1. Introduction.

This document sets out the privacy policy of Our Home Town Pty Ltd ABN 11 654 163 569 (referred to in this privacy policy as ‘we’, ‘us’, or ‘our’).

We take our privacy obligations seriously and we’ve created this privacy policy to explain how we store, maintain, use and disclose personal information.

By providing personal information to us, you consent to our storage, maintenance, use and disclosing of personal information in accordance with this privacy policy.

We may change this privacy policy from time to time by posting an updated copy on our website and we encourage you to check our website regularly to ensure that you are aware of our most current privacy policy.

2. Types Of Personal Information We Collect

The personal information we collect may include the following:

• name;
• mailing or street address;
• email address;
• social media information;
• telephone number and other contact details;
• age;
• date of birth;
• credit card or other payment information;
• information about your business or personal circumstances;
• information in connection with client surveys, questionnaires and promotions;
• your device identity and type, I.P. address, geo-location information, page view statistics, advertising data and standard web log information;
• information about third parties; and
• any other information provided by you to us via our website or our online presence, or otherwise required by us or provided by you.

3. Privacy Principles

• While we are not currently bound by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act) to the extent that we later become bound, this clause applies.
• Due to the nature of some of our activities, from time to time, we will handle personal information while relying on the media exemption in the Act where appropriate. Where we do so, we will ensure that we comply with the Australian Press Council Privacy Standards. We may also rely on related bodies corporate, employee records and other exemptions in the Act.
• We may, from time to time, review and update this policy, including taking account of new or amended laws, new technology and/or changes to our operations. All personal information held by us will be governed by the most recent updated policy published on our website, with any updates effective as of the date of publication.

4. How We Collect Personal Information

We may collect personal information either directly from you, or from third parties, including where you:

• contact us through our website;
• receive goods or services from us;
• submit any of our online sign up forms;
• communicate with us via email, telephone, SMS, social applications (such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter) or otherwise;
• interact with our website, social applications, services, content and advertising; and
• invest in our business or enquire as to a potential purchase in our business.

We may also collect personal information from you when you use or access our website or our social media pages. This may be done through use of web analytics tools, ‘cookies’ or other similar tracking technologies that allow us to track and analyse your website usage. Cookies are small files that store information on your computer, mobile phone or other device and enable and allow the creator of the cookie to identify when you visit different websites. If you do not wish information to be stored as a cookie, you can disable cookies in your web browser.

5. Third Party Apps

We may use Google Analytics to collect and process data, including when you use third party websites or apps. To find out more see How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps. We may use other third party apps from time to time to improve the service we provide.

6. Use Of Your Personal Information

We collect and use personal information for the following purposes:

• to provide goods, services or information to you;
• to provide you with news and information or advise you about our existing and new products and services;
• to manage and enhance our products and services;
• to personalise and customise your experience;
• for record keeping and administrative purposes;
• to provide information about you to our contractors, employees, consultants, agents or other third parties for the purpose of providing goods or services to you;
• to improve and optimise our service offering and customer experience;
• to provide you with access to protected areas of our websites;
• to conduct competitions or promotions for us and on behalf of selected third parties;
• to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes or enforce our agreements with third parties;
• to verify your identity;
• to conduct business processing functions for operation of our websites or our business;
• for our administrative, marketing (including direct marketing), promotional, planning, product/service development, quality control and research purposes, or those of our contractors or external service providers;
• to communicate with you, including but not limited to, by email, mail, SMS or telephone;
• to send you marketing and promotional messages and other information that may be of interest to you and for the purpose of direct marketing (in accordance with the Spam Act). In this regard, we may use email, SMS, social media or mail to send you direct marketing communications. You can opt out of receiving marketing materials from us by using the opt-out facility provided (e.g. an unsubscribe link);
• to investigate any complaints about or made by you, or if we have reason to suspect that you are in breach of any of our terms and conditions or that you are or have been otherwise engaged in any unlawful activity; and/or
• to send you administrative messages, reminders, notices, updates, security alerts, and other information requested by you; and to consider an application of employment from you.

7. Marketing Material

• We may send you direct marketing communications and information about products and services that we consider may be of interest to you. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS or email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2004 (Cth). 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 (details below) or by using the opt-out facilities provided (e.g. an unsubscribe link), or by updating your personal details on the Website (if that functionality is available). 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 purpose of direct marketing unless expressly authorised by you.
• If you receive communications from us that you believe have been sent to you other than in accordance with this policy, or in breach of any law, please contact us using the details provided below.

8. Tracking

• We may collect data about your browsing activity on our Website.
• We may also use non-personal information that we collect about you on our Website to identify you on third party websites where we have an arrangement in place to serve ads on those third party websites. We may also collect anonymous internet usage data from third parties.
• One of the reasons we collect usage data is to display targeted advertisements or content on our Website and also on third party websites. For that purpose, usage data is collected and assigned to one or more pre-defined categories (for example “holiday seekers”). If this infers a particular interest, a cookie is placed in your web browser which may determine the type of targeted advertising or content that you receive. We target advertisements and content in order to improve your user experience – so that you are served advertisements and content that we believe may be more relevant or useful to you.
• To create consumer profiles, we also collate data from other sources across our Website including memberships, surveys and competitions. We will only use this data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and other applicable laws.
• Advertisements or content may also be targeted to users based on:
  
  i) the type of content displayed on a given webpage;
  ii) the geographical location of a user (ie. identified by an IP address);
  iii) specific searches undertaken by a user; or
  iv) the type of customer (e.g. viewer/reader versus advertiser).
  
  
• Other reasons we may collect anonymous usage data include:
  
  i) to limit the number of times users are served certain ads;
  ii) to monitor the performance of advertising campaigns;
  iii) to audit, research, and analyse usage in order to maintain and improve our services, and to develop new services;
  iv) to ensure that our ad-serving technologies function properly; and
  v) to provide you with recommendations, based on your usage patterns.
• We will not collect usage data or target advertisements based on the following market segments:
  
  i) racial or ethnic origin; or
  ii) political opinions; or
  iii) membership of a political association; or
  iv) religious beliefs or affiliations; or
  v) philosophical beliefs; or
  vi) membership of a professional or trade association; or
  vii) membership of a trade union; or
  viii) sexual preferences or practices; or
  ix) criminal record; or
  x) health information; or
  xi) genetic information that is not otherwise health information
  (Sensitive Information)
  
  
• If we ever seek to target advertisements based on Sensitive Information, we will first obtain your consent.
• Third party advertisers may purchase advertising products from us that enable them to target particular types of users of our Website, for advertisements served both on our Website and also on third party websites.
• We may also permit advertisers to embed their own cookies in advertisements and allow other third parties to use cookies and other tracking technologies on our websites. Generally, advertisers will embed cookies in advertisements to monitor the performance of their advertising campaign, but they may also collect anonymous usage data relating to browsing activity on our Website.
• We will not provide any personal information to an advertiser or any other third party without your express consent or in accordance with our Privacy Policy. However, to the extent that anonymous user data does not constitute personal information, we are entitled to deal with that information in any manner we see fit.

9. Socials

• When you connect with us through social networking services, we will obtain access to certain personal information which you have shared with that social networking service. By connecting with us through these third-party social networking services, you are authorising us to access and use certain information from your social network profile.
• We may access information, including personal information, about you across the Website and from third-party sources and platforms, such as social networking sites (like Facebook, Google, Twitter) as well as databases, recruitment platforms such as LinkedIn or Seek, online marketing companies, agents and representatives we have engaged via our digital services. We may supplement the information we collect from you with information obtained from those third-party sources.
• If you do not provide and we do not collect your personal information in the ways we have described above, we may not be able to as effectively provide you with our products and/or services that you have requested.

10. Security

• We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is secure and protected from misuse or unauthorised access. Our information technology systems are password protected, and we use a range of administrative and technical measures to protect these systems. However, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.
• We may hold your personal information in a number of different formats, including software programs (located both onsite and offsite, including in the cloud), databases, filing systems and in offsite backup storage. Personal information held by us may be stored in email accounts that are accessible through mobile devices.

11. Links

Our website may contain links to other websites. Those links are provided for convenience and may not remain current or be maintained. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those linked websites and we suggest you review the privacy policies of those websites before using them.

12. Requesting Access Or Correcting Your Personal Information

If you wish to request access to the personal information we hold about you, please contact us using the contact details set out below including your name and contact details. We may need to verify your identity before providing you with your personal information. In some cases, we may be unable to provide you with access to all your personal information and where this occurs, we will explain why. We will deal with all requests for access to personal information within a reasonable timeframe.

If you think that any personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, please contact us using the contact details set out below and we will take reasonable steps to ensure that it is corrected.

13. Overseas Access And Children

• If you are based in the European Union, the United Kingdom or California, there are specific regulations that apply in relation to the collection, processing and storing of your personal information by organisations covered by those regulations.
• We do not develop, target or direct our Website, products or services towards individuals (including children) situated outside Australia. If you are accessing this Website from any of the above mentioned locations, you must cease using this Website.
• Our business is targeted at individuals who are domiciled in Australia. We do not knowingly collect personal information about children under 18 years of age. If you are under the age of 18 and using our Website, you must obtain your parent’s or legal guardian’s consent to browse the Website.

14. Complaints

If you wish to complain about how we handle your personal information held by us, please contact us using the details set out below including your name and contact details. We will investigate your complaint promptly and respond to you within a reasonable timeframe.

15. Contact Us

For further information about our privacy policy or practices, or to access or correct your personal information, or make a complaint, please contact us using the details set out below:

• Name: Brian Dunphy
• Email: admin@ourhometown.com.au

Our privacy policy was last updated on 9 May 2022.