access and dietary requirements;
  • details of the products and services you have enquired about, purchased and participated in; and
  • any other personal data relating to you that you provide.

    We may also collect some information that is not personal information because it does not identify you or anyone else. For example, we may collect anonymous answers to surveys or aggregated information about how users use our website.

    We may collect, hold and use personal information from potential and current members, former members, non-members, Board Directors, officers, volunteers, service providers, third parties, contractors, professional advisors, funding partners, sponsors, donors, and providers of member-only offers.

     

    How do we collect your personal information?

    We collect your personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. We may collect personal information in a variety of ways including:

    • where you provide it to us directly, for example by corresponding with us by email, phone or via other direct interactions with us, such as completing an application, registration, or other similar form on our website, or an in-person interaction at an event;
    • where we monitor use of, or interactions with, our website, social media channels, any marketing we may send to you, or other communications sent from or received by us; and
    • where you participate in surveys, questionnaires, forums or other activities on our website or social media channels.

    We may also collect personal information from third parties including:

    • from third party sources, for example, where we collect information about you from your referees to assist with us with verifying your identity and qualification for membership; and
    • from publicly available sources, for example, where we use sources to help us stay informed of members relevant professional activities outside of our Company, e.g. LinkedIn.

    Cookies

    In some cases, we may also collect your personal information through the use of cookies. When you access our website, we may send a “cookie” (which is a small summary file containing a unique ID number) to your computer. This enables us to recognise your computer and greet you each time you visit our website without bothering you with a request to register. It also enables us to keep track of products or services you view so that, if you consent, we can send you news about those products or services. We also use cookies to measure traffic patterns, to determine which areas of our website have been visited and to measure transaction patterns in the aggregate. We use this to research our users’ habits so that we can improve our online products and services. If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can set your browser so that your computer does not accept them.

    Website Analytics

    We may log IP addresses (that is, the electronic addresses of computers connected to the internet) to analyse trends, administer the website, track users movements, and gather broad demographic information.

    Website Security & Auditing

    We may use an activity log to create a log of the ways that our website is used by members who have login access to it. Information, such as user details, details of interactions, timestamps, and IP address, are collected and retained by the site administrator for security and auditing purposes.

     

    What happens if we can’t collect your personal information?

    We collect information to order to run the organisation and provide products or services. If you do not provide us with the personal information described above, some or all of the following may happen:

    • we may not be able to approve you (or your organisation) as a member;
    • we may not be able to provide our products or services to you, either to the same standard or at all;
    • we may not be able to interact with you or allow you to participate in our activities; and
    • we may not be able to tailor the content of our website to your preferences and your experience of our website may not be as enjoyable or useful.

     

    For what purposes do we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information?

    We collect personal information about you so that we can perform our business activities and functions and to provide best possible quality of customer service.

    We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:

    • to manage our relationship with you, including processing membership and volunteer position applications, providing products and services, responding to enquiries, sending communications, providing information, keeping up to date records, and obtaining payment for our products and services;
    • to provide you with access to member only areas of our website and member only social media channels;
    • to conduct elections or selection processes for our Board of Directors and other governance and management level committees;
    • to ensure our Company is diverse and meets our commitment to representation across the governance and management levels of our Company;
    • for the administrative, marketing (including direct marketing), planning, product or service development, quality control, advocacy, fundraising and research purposes of our Company;
    • to assess the performance of, and to improve the operation of our website;
    • to process and respond to any complaint made by you; and
    • to comply with any law, rule, regulation, lawful and binding determination, decision or direction of a regulator, or in co-operation with any governmental authority of any country.

    Under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Stage Managers Association Australia Ltd Constitution we must keep a register of members including the names and addresses of all members of our Company. This register is open to the inspection of every current member of our Company. When accessed, information must only be used in a manner relevant to the interests or rights of members.

    If another use for your personal information arises, SMA AU will seek your consent. Your personal information will not be shared, sold, rented or disclosed other than as described in this Privacy Policy.

    Direct marketing materials

    We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our products and services, and business activities and functions that we consider may be of interest to you. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). You consent to us sending you those direct marketing communications by any of those methods. If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so. In addition, at any time you may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us (see the details below) or by using opt-out facilities provided in the marketing communications and we will then ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list.

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

     

    To whom may we disclose your information?

    We may disclose your personal information to:

    • our Board Directors, officers, service providers, and third parties, for the purposes of managing our business activities and functions such as administration, marketing, advocacy, fundraising and research, and to otherwise provide products and services to you including, without limitation, web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, web developers, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants;
    • any organisation or individual for any authorised purpose with your express consent; and
    • any organisation or individual where required or authorised by law.

     

    Do we disclose your personal information to anyone outside Australia?

    We may disclose personal information to our service providers and third parties located overseas for some of the purposes listed above. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipients of your personal information do not breach the privacy obligations relating to your personal information.

    We may disclose your personal information to entities located outside of Australia, including our IT service providers located in the United States of America.

    We are proud to say that our website is hosted locally in Australia.

     

    How do we protect your information?

    We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may hold your information in either electronic or hard copy form.

    Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed. In most cases, this means that we will only retain your personal information for the duration of your relationship with us unless we are required to retain your personal information to comply with applicable laws, for example, record-keeping obligations outlined in our Constitution which require certain records to be kept for at least seven years.

    As our website is linked to the internet, and the internet is inherently insecure, we cannot provide any assurance regarding the security of transmission of information you communicate to us online. We also cannot guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet. Accordingly, any personal information or other information which you transmit to us online is transmitted at your own risk.

    Links to external websites

    Our website may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party website. Third party websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices.

    Social media

    Social media channels handle your personal information for their own purposes. These sites have their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or policies of those sites and we suggest that you review their privacy policies.

     

    How can you access and correct 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 so we can ensure that you are the individual to whom the personal information relates. 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 mailing or emailing it to you. We may charge you a fee to cover our administrative costs in providing the information to you. We will not charge for simply making the request and will not charge for making any corrections to your personal information.

    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 then we will add a note to your record stating that you disagree with it.

     

    What is the process for complaining about a breach of privacy?

    If you believe that your privacy has been breached, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information below and provide details of the incident so that we can investigate it.

    We request that complaints about breaches of privacy be made in writing, so we can be sure about the details of the complaint. Any complaints should be directed to our Privacy Officer using the contact details below. We will attempt to confirm as appropriate and necessary with you your understanding of the conduct relevant to the complaint and what you expect as an outcome. We will inform you whether we will conduct an investigation, the name, title, and contact details of the person undertaking the investigation and the estimated completion date for the investigation process.

    After we have completed our enquiries, we will contact you, usually in writing, to advise the outcome and invite a response to our conclusions about the complaint. If we receive a response from you, we will assess it and advise if we have changed our view.

     

    Contacting us

    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 use the contact form on our website or contact our Privacy Officer using the details set out below.

    We will treat your requests or complaints confidentially. Our representative will contact you within a reasonable time after receipt of your complaint to discuss your concerns and outline options regarding how they may be resolved. We will aim to ensure that your complaint is resolved in timely and appropriate manner.

    Please contact our Privacy Officer at:
    Attn: Privacy Officer
    19 Liverpool Street,
    Footscray,
    Victoria 3011
    Email: privacy@stagemanagers.org.au

     

    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 in October 2021.