Privacy Policy | Property Council of Australia

Privacy Policy

The Property Council of Australia Limited is committed to protecting your privacy and handling personal information in an open and transparent way. This policy sets out how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise handle personal information. Any personal information we collect about you will be used for the purpose it was collected for, or as otherwise permitted by law.

We comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, and any other applicable law.

Individuals based in the European Union have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). See clause 9 below for further information.

How this Privacy Policy is structured

This Privacy Policy is divided into the following sections:

  • How does the Property Council collect personal information?
  • What personal information does the Property Council collect?
  • How is personal information used?
  • Will personal information be given to anyone else?
  • Access and correction
  • Is personal information held safely?
  • Non-member and business contact information
  • Online privacy issues
  • European Union General Data Protection Regulation
  • Contacting the Property Council
  • Changes to this Privacy Policy.
  1. How does the Property Council collect personal information?

The Property Council is the nation’s leading advocate for the property sector. As a not-for-profit industry body, we represent the interests of members across all spheres of property investment, development, management, advisory services and trade provision.

Our services include:

  • Networking (seminars, conferences and forums)
  • Education (training courses, diplomas and programs)
  • Research and technical support (publications and digital content)
  • Advocacy and policy engagement.

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, these activities are referred to as our services.

We collect personal information in a number of ways, including:

  • Membership application and renewal forms
  • Event, course, program and conference registration or enrolment forms
  • Subscriptions to digital content
  • Online forms submitted via our website at https://www.propertycouncil.com.au.

We also undertake or facilitate photography and/or video recording at our events, courses, programs, seminars and conferences. Images and recordings may be used for marketing, promotional and reporting purposes, as described in section 3 below.

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected from members, event attendees, course participants, subscribers and other individuals who engage with our services.

  1. What personal information does the Property Council collect?

When you join or renew membership, we collect business contact details and may also collect business contact details for employees included under that membership.

When you register for events, courses, programs, conferences, seminars or digital content, we may collect similar business contact details and information necessary to administer your participation.

Where relevant (for example, for programs, education or training), we may collect additional information relating to professional or educational background.

We generally do not collect sensitive information unless it is reasonably necessary to provide our services (for example, dietary or accessibility information required for an event). Where such information is collected, it is handled with appropriate care and only for the relevant purpose.

  1. How is personal information used?

Personal information collected by the Property Council may be used to:

  • Deliver our services, including administering memberships, registrations, enrolments and subscriptions
  • Communicate with you about events, courses, programs, research, advocacy activity and other Property Council initiatives
  • Notify you about products, services or promotions offered by the Property Council and in some cases by our partners or sponsors.

As a not-for-profit organisation, the Property Council may enter into sponsorship and partnership arrangements to support its activities and keep membership and event costs as accessible as possible.

If at any time you do not wish to receive marketing communications, or do not wish to be contacted by sponsors, you may notify us using the contact details set out in section 10.

  1. Will personal information be given to anyone else?

(a) Disclosure to third parties

Personal information may be disclosed to third parties engaged by the Property Council to provide services or perform functions on our behalf, including mailing houses, printing companies, event venues, conference organisers, technology providers and sponsors.

Registration information from events, courses, programs, conferences or seminars may be shared with sponsors where this is reasonably related to the delivery, reporting or evaluation of the relevant activity.

Where personal information is shared with sponsors for the purpose of direct marketing, this will be disclosed to you at or before the time your information is collected, and you will be provided with the opportunity to opt out, in accordance with the Privacy Act.

Where personal information is disclosed to third parties, the Property Council takes reasonable steps to ensure those parties:

  • Comply with the Privacy Act
  • Do not use the information for unauthorised purposes
  • Do not transfer, store or process personal information outside Australia without appropriate safeguards.

In some cases, where an attendee is registered by another person (for example, table bookings), limited information such as dietary requirements may be entered on the attendee’s behalf. This information is used only for the relevant event and does not update the attendee’s general profile.

(b) Disclosure required by law

Personal information may also be disclosed where required or permitted by law.

The Property Council does not sell, rent or trade personal information.

  1. Access and correction

You may request access to personal information we hold about you and request correction of information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

Requests should be made using the contact details in section 10. For administrative reasons, some archived records may incur reasonable cost recovery charges.

  1. Is personal information held safely?

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

Employees are required, as a condition of employment, to maintain confidentiality.

In the event of a data breach that is likely to cause serious harm, we will respond promptly and notify affected individuals and regulators in accordance with legal requirements.

  1. Non-member and business contact information

The Property Council may collect personal information about individuals who are not members, including non-member attendees at Property Council events, courses or programs, as well as suppliers and other business contacts.

Such information is handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and used only for the purposes described.

  1. Online privacy issues

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected online and forms part of the terms of use for our website.

(a) Online collection

Our website may automatically collect information such as IP address, browser type, referral source and clickstream data. Cookies may be used to analyse website usage and improve functionality. Cookies do not identify individuals.

(b) Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to third party sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage users to review their privacy policies.

  1. European Union General Data Protection Regulation

If you are located in the European Union, you have additional rights under the GDPR, including rights to:

  • Request deletion of personal information (in certain circumstances)
  • Restrict processing
  • Data portability
  • Object to processing, including direct marketing
  • Request human review of automated decision making.
  1. Advocacy and Campaign Activities

The Property Council may conduct advocacy campaigns, public policy initiatives, surveys, petitions, submissions and community engagement activities relating to issues affecting the property industry.

As part of these activities, we may collect personal information including your name, email address, telephone number, organisation, job title, postcode, responses to campaign activities and records of communications with us.

We use this information to:

  • communicate with you about advocacy issues and campaigns;
  • provide campaign updates and opportunities to participate;
  • better understand community and stakeholder views;
  • analyse and measure campaign effectiveness; and
  • support the Property Council’s policy and advocacy activities.
  1. Digital Advertising and Analytics

The Property Council may use digital advertising platforms and analytics tools to measure engagement with our advocacy campaigns and improve the relevance of communications.

We may use cookies, pixels, tags and similar technologies to understand how users interact with our websites, campaign pages and digital content. We may provide limited personal information, such as email addresses, to digital advertising platforms for the purpose of creating custom audiences, suppressing communications to existing contacts, measuring campaign effectiveness and delivering relevant information about advocacy activities. Information shared with these providers is subject to their privacy and security requirements.

  1. Contacting the Property Council

For questions, access requests, corrections or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us via the Contact Us page on our website.

  1. Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. The current version will always be available on our website.