Privacy policy

1. Purpose and nature

The AMPLIFY Community Platform (Platform) is provided by Apollo Research Limited (ABN 86 669 682 777) (we, us or our) who recognises the importance of your privacy.  

This Privacy Policy explains how we intend to collect, store, use, disclose, protect and otherwise handle your personal information having regard to the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

This Privacy Policy does not constitute a contractual representation, promise, guarantee or warranty by us to you as to the manner in which we will or may collect, store, use, disclose, protect or otherwise handle your personal information. 

This Privacy Policy applies to us and our related entities, such as our subsidiaries and our employees.  Our related entities comply with the same obligations that we have to protect your personal information under this Privacy Policy.

2. What is personal information?

Personal information is information or an opinion about you, whether true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not, from which you can be reasonably be identified.

3. Why does the Company collect personal information?

We collect personal information for the primary purpose of:

1. undertaking research and analysis in relation to key Australian policy issues;
2. publishing, disseminating and discussing research and analysis on key Australian policy issues; and
3. encouraging and interacting with and seeking input and feedback from the general community in Australia on key Australian policy issues,

for the public benefit, including by providing the Platform, which informs and encourages public debate and produces policy recommendations that will enhance the livelihoods of Australians. 

We may also use your personal information for related purposes.  

If we do not collect your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with our products and services or you may not be able to get the most out of our Platform.

4. What personal information does the Company collect?

The types of personal information collected by us include:

1. names;
2. contact details (including address, postcode, email address, telephone number(s) and other contact details);
3. gender identity;
4. dates of birth;
5. videos of you
6. images of you (such as your profile picture); and
7. other information you provide to us.

4.2 Sensitive Information

The personal information collected by us may include sensitive information, which is defined in the Privacy Act as information or an opinion about such things as an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of a trade union or other professional body, criminal record or health information.  

The sensitive information that we may collect include:

1. your cultural, ethnic or religious beliefs and background; and
2. your political affiliations or beliefs.

We will only use sensitive information:

1. for the primary purpose for which it was obtained;
2. for a secondary purpose that is directly related to the primary purpose;
3. with your consent; or
4. where required or authorised by law.  

5. How does the Company collect your personal information?

We will collect personal information only by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive manner.  When you provide us with personal information you consent to the use, disclosure and handling of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and any subsequent amendments (see clause 14).

5.1 Collecting information from you

If it is reasonable and practical to do so, we will collect personal information directly from you.

Depending on how you choose to interact with us, we will generally collect your personal information through our website when you provide us with your details or when you sign up for an account or interact with the Platform. We may also collect your personal information when you contact, or are contacted by, us or our service providers by telephone, by email,, social media and other digital services or when you complete a form or document and provide it to us. 

5.2 Collecting information from third parties

We may also collect information about you from other people (eg a third party administrator) or independent sources.  For example, we may collect personal information about you from our services providers. However, we will only do so where it is not reasonable and practicable to collect the information from you directly.  Where we have collected your information from a third party, such personal information will be held, used and disclosed by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

5.3 Collecting information from visits to our website and platforms

We may collect information about how you use and visit its website. For example, we record your server address, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visited, any documents you downloaded, the previous site you visited and the type of device, browser and operating system you used.

We use and disclose this information in anonymous, aggregated form only for purposes including statistical analysis and to assist us to improve the functionality and usability of our website. You are not individually identified, however we reserve the right to use or disclose this information to try to locate an individual where we reasonably believe that the individual may have engaged in any unlawful or inappropriate activity in connection with our website, or where we are otherwise required or authorised by law to do so.

We may also collect information based on how you use its website, including through 'cookies', web beacons and other similar technologies. 

Cookies are small text files that are transferred to your computer's hard drive through your web browser to enable our systems to recognise your browser and record non-personal information such as the date, time or duration of your visit and the pages accessed, for website administration, statistical and maintenance purposes (Cookie Information).

We use cookies to provide you with a more consistent experience across our services.  No attempt is made by us to use Cookie Information to personally identify you.  However, if Cookie Information is linked with personal information as set out above, this Cookie Information becomes personal information and will be treated in the same manner as the personal information to which it has been linked.

You can remove or reject cookies by adjusting the settings on your web browser.  Please note that some parts of our website or our website or our Platform may not function fully for users that disable cookies.

5.4 Unsolicited information

If we receive personal information that it has not requested and determines that the personal information received is not reasonably necessary to provide its services, we will take all lawful and reasonable steps (if any) to de-identify or destroy that personal information.

5.5 Anonymity/pseudonymity 

Where practicable, and subject to your compliance with our Community Commitments you may be able to interact with us or our Platform anonymously or by using a pseudonym. Circumstances where it is not practicable, however, include where personal information is required to complete a credit card transaction, sign up for an account on our Platform or to contact you about our services. 

6. How does the Company hold your personal information?

The security of your personal information is important to us.  Accordingly, we take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.  

These steps include the implementation of the following safeguards:

1. Encryption: All information is encrypted on our platforms.
2. Access Control: Only trained staff have access to these platforms.
3. Staff Training: All staff receive training on information security.

We will take reasonable steps to permanently de-identify or responsibly destroy personal information if it is no longer needed for the purpose for which the information was used or disclosed.

6.1 Security breach procedures

Our data security practices have been adopted with a view to protecting the data we hold.  Notwithstanding this, individuals should be aware that there are inherent risks associated with the transmission of data over the internet and other mediums.  Accordingly, we cannot guarantee any transmission will be completely secure. 

7. How does the Company use your personal information?

We may hold, use or disclose your personal information for a range of purposes so that we can operate and allow you to interact with our Platform, provide you with our products and services.

For example, we may hold, use or disclose your personal information to:

1. register your account and enable you to use our Platform and our other products and services;
2. repost your content and posts to our Platform including to our website or social media pages to show community sentiment and what the tenor of conversation on the platform looks and feels like;
3. analyse your usage of our products and services, including our Platform, to improve our products, services and Platform and the user experience;
4. conduct analytics, including marketing analytics, to evaluate how successful prompts or pages on our Platform have been;
5. contact you about topics of interest, to invite you to events or give you information about opportunities for online debate and engagement;
6. notify you of changes to this Privacy Policy, our terms and conditions, the Community Commitments or otherwise of changes to our Platform that we think you need to be aware of;
7. consider any concern or complaint that you raise against us or to manage any legal action between you and us;
8. prevent or investigate any actual or suspected fraud, unlawful activity or misconduct;
9. ensure you are complying with the Community Commitments; or
10. comply with any relevant laws, regulations, codes of practice and court orders.

Direct Marketing

We may use your personal information to identify and promote products or services that may be of interest to you, including events, opportunities for engagement or topics of interest.

At any time, you may opt out of receiving direct marketing communications from us.  To do so, click on the opt out link within an email, or by contacting us using the contact details set out in clause 12.

8. How is personal information disclosed to others?

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information to, or with third parties.

We may however, in order to provide our products and services to you and to allow you to interact with and use our Platform, disclose your personal information to third parties in limited circumstances, including to external providers that perform services on our behalf. 

We generally will not disclose your personal information to third parties who are overseas. However, the external SaaS products and third parties that provide us with services may store data outside of Australia including in the USA and Ireland, European Union (EU). We may also store your information on the cloud or use storage providers that are networked or use electronic storage. As electronic or networked storage can be accessed from various countries via an internet connection, it may be accessible overseas. 

8.1 Third Party Links

The Company's website may contain certain links to other websites.  The Company does not share your personal information with those websites and it is not responsible for the privacy practices applying in respect of those websites.

9. Change of control

If we sell, assigns or otherwise transfers part or the whole of our business, your personal information, which was collected by us through your use of the services, products or platforms, may be among the items transferred or sold to the extent that it is relevant to our business.  

10. How you may access or correct your personal information

You may contact us to request access to the personal information it holds about you at any time.  You may also ask us to correct information about you that you may believe is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

Please contact us using the contact details set out in clause 12.  We will need to verify your identity before giving you access to, or correcting, your personal information.  We will respond to the request within a reasonable period after the request is made.  There is no charge to make a request, however we may charge a reasonable fee to cover the administrative costs of retrieving your personal information.

In certain circumstances, we may refuse, or be unable, to correct or provide you with access to your personal information. In these circumstances, we will write to you to explain the reasons why this is the case.

11. How you may complain if you have concerns about how the Company has managed your personal information

If you have a complaint related to how we have managed your personal information, please contact us using the contact details set out in clause 12.  We may ask you to place your concerns in writing so that its compliance staff can fully understand and investigate your complaint.

We will provide you with an estimated response timeframe in relation to your complaint.  In any event, we will endeavour to respond to your complaint within 30 days.

If a complaint remains unresolved, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au to have the complaint heard and determined.

12. How to contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our management of your personal information, please contact us on:

Attention: Support Services

Email: feedback@amplifyaus.org

Mail: Amplify PO Box Q76 QVB NSW 1230 

Changes to our privacy policy and information handling practices

This Privacy Policy is subject to change at any time so we encourage you to review this Privacy Policy at regular intervals.  If we change this Privacy Policy an updated version will be posted on our website and we will notify you of any important changes.  By continuing to use our services after that time you will be deemed to have accepted any changes to its Privacy Policy.