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Privacy Policy

Independents for Mornington Peninsula (Indies for MP)

Privacy Policy

Approved: 04/03/2026

1. Purpose

Independents for Mornington Peninsula (the Association) respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information in a transparent and responsible way.

This Privacy Policy explains how the Association collects, uses, discloses, stores and protects personal information, and how you can access and correct your information or make a complaint. Although not obliged to by law, the Association chooses to handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

2. Scope

This policy applies to personal information the Association handles about:

  • Members and prospective members

  • Donors and supporters

  • Volunteers and prospective volunteers

  • Prospective candidates seeking endorsement by the Association

  • Endorsed candidates of the Association

  • Members of endorsed candidates’ campaign team members, to the extent the organisation handles their information)

  • Employees and contractors (where relevant)

  • Event attendees and participants

  • Website visitors and social media followers

  • Suppliers and service providers

  • People who contact the Association or engage with its programs or activities

This includes information collected through:

  • The Association’s website and online forms

  • The Association’s database and communications platform, NationBuilder

  • Fundraising and payments platform, Stripe

  • Email and file storage systems: Google Workspace and Drive

  • Social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Whats App

  • Banking and financial reconciliation records via Bendigo Bank

  • Phone, email, paper forms, sign-up sheets, and in-person events

3. Definitions

Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

Sensitive information is a special category of personal information such as health information, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or union membership. The Association seeks to avoid collecting sensitive information unless it is necessary for a specific purpose and you consent, or another lawful basis applies.

4. Privacy Officer

The Secretary of the Association is the nominated Privacy Officer.

Privacy Officer contact details: [email protected]

5. What personal information we collect

The Association collects only the personal information it reasonably needs to carry out its activities. Depending on your relationship with the Association, this may include:

Identity and contact details

  • Name, address, email, phone number

  • Date of birth (if relevant for membership eligibility or insurance requirements)

Membership information

  • Membership status, membership history, committee roles, renewals

Donor and fundraising information

  • Donation amounts, frequency, campaign or appeal supported

  • Receipts issued and transaction references

  • Engagement history

Volunteer information

  • Availability, role preferences, training or induction records

  • Emergency contact details, where needed for safety

  • Incident reports or safety-related records (where required)

Candidates and prospective candidates 

  • Contact details and background information provided during enquiries or applications 

  • Information relevant to eligibility, values alignment, governance, or campaign readiness 

  • Records of communications, meetings, and assessment processes 

  • Information required for compliance, governance, insurance, or public communications once endorsed 

Employee and contractor information, where applicable

  • Contact details, employment history, onboarding documentation

  • Payment details, superannuation and taxation information

  • Performance, conduct and workplace management records 

Events and engagement

  • Event registrations and attendance

  • Dietary, accessibility or support requirements, which may be sensitive information

  • Feedback, survey responses, complaints, and correspondence

Online and technical information

  • IP address, device information, browser type

  • Website usage data including cookies and analytics

  • Interactions with our emails or digital communications such as open and click activity

Images and recordings

  • Photos or videos from events or activities, where the Association notifies attendees and obtains consent where appropriate

6. How we collect personal information

We collect personal information in the following ways:

  • Directly from you when you donate, sign up, join, volunteer, register for an event, contact us, or complete a form

  • Through our database and communications platform, NationBuilder, when you enter information in online forms or are added to supporter or member lists

  • Through Stripe when you make a donation as a result of which the Association generally receives donor details and transaction references; while Stripe handles card details

  • Through email and file storage systems, Google Workspace and Google Drive, when you email us or share documents

  • Via social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Whats App when you interact with our pages, posts, messages, events, or advertisements

  • From third parties where appropriate such as event partners or referrers where we have a reasonable basis to believe you have consented to the information being shared or it is otherwise lawful

  • Automatically through our website through cookies, analytics and security logs

Candidate enquiries and endorsement processes 

  • Directly from individuals who enquire about endorsement or submit information as part of an endorsement process

  • From referees or third parties identified by the individual, where appropriate and lawful

  • Through meetings, interviews, written submissions, or electronic communications.

7. Purposes for collecting, holding, using and disclosing personal information

The Association uses and discloses personal information for purposes connected to its functions and activities, including:

  • Administering membership and governance

  • Coordinating and managing volunteers

  • Communicating with members and supporters, including newsletters and updates

  • Fundraising, processing donations, issuing receipts, and donor stewardship

  • Event planning, registration, safety and accessibility arrangements

  • Responding to enquiries, feedback and complaints

  • Considering enquiries about becoming an endorsed candidate

  • Assessing, endorsing and supporting candidates in accordance with the Association’s objectives

  • Coordinating campaign support activities for endorsed candidates

  • Facilitating engagement between supporters and endorsed candidates, where permission has been provided by supporters by opting in and the reasons for sharing are consistent with the Association’s objectives and the relevant campaign. Endorsed candidates and their campaign teams are separate entities from the Association

  • Maintaining organisational records and reporting to members

  • Managing suppliers, service providers, and operational needs

  • Meeting legal and regulatory obligations and cooperating with lawful requests

The Association does not sell personal information.

8. Fundraising, receipts and payment processing

The Association fundraises to support its activities. When you donate:

  • Payments are processed using Stripe

  • The Association records donation amounts, relevant donor details, and transaction references for receipting, reconciliation, governance and audit purposes

  • The Association does not generally store full card details because Stripe processes card details on its systems

If you prefer to donate anonymously or limit the personal information provided, contact the Privacy Officer to discuss available options.

9. Election funding and disclosure

Depending on the activity and the election, Commonwealth and/or Victorian electoral laws may require reporting of political donations, electoral expenditure, or related returns. Where such laws apply, some donor and transaction details may need to be provided to the relevant regulator such as the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) or the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), and some information may be published by the regulator as required by law. 

If you prefer to donate anonymously or limit the personal information provided, contact the Privacy Officer to discuss if any options are available. 

10. Direct marketing and communications

The Association may send communications including newsletters, fundraising appeals, event invitations and updates.

You can opt out at any time by:

  • Using the unsubscribe link in emails

  • Replying ‘STOP’ to SMS messages if used

  • Updating your preferences through NationBuilder when enabled

  • Contacting the Privacy Officer

The Association may retain minimal information on a suppression list to ensure opt-out requests are honoured.

11. Disclosure of personal information

The Association may disclose personal information to:

  • Volunteers, committee members and authorised personnel who need it to perform their duties

  • Service providers who support our operations, including:

  • NationBuilder (database, forms, communications)

  • Stripe (payment processing and fraud prevention)

  • Google Workspace and Google Drive (email and document storage)

  • Social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Whats App (page management, messaging, analytics, advertising tools)

  • Bendigo Bank (banking records and reconciliation)

  • IT support providers, accountants, bookkeepers, auditors, and professional advisers, where engaged

  • Event platforms, survey tools, or mailing providers, where used

  • Government agencies, regulators, law enforcement or other entities where required or authorised by law

  • Endorsed candidates of the Association and their authorised campaign team members, where individuals have provided consent or where disclosure is otherwise lawful

We take reasonable steps to ensure service providers handle information securely and only for authorised purposes.

12. Overseas disclosure and cross-border storage

Some of our service providers may store or process personal information overseas, when their servers, support teams, or related systems operate outside Australia. This may include the United States and other locations.

Where practicable, the Association takes reasonable steps to select reputable providers and to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, consistent with our APP-aligned approach.

13. Website, cookies and analytics

The Association’s website may use cookies and analytics to:

  • Improve website performance and user experience

  • Understand usage patterns and engagement

  • Maintain security and prevent misuse

You can usually disable cookies through your browser settings, but this may affect site functionality.

If the Association uses social media advertising tools such as Meta tracking technologies, these may collect information about interactions to help measure campaign performance and deliver relevant information. You can manage ad preferences through your Meta account settings.

14. Sensitive information

The Association seeks to minimise collection of sensitive information. Where it is necessary such as accessibility requirements for an event or safety needs, we will:

  • Collect only what is reasonably required

  • Seek your consent where appropriate

  • Apply additional safeguards to protect it

15. Data quality

The Association takes reasonable steps to ensure personal information is accurate, up to date, complete and relevant. You can help by contacting us if your details change.

16. Data security

The Association takes reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Security measures may include:

  • Access controls and role-based permissions including within NationBuilder and Google Drive

  • Limiting administrative access and applying least-privilege principles

  • Multi-factor authentication where available

  • Secure password practices

  • Processes to remove access when volunteers, contractors or staff leave

  • Secure storage and controlled handling of paper records, if used

  • Guidance and confidentiality expectations for volunteers who handle personal information

No system is completely secure. If you believe your information has been compromised, contact the Privacy Officer as soon as possible.

17. Data retention and disposal

The Association retains personal information only as long as needed for its functions and activities, and to meet governance, legal, financial and audit requirements.

When information is no longer needed, the Association takes reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it securely.

18. Access and correction

You may request access to the personal information the Association holds about you, and request correction if it is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

To make a request, contact the Privacy Officer. The Association will respond within a reasonable timeframe. In some cases, access may be refused where lawful, such as if providing access would unreasonably impact another person’s privacy. If access is refused, we will explain the reasons where we can.

19. Complaints

If you have a privacy complaint, contact the Privacy Officer with details of your concern.

The Association will:

  • Acknowledge your complaint within a reasonable timeframe

  • Investigate and respond as soon as practicable

  • Take reasonable steps to address any issues identified

If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Their contact details are available on the OAIC website.

20. Data breaches

The Association encourages prompt reporting of suspected privacy incidents.

If a data breach occurs, the Association will take reasonable steps to:

  • Contain and assess the breach

  • Reduce the risk of harm

  • Notify affected individuals and relevant authorities where appropriate

Even if the Association is not legally required to comply with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, it aims to respond in a way that aligns with good practice.

21. Employment and workplace records

Where the Association employs staff, certain employee information may be handled as workplace records. The Association will take reasonable steps to protect this information and to handle it responsibly.

22. Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in our activities, systems, or legal and governance expectations. The current version will be published on the Association’s website or made available on request.