Privacy policy

Part A: About this policy

Purpose

This privacy policy explains how Bush Heritage Australia (Bush Heritage) handles personal information it collects about any individual who is not a Bush Heritage employee.

Our policy describes:

The categories of individuals that interact with Bush Heritage (see Part B)
Why and how we collect personal information (see Part C)
The kinds of personal information we collect (see Part D)
The ways in which we use that information (see Part E)
When we disclose that information to others (see Part F)
How to access or correct that information, and our complaints process (see Part G)
Data quality and data security (see part H).

Our obligations under the Privacy Act

This privacy policy sets out how we comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). We're bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act, which regulate how we may collect, use, disclose and store personal information, and how individuals may access and correct personal information held about them.

In this policy, "personal information" means information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database), whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion. This definition comes from section 6 of the Privacy Act.

Changing this policy

We may change this privacy policy at any time. For example, we might change this policy if the law or our privacy practices change.

If we change this policy, we'll publish those changes on this page.

Part B: Categories of individuals that interact with Bush Heritage

To gain a greater understanding of how personal information is handled in Bush Heritage and how it relates to you, please refer below for a description of the categories of individuals referred to throughout this Policy and descriptions, in the subsequent sections, of how personal information is collected, used and disclosed.

Supporter or donor:
A person who has made, or pledged to make, a donation of funds or property to support Bush Heritage's work, has attended or enquired about an event organised or hosted by Bush Heritage, or signed up to receive Bush Heritage emails or whose personal information we have obtained from other organisations (e.g. charities or list suppliers) where we believe they agreed to receive direct communications/marketing from us.

Volunteer:
A person who applies for, or enquires about, a volunteer position and who donates time and effort to support Bush Heritage's work.

Prospective employee:
A person who applies for a paid position working for Bush Heritage.

Website visitor:
A person who visits a Bush Heritage Australia website.

Reserve visitor:
A person who visits, or intends to visit, one of Bush Heritage's reserves or partnership properties, or attends an activity organised or hosted by Bush Heritage.

Landholder:
A person who owns land that Bush Heritage may be interested in acquiring or managing, or a person that may have approached Bush Heritage offering a gift or sale of land or a land management opportunity.

Traditional Owner:
A person of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Island descent who, through membership in a descent group or clan, has responsibility for caring for particular country and is authorised to speak for country and its heritage. May be a senior traditional owner, an elder, or registered as a Native Title claimant.

Partner or stakeholder:
A person who, through the nature of their or their employer's work, has a formal or informal working relationship with Bush Heritage and works on collaborative projects and matters of common interest with Bush Heritage.

Member:
A person admitted to membership of Bush Heritage, according to Bush Heritage's company register.

Director or officer:
A person appointed to the position of director or officer of Bush Heritage, in accordance with Bush Heritage's Constitution.

Part C: Collection of personal information

General collection

We collect personal information for the primary purpose of:

protecting land and water with high conservation value or environmental significance
seeking donations and providing information about our activities
managing our reserves and our conservation work
our recruitment, corporate, administrative and other functions.
direct marketing (e.g. by our contracted fundraisers).

We generally collect personal information directly from individuals, for example, where you contact us and ask to become a supporter, make a donation, visit a reserve or otherwise interact with us.

We collect banking or credit card details if you want to make payments (e.g. donations, membership fees) or receive payments (e.g. reimbursement of volunteer expenses).

If you volunteer or visit our reserves, we may collect health information from you. We do this in case a medical condition affects your ability to participate, needs further management or is relevant in an emergency. We collect information about all first aid or emergency incidents.

If you're an emergency contact (e.g. next of kin), we collect your personal information from the person who nominated you (e.g. reserve visitor, volunteer). We have no means to collect it directly from you.

Specific collection

Specific purposes for collecting personal information depend on what category or categories below apply to you. Some individuals will belong to multiple categories. For example:

our supporters and donors often volunteer for Bush Heritage
our website visitors might also be online donors
a landholder might also be a member
a reserve visitor might also be an employee of our partner organisations.

Supporters and donors

Our supporter and donor lists contain the personal information of those who express an interest in our environmental conservation work. We use those lists to distribute information about our activities and publications, to seek donations and to encourage further involvement with Bush Heritage through direct marketing and, at times, through expanding our supporter and donor lists by exchanging that information with other charities. We may collect personal information regarding your interests to personalise your interactions with us.

If you make a tax deductible gift, we collect your personal information so that we can issue a tax deductible receipt. We must keep these types of records to comply with tax and fundraising laws. We need banking or credit card details if you want to donate funds via electronic means.

We collect personal information directly from individual supporters and donors when we meet you personally, or if you contact us by phone, by email, through social media, or in other ways. This is collected only where you express an interest in supporting Bush Heritage and receiving information from us. For phone, street, door knock or online campaigns, collection may occur through intermediaries (e.g. fundraising agents, website).

We may obtain personal information from other organisations (e.g. charities or list suppliers) where we believe you agreed to receive direct communications/marketing. We may collect personal information from publicly available sources (e.g. internet). If we collected your personal information in these ways, please let us know if you wish to opt out of communications.

Volunteers

We collect personal information regarding prospective and current volunteers regarding their skills, interests and experience to:

assess their suitability to volunteer with us
match them to suitable projects or roles.

We collect details of volunteer contributions and feedback to manage your volunteer involvement.

We generally collect personal information directly from the volunteer, but may also do so from, referees, Bush Heritage employees or other knowledgeable parties where relevant to the volunteer assessment process.

Prospective employees

We collect personal information regarding prospective employees, regarding their skills, interests, qualifications, health and experience to:

assess their suitability for potential employment with us
match them to suitable projects or roles.

We generally collect personal information directly from the prospective employee, but may also do so from recruitment agents/agencies, recruiters, referees, Bush Heritage employees or other knowledgeable parties where relevant to the recruitment assessment process.

Website visitors

Our website uses cookies (small text files (with no executable code, stored by a browser on your computer or device).

Our website(s) use third-party tools that also use cookies. We use Google Analytics and Hotjar to track anonymous traffic data. This helps us evaluate how the site is used and to improve the user experience. IP addresses have been anonymised so that no personally identifiable information is collected.

We also use AddThis to allow users to share our pages on various social tools and DisQus commenting system to allow users to comment on our blog. You can opt-out and have your activity be excluded from records kept by these sites with the following links:

We also use cookies to manage functions such as secure access areas, multi-step forms and polls. Some functions (e.g. the shopping cart) will not work at all if you disable cookies in your browser.

We also collect personal information when visitors fill in forms (e.g. registering to visit a reserve or volunteer with us), submit questions or post comments online. This information is stored in the website and used only for the purpose it was given.

Users in regions with applicable laws will be invited to give explicit consent for cookie use and use will be disabled without such consent. Users can also block cookies or delete any existing cookies by changing settings in their browsers. See links below or search for instructions for your specific browser.

Reserve visitors

We collect personal information about our reserve visitors to manage bookings and for visitor safety. We may also collect personal information regarding your experiences with our reserves and photographs of your time at our reserves for publication with your permission.

Our reserves are in remote places so we collect health information from you. We do this in case a medical condition affects your ability to visit, needs further management or is relevant in an emergency. We collect information about all first aid or emergency incidents.

We generally collect personal information directly from you. For groups, we may collect your personal information from your group's leader, organiser or facilitator. If you're a group leader, we may collect your contact details to administer the group booking.

Landholders

If we're considering whether to acquire or otherwise manage land, we collect personal information regarding landholders and their land to enable us to assess the conservation value and environmental significance of that land and proceed with any acquisition or other management plan. We may collect personal information from neighbouring landholders. We may also collect personal information about adjoining landholders.

We generally collect personal information directly from you. We may also collect it from publicly available sources (e.g. land registries, phone directories) or property managers (e.g. estate agents, local conservationists) or nearby landholders (e.g. neighbours).

Traditional Owners

We collect personal information to identify and work with Traditional Owners and their communities. We use our best endeavours to collect personal information directly from elders and senior leaders of the Traditional Owner group. We may need to obtain personal information from fellow Traditional Owners and/or groups to be introduced to you. We may also collect it from publicly available sources (e.g. native title registers).

Partners and stakeholders

We collect personal information regarding the employees, volunteers and officers of our partner and stakeholder organisations to pursue collaborative projects and matters of common interest.

Members

We collect personal information regarding Bush Heritage members to comply with the Bush Heritage Constitution and to maintain a membership register under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The details are needed so we can send notices of general meetings or membership renewals so members can exercise their rights.

We collect member personal information directly from the member. If you're a proxy or representative for a Bush Heritage member, we collect your details from you or the appointing Bush Heritage member.

Directors and officers

We collect personal information regarding directors and officers, and their personal interests to comply with the Bush Heritage Constitution and to maintain director and officer registers under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Director contact details are needed to convene board meetings and for the overall management of Bush Heritage's activities. These details may also need to be collected and disclosed to government, statutory authorities, banks and others where necessary for Bush Heritage operations.

We collect personal information directly from the director or officer.

Part D: Kinds of personal information

The kinds of personal information we collect depend on the reasons for interacting with Bush Heritage. This may include:

Supporters and donors

Name
Addresses (past and present)
Contact details (phone, email)
Communication preferences
Age/date of birth
Gender
Interests
Bank account/credit card details
Donation/support history
Bequest pledge details (e.g. estate value, proposed executors)
Relationship to other supporters and donors

Volunteers

Name
Contact details (address, phone, email)
Date of birth
Emergency contacts (name, contact details, relationship)
Applications and selection process documents
Qualifications, skills, experience and employment
Medical conditions or health information
Bank account details (e.g. for reimbursements)
History and records (e.g. performance assessments)
Drivers licence details (for insurance purposes if driving a Bush Heritage vehicle)

Prospective employees

Name
Contact details (address, phone, email)
Date of birth
Applications and selection process documents
Qualifications, skills, experience and employment
Medical conditions or health information
History and records (e.g. performance assessments)
Drivers or other licence details - relating to the roll

Website visitors

Top level domain name (for example .au, .nz, .com)
Date and time of visit
Pages and documents accessed during visit
Referring site (if you followed a link from there to ours)
Whether you've visited our site before
Browser details

Reserve visitors

Contact details for usual address (address, phone, email)
Contact details while on the reserve (satellite phone)
Emergency contacts (name, contact details, relationship to you)
Medical conditions or health information (e.g. weight for charter flights)
Travel itinerary and vehicle details
Group/ individual photos
Bank account/credit card details visitors

Landholders

Name
Contact details
Connections with adjoining landholders
Conveyancer details

Traditional Owners

Name
Contact details
Aboriginal connection with the land
Names of aboriginal elders

Partners and stakeholders

Name
Contact details
Role
Connection with Bush Heritage

Members

Name
Contact details (address, phone, email)
Proxy, attorney or representative appointments
Class of member (i.e. ordinary member or honorary life member)
Date membership commenced
Date membership ceased (for past members)

Directors and officers

Name and former names
Contact details (address, phone, email, assistant details)
Date and place of birth
Financial and personal interests which may give rise to conflicts or be required for insurance purposes
Travel memberships
Bank account details (e.g. for reimbursements)

We may also collect other personal information which you choose to disclose when interacting with us.

You're not required to give us all the kinds of personal information listed above. However, if you choose not to provide information, this may limit your ability to be involved with us.

For reserve visitors and volunteers, we will not be responsible for any adverse effects where you do not provide relevant medical conditions or health information that may affect your health and safety, or ability to participate.

Part E: Use of personal information

General use

We'll only use your personal information:

for the primary purpose for which it was collected; or
for purposes related to the primary purpose; or
when permitted by the Privacy Act and its APPs; or
for direct marketing; or
with your consent.

We generally use your personal information only in the areas of Bush Heritage that are relevant to the purposes for which it was provided.

Supporters and donors

We only use personal information of supporters and donors for the purposes we collected it (see Part C). This includes distributing information about our activities and publications, to seek and process donations and to encourage further involvement with Bush Heritage through direct marketing and, at times, through expanding our supporter and donor lists by exchanging that information with other charities. You may request not to receive direct marketing or communications materials from us or to have your personal information exchanged with other charities.

If a bequest has been pledged, we use pledge details to progress receipt of the bequest in accordance with the terms of the will.

To better understand our supporters we may analyse our supporter and donor lists. We take steps to ensure that the analysts keep that information confidential and delete that information when it's no longer needed, subject to applicable laws.

We may use supporter and donor information to produce reports and statistics regarding our fundraising efforts. The personal information for these uses will be de-identified.

Volunteers

We use personal information about our prospective and current volunteers for the purposes we collected it (see Part C). This includes when considering applications, managing their involvement with our work, and maintaining a history of their contributions. We use volunteers' banking details to reimburse volunteers for expenses.

We may also invite prospective and current volunteers to become supporters and to receive information about Bush Heritage activities. If you agree, your personal information will be placed on our supporter list. Personal information regarding your applications will not be used for any other purpose.

Prospective employees

We use personal information about our prospective employees for the purposes we collected it (see Part C), predominately to consider the application. We may also invite prospective employees to become a supporter and to receive information about Bush Heritage activities. If you agree, your personal information will be placed on our supporter list. Personal information regarding your applications will not be used for any other purpose.

Website visitors

We use information regarding website visits for the purposes we collected it (see Part C). We may also use your information to personalise your website visit or to enable remarketing.

Reserve visitors

We use personal information about our reserve visitors to manage bookings, for visitor safety and to maintain and to protect our reserves. We use your banking or credit card details to process any fees associated with your visit to a reserve.

If we contact you after your visit to seek feedback, we may invite you to make a donation and become a supporter. If you agree, your personal information will be placed on our supporter list. Personal information regarding your visit will not be used for any other purpose.

Landholders

We use personal information of landholders for the purposes we collected it (see Part C). This includes to assess the conservation value of land.

Before or after a reserve is established, landholders may be invited to become a supporter/donor or member of Bush Heritage (if they aren't already).

Traditional Owners

We use personal information of Traditional Owners for the purposes we collected it (see Part C). This includes to work with the traditional custodians of the places in which we work or where required or permitted by law. The personal information of Traditional Owners will not be used for any other purpose.

Partners and stakeholders

We use personal information of partners and stakeholders for the purposes we collected it (see Part C). We may also invite those persons to become a supporter and to receive information about Bush Heritage activities.

Members

We use personal information of members for the purposes we collected it (see Part C). This includes for compliance and to administer membership rights and to process membership subscriptions.

We also use our member lists to distribute information about our activities and identify persons interested in directorships.

Directors and officers

We use personal information of directors and officers for the purposes we collected it (see Part C). This includes for compliance and to manage Bush Heritage's activities.

Where a director must become a member, director details will also be used for membership.

Part F: Disclosure of personal information (including cross border disclosures)

General use

We will only disclose your personal information:

for the primary purpose for which it was collected; or
for purposes related to the primary purpose; or
when permitted by the Privacy Act and its APPs; or
with your consent; or
for direct marketing; or
when needed for law enforcement.

In the course of our activities, we may disclose your personal information to our project partners, contractors, consultants, banks, accountants, lawyers or insurers. This is done only when appropriate and on a need-to-know basis. We take steps to ensure that those persons keep that information confidential and delete the information when it's no longer needed, where possible.

Our technology infrastructure may make use of cloud infrastructure or servers located outside Australia. This means that we may disclose and store your personal information outside Australia, taking such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the Privacy Act's APPs in respect of your personal information.

Supporters and donors

Where you have supplied your banking details to us and agreed to make a donation, we will provide your banking details to our bank so they can process the donation from your account.

We may disclose your personal information to our contracted telemarketers and data managers to contact you for donations on our behalf and to keep your information current. We may disclose your name and address to contracted print companies, mail houses, and other suppliers to efficiently send you information about Bush Heritage. We may disclose your personal information to other organisations (e.g. charities or list suppliers) to expand our supporter and donor lists by exchanging that information with other charities. In all these cases, we take steps to ensure that those recipients:

keep that information confidential
only use that information for the specific purpose
delete the information when the purpose ends.

These recipients (and their contractors) may be based overseas (it is not practicable to ascertain a complete list of countries). We take all steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that any overseas recipient does not breach the Privacy Act's APPs in respect of your personal information. If you do NOT wish for any of these recipients to receive your personal information, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]; freecalling 1300 628 873, or contacting us via this website.

Volunteers

We may disclose your personal information to referees, government authorities, qualification-issuing organisations, licensing authorities (e.g. drivers licence) and probity checkers where relevant to the assessment process and ongoing Bush Heritage operations.

We may use overseas third party providers to manage our volunteer information (it is not practicable to ascertain a complete list of countries). This means that we may disclose and store your personal information outside Australia, taking such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the Privacy Act's APPs in respect of your personal information.

Prospective employees

Website visitors

We use Google Analytics, Hotjar, AddThis and DisQUS services on our websites to track how users interact with our sites, share our pages on social media and comment on our blog. These are global service providers and information and data collected by them resides on their own servers. You can opt out with the links below:

Reserve visitors

We may disclosure your personal information (including health information) to health practitioners or local authorities in an emergency or if you require aid or should something occur to give us concern.

Landholders

We may disclose your personal information to contractors, lawyers, conveyancers and others to assess whether to acquire or otherwise manage land.

Traditional Owners

The personal information of Traditional Owners will not be disclosed to third parties unless required by law or permitted by the Privacy Act and its APPs.

Partners and stakeholders

We may disclose your personal information to fellow partners and stakeholders, contractors and lawyers to develop and implement collaborations, projects and to build professional networks.

Members

We are required by law to allow members to inspect the membership register and to take copies. We may supply our membership list to the Commonwealth Government's environment department on its request to maintain Bush Heritage's registration as an environmental organisation, or any other inspection required by law.

Directors and officers

We are required by law to disclose specific personal details to company regulators, such as the Australian Securities & Investments Commission. These details can then be obtained by the public via application to the appropriate regulator.

Part G: Access, correction and complaints

Access and correction

You may access, correct or update any of your personal information we hold about you by contacting us directly. Where available you may also access, correct or update, your personal information through the online portals accessed from our website.

There is no charge for making routine updates to your personal details, eg. contact details. However we may otherwise reserve the right to ask for payment of our reasonable costs in enabling further access or correction.
We are not obliged to proceed if there is an exception under the Privacy Act's APPs.

Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint about a breach of your privacy, the complaint should be made in writing to Bush Heritage's Privacy Officer whose details are at the end of this policy.

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint. Bush Heritage will endeavour to deal with your complaint and provide you a response within 30 days. Some matters may require detailed investigation, and may accordingly take longer to resolve. We will provide you with progress updates in that case, and may seek further information from you.

We may refuse to investigate and deal with a complaint if it is considered to be abusive, trivial or vexatious.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you may seek internal review of the decision. Internal review will be conducted by a different person who has not previously been involved in your complaint.

If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint after internal review, you are able to take your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for resolution.

Part H: Data quality and security

Data quality

We take steps to ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, up to date and complete. These steps include maintaining and updating personal information when we're advised by individuals that their personal information has changed, and at other times as necessary.

We will correct any personal information that we hold about you on request. If you're a supporter, you may opt out of all or specific kinds of communications by contacting us or using the "unsubscribe" link in our email. As a supporter, you may ask us to delete your personal information from our list of supporters.

Data security

We take steps to protect the personal information we hold about you against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure, and against other misuse. These steps include password protection for accessing our electronic IT systems, securing paper files in locked cabinets and physical access restrictions to buildings where information is held.

There are inherent risks in transmitting information across the internet and we do not have the ability to control the security of information collected and stored on third-party platforms. In relation to our own servers, we take all reasonable steps to manage data stored on our servers to ensure data security. Where Bush Heritage contracts with a third-party provider, we try to ensure that the provider takes all reasonable steps to manage data stored on their servers to ensure data security.

We take reasonable measures to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information when it is no longer required.

How to contact us

You can get more information about this privacy policy or our processes by contacting:

Privacy Officer
Bush Heritage Australia
ABN 78 053 639 115
P.O. Box 329, Flinders Lane, Melbourne 8009
Phone: 1300 NATURE (1300 628 873)
[email protected]

Addendum

In addition to the details in the policy above, we use Google Analytics with Google Signals. Google Signals compiles multi-platform data reports on Google users that have enabled personalised advertising in their Google accounts. For example, it can create data models showing patterns of use by a single user across different devices. These reports are pseudonymised to ensure anonymity so we can’t know the identities of individual Google users. We also use Google Ads conversion tracking and remarketing, which uses cookies and similar technologies to measure the performance of ads and to show you relevant advertising messages on websites that collaborate with Google. You can opt out of personalised advertising on Google’s My Activity page.