1. Introduction.

Welcome to the website, https://ourhometown.com.au. Our aim is to build a sense of community across the entire Northern Beaches. We want to help you find and connect with people, groups, businesses and organisations on the Northern Beaches that matter to you. In doing so we want your opinion about things that matter to you about the Northern Beaches, be it telling us about great people, businesses or organisations, commenting on Council and its policies and services, or what you think the future holds for us from the state and Federal governments.

Rather than erecting a ‘pay wall’ for using the website, we won’t charge you for accessing the website or the other free products or services covered by the Website Terms and Conditions (Terms). Instead people, businesses and organisations pay us to show you advertisements for their products and services.

• These Terms apply when you use the Website and any other products, features, apps, services, technologies and software offered by Our Home Town Pty Ltd (ABN 11 654 163 569) (Our Home Town, our, we or us).
• You agree to be bound by these Terms which form a binding contractual agreement between you and us.
• If you don’t agree to these Terms, you must refrain from using the Website.
• We may change these Terms at any time by updating this page of the Website and providing you with reasonable notice of those changes, and your continued use of the Website following such an update will represent an agreement by you to be bound by the Terms as amended.

2. Acess And Use Of The Website

• You will not be required to sign up for an account with us (Account) in order to access the Website, however, you will be required to log into the site using a Facebook, Google or Instagram account in order to provide feedback by way of an emoticon, or to submit a letter or feature article.
• By accessing the Website and/or signing up for an Account you agree to these Terms and you consent to us collecting and using the personal information we collect in accordance with our Privacy Policy, available on our Website.
• You must only use the Website in accordance with these Terms and any applicable laws, and must ensure that your employees, sub-contractors and any other agents who use or access the Website comply with the Terms and any applicable laws.
• When registering for an Account, you must provide us with accurate, complete and up-to-date registration information. It is also your responsibility to inform us of any changes to your registration information. You must not impersonate or create a registration for any person other than yourself. We may at any time request a form of identification to verify your identity.
• We may refuse to accept your registration request for an Account, suspend and/or terminate your Account at our discretion and without notice if your registration information is inaccurate, incomplete or if you use your Account in breach of these terms, or if you are no longer an active user.

3. Your Obligations

You must not:

• use the website to intimidate, harass, impersonate, stalk, threaten, bully or endanger any other user on the Website or distribute unsolicited commercial content, junk mail, spam or bulk content;
• share your account details with any other person;
• use the Website in a manner that is illegal or fraudulent or facilitates illegal or fraudulent activity (including requesting or accepting a job which includes illegal activities or purposes);
• use the Website in connection with any commercial or money making or other promotional or marketing endeavours except those that are endorsed by us in writing;
• act in any way that may harm the reputation of our associated or interested parties or do anything at all contrary to our interests;
• copy, mirror, reproduce, translate, adapt, vary, modify, sell, decipher or decompile any part or aspect of the Website without our express consent;
• use the Website for any purpose other than the purposes of browsing, selecting or purchasing goods and services;
• use, or attempt to use, the Website in a manner that is illegal or fraudulent or facilitates illegal or fraudulent activity;
• use, or attempt to use, the Website in a manner that may interfere with, disrupt or create undue burden on the Website or the servers or networks that host the Website;
• use the Website with the assistance of any automated scripting tool or software;
• act in a way that may diminish or adversely impact our reputation, including by linking to the Website on any other website; and
• attempt to breach the security of the Website, or otherwise interfere with the normal functions of the Website, including by:
  
  i) gaining unauthorised access to Website accounts or data;
  ii) scanning, probing or testing the Website for security vulnerabilities;
  iii) overloading, flooding, mailbombing, crashing or submitting a virus to the Website; or
  iv) instigate or participate in a denial-of-service attack against the Website.

4. Information On The Website And Service Limitations

• While we make every effort to ensure that the information on the Website is as up-to-date and accurate as possible, you acknowledge and agree that we do not (to the maximum extent permitted by law) guarantee that:
  
  i)the Website will be free from errors or defects;
  ii)the Website will be accessible at all times;
  iii)messages sent through the Website will be delivered promptly, or delivered at all;
  iv)information you receive or supply through the Website will be secure or confidential; or
  v)any information provided through the Website is accurate or true.
  
  
• We reserve the right to change any information or functionality on the Website by updating the Website at any time without notice, including product descriptions, prices and other Website Content.
• Information displayed on the Website (whether created by us or other users) is general in nature and we take no responsibility for anything caused by any actions you take in reliance on information on our Website.

5. Links And Avertisments

• This Website, including e-Newsletters, may contain links to third party websites. The inclusion of a link does not imply that we endorse or have verified the linked websites. We make no warranty or representation concerning these links or the linked websites and you enter any third-party websites at your own risk. It is your responsibility to review any terms of use or privacy policies relevant to such websites.
• The Website, including e-Newsletters, may feature or display third party advertising. The third-party advertisers are responsible for the accuracy of all representations made in those advertisements. Neither we, nor our officers, employees, agents or related bodies corporate recommend or endorse the goods or services that may be advertised on the Website, nor do we offer the goods or services for sale of make any other representation whatsoever about them. If you choose to order a product or service advertised by a third party on the Website, you do so at your own risk.
• In some instances, we may feature, promote or sponsor special events, offers, competitions and other activities conducted by third parties, online or offline. Advertisements on the Website may also contain offers which you can accept by clicking through to the advertiser’s website or we may display links and pointers to third party websites. All these third-party websites, offers, competitions etc do not form part of the Website and are not under our control and we do not accept any responsibility for them and you participate at your own risk. The advertiser or the person making the offer to you is solely responsible to you for offers and for the delivery of any goods or services which are the subject of any such offer or which you may purchase on the Website. If you contact a third-party using functionality provided on the Website, including via e-mail, you do so at your own risk and we do not accept any responsibility for any communications or transactions between you and the relevant third party.
• Some advertisements and promotions may be aimed at users who are located in specific locations. As a result, the goods or services included in any such advertisements or promotions may not necessarily be available at or near the place where you are located whether for the price stated or at all. We make no representation or warranty with regard to the availability of such goods and services or the price for which those goods and services may be available in the area where you are located. You agree that you will make no claim or complaint against us in that regard.

6. Intllectual Property

• We retain ownership of the Website and all materials on the Website (including text, graphics, logos, design, icons, images, sound and video recordings, pricing, downloads and software) (Website Content) and reserve all rights in any intellectual property rights owned or licensed by us not expressly granted to you.
• You may make a temporary electronic copy of all or part of the Website for the sole purpose of viewing it. You must not otherwise reproduce, transmit, adapt, distribute, sell, modify or publish the Website or any Website Content without prior written consent from us or as permitted by law.
• All content on the Website is protected by Australian and international copyright laws. You must not do anything which interferes with or breaches those laws or the intellectual property rights in the Website Content.

7. Security

We do not accept responsibility for loss or damage to computer systems, mobile phones or other electronic devices arising in connection with use of the Website. You should take your own precautions to ensure that the process that you employ for accessing the Website does not expose you to risk of viruses, malicious computer code or other forms of interference.

8. Overseas Access

If you are located outside of Australia, you must not access, view or listen to the Website without our express written permission. We may use technology to verify your geographic location and prevent use outside Australia.

9. Reporting Misuse

If you become aware of misuse of the Website by any person, any errors in the material on the Website or any difficulty in accessing or using the Website, please contact us immediately using the contact details or form provided on our Website.

10. Liability

• We make no warranties or representations about this Website or any of its content and will not be responsible to you or any third party for any direct or consequential loss suffered in connection with the use of this Website. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we exclude any liability that may arise due to your use of our Website and/or the information or materials contained on it. You agree to indemnify us for any loss or liability arising out of your use of this Website.
• Our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with the service, you are entitled:
  
  i) to cancel your service contract with us; and
  ii) to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value
  
  
• You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage.
• If the failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have problems with the service rectified in a reasonable time and, if this is not done, to cancel your contract and obtain a refund for the unused portion of the contract.
• If there is a minor problem with a service that can be fixed, you cannot cancel our service and demand a refund immediately. You must give us an opportunity to fix the problem:
  
  i) free of charge; and
  ii) within a reasonable time.
  
  
• If you have posted advertisements on the Website, any requests for cancellations or refunds will be dealt with as set out in clause 12 below.

11. Posted Materials

11.1 Warranties

By providing or posting any information, materials, advertisements or other content on the Website (Posted Material), you represent and warrant that:

• you are authorised to provide the Posted Material (including by being authorised to provide any services that you represent you provide);
• the Posted Material is accurate and true at the time it is provided;
• any Posted Material which is in the form of a review or feedback is honest, accurate and presents a fair view of the relevant person and/or your experience;
• the Posted Material is free from any harmful, discriminatory, defamatory or maliciously false implications and does not contain any offensive or explicit material;
• the Posted Material is not “passing off” of any product or service and does not constitute unfair competition;
• the Posted Material does not infringe any Intellectual Property Rights, including copyright, trademarks, business names, patents, confidential information or any other similar proprietary rights, whether registered or unregistered, anywhere in the world;
• the Posted Material does not contain any viruses or other harmful code, or otherwise compromise the security or integrity of the Website or any network or system; and
• the Posted Material does not breach or infringe any applicable laws.

11.2 Licence

• You grant to us a perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, worldwide and royalty-free licence (including the right to sublicense) to use, copy, modify, reproduce and adapt any Intellectual Property Rights in any Posted Material in order for us to use, exploit or otherwise enjoy the benefit of such Posted Material.
• If it is determined that you retain moral rights (including rights of attribution or integrity) in any Posted Material, you forever release us from any and all claims that you could assert against us by virtue of any such moral rights.
• You indemnify us, our directors, officers, employees and contractors against all damages, losses, costs and expenses incurred by us arising out of any claim that your Posted Material infringes any third party’s Intellectual Property Rights.

11.3 Removal

• We reserve the right (but have no obligation) to, in our absolute discretion:
  
  i) review, edit, adapt, modify, reformat, reject and/or remove any Posted Material which you upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available (or attempt to upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available) including where they, in our opinion, violate these terms or otherwise have the potential to harm, endanger or violate the rights of any person;
  ii) monitor use of the Website, and store or disclose any information that we collect for any purpose including to investigate compliance with these Terms of Use or to provide for any police investigation or government or regulatory request for information; and
  iii) share your information with appropriate government or community organisations if we consider you may be at risk of causing serious harm to yourself and/or a third party(s) or would otherwise benefit from being contacted by the government or community organisation in relation to mental health information and/or support.
• You agree that you are responsible for keeping and maintaining records of Posted Material.

11.4 General

• We may show your selected account name with Posted Materials, however, you acknowledge and agree that it is not always practical for us to attribute you as the author of Posted Material and are under no obligation to do so.
• we require that Posted Materials do not, and your use of the Website does not:
  
  i) except where expressly permitted by us, contain any links, advertising or marketing material or spam or advertise, promote or solicit any goods or services or commercial activities or transmit any sort of ‘junk mail’ or ‘chain letters’;
  ii) involve any impersonation of any person or entity or any attempt to solicit money, passwords or personal information from any person;
  iii) contain obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, vulgar or indecent content or stalk, bully, harass or create a privacy or security risk to any person;
  iv) racially or religiously vilify, incite violence or hatred, or be likely to offend, insult or humiliate others based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation or any physical or mental disability;
  v) encourage or promote or assist the commission of any illegal act;
  vi) contain nudity, excessive violence, or sexual acts or references or contain excessively coarse language or content which would be rated R, RC or X by the Australian Classification Board;
  vii) contain financial, legal, medical or other professional advice;
  viii) include any material that contains any virus or computer code file or computer program or other device designed to interrupt, limit or impair any performance, security or functionality of the Website or any computer, software or telecommunications device in any manner whatsoever;
  ix) involve any means or permit others to have any means of attempting to adjust or circumvent any of the digital rights management or other technical measures we have included in or applied to the Website;
  x) except to the extent permitted by law, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, sell, reverse engineer, decipher, decompile or otherwise disassemble any portion of the Website or cause any other person to do so; and/or
  xi) involve the use of any robot, spider, or other device or process to retrieve, index, or in any way reproduce, modify or circumvent the navigational structure, security or presentation of any part of the Website.

12. Advertising Tems

12.1 Availbility

• We may offer, to users who have signed up for an Account, the ability to pay for advertisements to be displayed on parts of the Website (Advertisements).
• The rate payable for Advertisements will be based upon the rate sheet available on our Website or as provided to you at the time of submitting your Advertisement for approval.
• Advertisements will be placed on the Website as detailed in your order form with us for intervals of three months and are non-refundable for change of mind.
• Intervals for the duration of displaying of ads commences on the start of the month in which you pay for the Advertisement, unless otherwise agreed by us.
• Proof of residency and other requirements requested by us may be required before we accept an Advertisement request from you.

12.2 Cancellation

• To cancel your submitted Advertisements, you must contact us via in writing through the Website.
• When you cancel, you cancel only future charges associated with your Advertisements. You may notify us of your intent to cancel at any time, but the cancellation will become effective at the end of your current billing period. You will continue to have the same access and benefits until the end of your current billing period.
• Advertisements can be cancelled and refunded in full, provided that such a request is made by you at least 48 hours prior to the Advertisement being published on the Website.

12.3 Registration And Security

• As part of the Account registration process, you will select a username and password. You must provide us with accurate, complete and updated registration information. Failure to do so will result in breach of these terms.
• You must ensure that your username and password remain secure and confidential. You are entirely responsible for all use, activities and charges associated with or arising from any use of your username and password, including unauthorised use of your credit card.
• If any misuse of your log in details is detected or suspected by us (including the concurrent use of your login details) your Account may be terminated and you will not be eligible for a refund.
• An attempt to login with a username and password that is already in use will disconnect the other user. You must notify us immediately if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your username and password.
• We may monitor usage of the Website via your account and may take any action it seems necessary, including termination of your Account.

12.4 Trial Period

• We may offer a trial to eligible new users of the Website as described on the Website. If we do, this clause applies to any trial made available by us.
• We reserve the right to nominate the trial period for any trial in our discretion and you will be notified of the trial period if we grant you access to a free trial.
• We reserve the right to nominate the number of times a single user can access a trial in a year.
• You agree not to attempt to register any false information or to manipulate the registration and login system to gain unauthorised access to the Website without payment.

12.5 Payment Services

• We may use a third-party online payment partner, currently Stripe, (Online Payment Partner) to collect payments on the Website, including for our Services.
• The processing of payments by the Online Payment Partner will be, in addition to this agreement, subject to the terms, conditions and privacy policies of the Online Payment Partner.
• You agree to release us, our employees and agents in respect of all liability for loss, damage or injury which may be suffered by any person arising from any act or omission of the Online Payment Partner, including any issue with security or performance of the Online Payment Partner’s services or any error or mistake in processing your payment.
• We reserve the right to correct, or to instruct our Online Payment Partner to correct, any errors or mistakes in collecting your payment.

13. Disclaimer

• (Limitation of liability) To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Company excludes completely all liability to any person for loss or damage of any kind, however arising whether in contract, tort (including negligence), statute, equity, indemnity or otherwise, arising from or relating in any way to the Website or its use or any services provided by any Service Provider. This includes the transmission of any computer virus.
• (Disclaimer) All express or implied representations and warranties are, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, excluded.
• (Consumer law) Nothing in this agreement is intended to limit the operation of the Australian Consumer Law contained in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (ACL). Under the ACL, you may be entitled to certain remedies (like a refund, replacement or repair) if there is a failure with the goods or services we provide.
• (Indemnity) You agree to indemnify the Company and its employees and agents in respect of all liability for loss, damage or injury which may be suffered by any person arising from you or your representatives’:
  
  i) breach of any term of this agreement; 
  ii) use of the Website; or
  iii) your provision or receipt of Services from another User.
• (Consequential loss) To the maximum extent permitted by law, under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any incidental, special or consequential loss or damages, or damages for loss of data, business or business opportunity, goodwill, anticipated savings, profits or revenue arising under or in connection with the Website, this agreement or their subject matter, or any services provided by any Service Provider (except to the extent this liability cannot be excluded under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)).
• (Third Party Content) The Website may contain text, images, data and other content provided by a third party and displayed on the Website (Third Party Content). We accept no responsibility for Third Party Content and makes no representation, warranty or guarantee about the quality, suitability, accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of Third Party Content.

14. General

14.1 Children

• If you are under the age of 18 years, you must obtain your parents’ permission before viewing the Website.
• Certain areas of the Website (including Advertisements) may contain mature, indecent, objectionable and/or offensive content which is unsuitable for anyone under the age of 18 years. You may be asked to confirm that you are over 18 years before you are allowed to access these areas or certain content. If you are not 18 years of age, do not enter those sections of the Website.
• If you are a parent, you are responsible for deciding whether or not Website content is appropriate for a child if you allow a child to access the Website. You accept full responsibility for informing and, where appropriate, safeguarding minor viewers from content that may not be suitable for their age.

14.2 Governing Law And Jurisdiction

This agreement is governed by the law applying in New South Wales, Australia. Each party irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and courts of appeal from them in respect of any proceedings arising out of or in connection with this agreement. Each party irrevocably waives any objection to the venue of any legal process on the basis that the process has been brought in an inconvenient forum.

14.3 Waiver

No party to this agreement may rely on the words or conduct of any other party as a waiver of any right unless the waiver is in writing and signed by the party granting the waiver.

14.4 Severance

Any term of this agreement which is wholly or partially void or unenforceable is severed to the extent that it is void or unenforceable. The validity and enforceability of the remainder of this agreement is not limited or otherwise affected.

14.5 Joint And Several Liability

An obligation or a liability assumed by, or a right conferred on, two or more persons binds or benefits them jointly and severally.

14.6 Assignment

A party cannot assign, novate or otherwise transfer any of its rights or obligations under this agreement without the prior written consent of the other party.

14.7 Entire Agreement

This agreement embodies the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes any prior negotiation, conduct, arrangement, understanding or agreement, express or implied, in relation to the subject matter of this agreement.

14.8 Interpretation

• (singular and plural) words in the singular includes the plural (and vice versa);
• (gender) words indicating a gender includes the corresponding words of any other gender;
• (defined terms) if a word or phrase is given a defined meaning, any other part of speech or grammatical form of that word or phrase has a corresponding meaning;
• (person) a reference to “person” or “you” includes an individual, the estate of an individual, a corporation, an authority, an association, consortium or joint venture (whether incorporated or unincorporated), a partnership, a trust and any other entity;
• (party) a reference to a party includes that party’s executors, administrators, successors and permitted assigns, including persons taking by way of novation and, in the case of a trustee, includes any substituted or additional trustee;
• (this agreement) a reference to a party, clause, paragraph, schedule, exhibit, attachment or annexure is a reference to a party, clause, paragraph, schedule, exhibit, attachment or annexure to or of this agreement, and a reference to this agreement includes all schedules, exhibits, attachments and annexures to it;
• (document) a reference to a document (including this agreement) is to that document as varied, novated, ratified or replaced from time to time;
• (headings) headings and words in bold type are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation;
• (includes) the word “includes” and similar words in any form is not a word of limitation;
• (adverse interpretation) no provision of this agreement will be interpreted adversely to a party because that party was responsible for the preparation of this agreement or that provision; and
• (currency) a reference to $, or “dollar”, is to Australian currency, unless otherwise agreed in writing.