Privacy Policy

Introduction

Your privacy is important to us. Alcohol and Drug Awareness Australia Pty Ltd (T/A ADA Australia) commits unreservedly to its obligations under Australian law and Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) legislation.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website or use our services. Your use of our website is also subject to our Terms & Conditions. Please read this policy carefully.

Information We Collect

We use your personal information to provide our training services and resources, and we disclose it to the service providers who help us deliver them — such as our payment, hosting, email, and analytics providers (see the "Overseas Disclosure" section below). We do not sell your personal information, and we do not disclose it for commercial gain. Any personal information we hold is managed lawfully and ethically and stored securely, in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

Personal information collected by ADA Australia is for the purpose of the provision of training services and resources, as per ADA Australia's primary business activity. This may include:

• Contact information (name, email address, phone number)
• Organisation details, including company name and ABN, for training bookings and tax invoices
• Booking and payment details — your booking selections, billing address, and the payment confirmation we receive from our payment provider. Your full card number is handled by Stripe and never reaches our servers
• Enquiry and feedback submissions
• Newsletter subscription preferences
• Technical and usage information collected automatically, such as IP address, device and browser type, and analytics identifiers (see our Cookie Policy)
• Information you share when you contact the Friendly Ear Helpline, which may include health information. Health information is "sensitive information" under the Privacy Act and is given a higher level of protection (see the Friendly Ear Helpline Confidentiality section below)

Third-Party Services

To improve our website and services, we use the following third-party services:

Some of these providers process data on servers outside Australia. See the "Overseas Disclosure" section below for the countries involved and how we manage that.

For detailed information about the cookies these services use, please see our Cookie Policy.

Overseas Disclosure

We store the personal information you provide through bookings, enquiries and our forms on secure cloud infrastructure located in Australia (Amazon Web Services, Sydney region).

Some of the third-party providers we rely on are located overseas, and we disclose limited personal information to them so they can perform their function:

• Stripe (United States and Ireland) — payment processing, including your name, email and billing address
• Google (United States) — website analytics (Google Analytics 4) and form spam protection (reCAPTCHA)
• Microsoft (United States) — anonymised session analytics (Microsoft Clarity)

Where we disclose personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles it consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles. By providing your information, you acknowledge it may be disclosed to, and processed in, the countries listed above.

Friendly Ear Helpline Confidentiality

Personal information collected as a result of engagements with ADA Australia's Helpline services is retained only in so far as such retention is of benefit to the individual, and always, without exception, de-identified for reporting purposes. No personal data will ever be released nor shared with third parties for any form of commercial gain.

Clients using ADA Australia's Friendly Ear Helpline service can be assured that calls are treated as confidential and handled in accordance with the Privacy Act, and our support workers are committed to respecting your privacy. Friendly Ear is a peer-support and listening service; using it does not create a clinical, counselling or legally privileged relationship.

Any personal notes or information held by ADA Australia from such engagements is for the single purpose of protection of the health and wellbeing of the client. Such information will not be shared without an individual's knowledge and consent, except in the limited circumstances described below.

Note: There are limited circumstances where we may need to disclose information without your consent — where there is a serious or imminent risk of harm to you or another person, where a child is at risk of significant harm (in which case we may be required to notify child protection authorities), or where we are required to do so by law (for example, a court order or a lawful request from police).

Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

• Training records: Retained for 7 years as required for compliance and certification purposes
• Contact enquiries: Retained for 2 years unless an ongoing relationship exists
• Newsletter subscriptions: Retained until you unsubscribe
• Helpline records: De-identified records retained for statistical purposes only

Your Rights

Under Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction: Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete information
• Deletion: Request that we delete your personal information (subject to legal retention requirements)
• Opt-out: Unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time
• Withdraw consent: Withdraw your consent for analytics tracking via our Cookie Policy settings

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the form below.

Complaints

If you believe we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact us using the form below and we will endeavour to resolve your complaint promptly.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. This includes secure data storage, encrypted connections (HTTPS), and restricted access to personal data.

No system is completely secure. If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will assess it and notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act.

Automated Decision-Making

We do not use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects for you. We use Google reCAPTCHA to help tell human visitors and automated bots apart when you submit a form; it scores the interaction to prevent spam and abuse but is not used to make decisions that significantly affect you.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.