Privacy Statement

Country Alliance (CA) is seeking to register as a political party at State and Federal levels. Modern information and communication technologies, particularly this web site, play a fundamental role in the activities of CA.

This Privacy Statement applies to how your information is collected, stored and used, including through this website and by email. All information collected relating to individuals is covered by the provisions of the CA Privacy Policy which sets out how CA protects your privacy and confidentiality.

Confidentiality / Security Of Information

CA takes all reasonable steps to preserve the security of your personal information including your name, address, email address and other details. All records of your personal information are stored in in electronic and paper systems that cannot be accessed remotely.

Information Collected

Personal information is collected by CA in three ways:

• From individual members via their application for membership and then as a function of their being a member and participating in CA activities. We also collect information when individuals advise CA of changes to their personal information.

• From members and non-members accessing the Website. We use a tracking system to monitor the amount of visitors to the site. This includes IP information often does not identify specific individuals (but the gateway they use) and is not used for any purpose other than to determine which are 'genuine' hits. This information is id and password protected and is not provided to any other entity for any reason. Persons contacting us by email will not have their details recorded unless they require this to happen.

• Persons joining us through this website may elect to pay via Paypal. Paypal is a US based service which we have grown to trust. It provides for efficient payment. Paypal also keeps some information provided by you to enable us to manage subscriptions. This information is not divulged to any party by Paypal other than ourselves.

Use and Disclosure of Member Information

We will use your personal information to service you as a member (eg., sending out newletters, emails and other information) and in relation to activities relating to elections.

It is a legal requirement that when we do register as a political party, that we provide the Victorian Electoral Commission and the Australian Electoral Commission either with lists of our members, or copies of their application forms.

The VEC and AEC will then sample the membership list to verify that the members on our list are genuine and then return that information to CA. This may involve either the VEC or AEC writing to selected members requesting that they return a form confirming that they are eligible to be counted for registration purposes. If the VEC and AEC believe that if, at any time, we have less than 500 eligible members, then either may again request that we substantiate that we do have more than 500 members.

Members wishing to be considered for pre-selection for a state or federal election, may be asked to agree to have limited information, such as their name, made publicly available for campaigning and promotional purposes. There may be additional disclosure requirements of the VEC and AEC which may need to be satisified.

CA understands that neither the VEC nor AEC pass membership information to any other entity and do not retain any records. They may however compare membership information against the state and federal electoral roles that they keep during the registration process.

CA will not sell or distribute member's personal information to entites outside of CA with the exception of Government departments seeking certain information under the provisions of State or Federal legislation and the VEC and AEC as part of our statutory requirements.

Access to Personal Information

A member has a right to access their personal information held by CA subject to them satisfying us of their identity. If you require a copy of the records we will provide an extract from our electronic records and a copy of your application form at no charge to yourself.

We allow you to challenge the data we hold about you and, where appropriate, you may have the data: -

• Rectified or amended.
• Completed.

If a member has a complaint concerning the CA Privacy Policy or the manner in which their personal information is handled then they should firstly make contact with CA either by email or to Neil on 0407 160 165 and attempt to have the problem resolved. If this is not successful, then a complaint should be made in writing, which will be acknowledged within 14 days. The complaint will then be investigated by the executive CA and their decision communicated to the complainant.