Privacy Policy

1. Compliance with Australian Privacy Principles

Autism Mates Incorporated ABN 60 275 631 350 (Autism Mates) respects and acknowledges the importance of privacy. Autism Mates complies with the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) as contained within the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Act), when collecting, using, disclosing and managing your personal information.

This Privacy Policy contains information in relation to our management of your personal information in accordance with the

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the

2. Use of personal information

Autism Mates may collect and use your personal information for a variety of reasons, which may include but is not limited to the following:
to process any purchase you make from Autism Mates;
to perform/execute your requested purchase from Autism Mates;
to process your request in relation to any customisation to any service provided by Autism Mates;
to provide you with services you request from Autism Mates;
to add you to the Autism Mates mailing list;
to detect security issues and prevent fraud on the Autism Mates website;
to request feedback on your experience with Autism Mates;
to provide you with support in relation to the Autism Mates website;
to enable you to access the Autism Mates website;
to complete your requested transactions, to verify the existence of and any conditions attached to your accounts or to assist with a transaction;
to process transactions and send notifications about your transactions;
confirming your identity for the purposes of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws;
to manage and minimise risks and identify or investigate fraud and/or other illegal activities;
responding to your enquiries which include the processing of complaints made to Autism Mates;
the resolution of disputes, collection of fees and troubleshooting problems;
enforcement of our terms and conditions;
deliver targeted marketing and various other notices and promotional communications based on your selected communication preferences;
facilitate contests, sweepstakes, and promotions and process and deliver entries and rewards in relation to same;
in the performance of data analytics to improve our website and your experience with Autism Mates;
to analyse trends in your visits to the Autism Mates website;
to gather demographic information based on the visits to the Autism Mates website;
protecting Autism Mates and its assets (including against fraud) and selling Autism Mates assets (including any assignment of debts);
enforcing Autism Mates’s rights (including undertaking debt collection) in connection with the Autism Mates website;
monitoring data, usage, records and statistics derived from your use of the website for the furtherance of Autism Mates’s business, for general market research and to be disclosed to third parties and you in relation to the aforementioned;
to contact you through the use of various means e.g. telephone, text (SMS) or email messaging, advertising through our website, third-party websites, mail, and/or any other means as authorised by our terms and conditions;
Autism Mates’s business development, including sending of updates and publications; (aa) to manage and deliver contextual and behavioural advertising;
- (bb) to improve and personalise our website and to learn about your level of satisfaction to ensure client satisfaction throughout the future of the website;
- (cc) to help us understand more about our audiences;
- (dd) auditing and managing the use of Autism Mates’s website and any other portal; or
- (ee) in order for Autism Mates to comply with legal and regulatory obligations.
  You may withdraw your consent to receive marketing materials from Autism Mates by contacting our Privacy Officer, details of which are contained within this Privacy

3. Collection of personal information

Autism Mates collects personal information through a variety of methods, which may include the following:
directly from you;
when a third party provides your personal information to us on your behalf and with your consent;
through your access and use of Autism Mates’s website;
through your access and use of Autism Mates’s software, applications or other platforms commissioned by Autism Mates for the sale of goods;
through your access of surveys commissioned by Autism Mates;
when you subscribe to receive information from Autism Mates;
when you communicate with Autism Mates, by email, post or otherwise;
through your use of Autism Mates’ mobile application;
through publicly available information;
financing providers with which Autism Mates offer financing for purchases, and financial service providers used when processing your payments; or
through any social media account(s) which you use to create or log into Autism Mates’s
In the event that Autism Mates is unable to obtain personal information from you as outlined above, this may result in Autism Mates being unable to provide you with access to website (including any updates) or marketing

4. Types of personal information and storage

The type of personal information that Autism Mates may hold includes the following:
identification information including your name, identification number (including ABN and ACN if applicable), date of birth, gender, phone number(s), addresses, time zone, title, department, sector, billing contact details, email address, postal address, billing address, and other contact information;
data necessary to process your payment if you make a purchase;
registration information including an email address, username and other log-in details;
your approximate physical location of the devices you use to access our website;
your IP address and other device identifiers, including mobile advertising identifiers;
your payment details;
your account history, including any metadata contained in any content submitted by you via the Autism Mates website, or that you have enquired about;
aggregate, anonymous, or de-identified non-personal data;
any other information provided by you in using Autism Mates’s websites; and
other information that helps us to identify you or helps us to provide or improve our
Autism Mates may collect various financial information such as the full bank account details or credit card numbers that you link to your account with
The personal information referred to in clause 4.1 above may be held by Autism Mates in both hardcopy files and also in an electronic form.

5. Disclosure of personal information

Autism Mates may be required to disclose your personal information to the following third parties:
external service providers so that the third party can carry out the service that they have been engaged by Autism Mates for;
our partners and the suppliers and service providers who help with our business operations including in relation to fraud prevention, identity verification, payment collection, marketing, customer service, and technology services;
third parties who have instructed us to provide goods and/or services;
organisations that provide applications, websites, services, goods, software, programs used by Autism Mates;
third parties that may provide Autism Mates with marketing or analytics reports;
organisations that help identify illegal activities and prevent fraud;
our professional advisors, including our accountants, lawyers, business advisors and consultants;
organisations and/or individuals that Autism Mates intends on entering negotiations with for any merger, sale of assets, financing, acquisition of all or a part of Autism Mates’s business; or
any legal industry regulatory body in any of the states, territories and jurisdictions that Autism Mates operates in.
Autism Mates may be required to disclose your personal information in order to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or to investigate, prevent, defend against, or take action regarding violations of our terms and conditions, illegal activities, suspected fraud, or situations involving potential threats to the legal rights or physical safety of any person or the security of our network, customers/users or
Any purchases and/or payments made on the Autism Mates website, will be processed through our third-party payment processor where they will collect the billing and financial information required to process your charges. This may include your name, address, e-mail address, and financial Autism Mates’s payment processors do not share your financial information with Autism Mates, but they may share non-financial information with us related to your purchases, including your name, address, and the service purchased.
When you access our website on a connected third-party application or platform (including, but not limited to, Facebook, Apple, Google, or Amazon), any purchases you make will be processed by that third-party application and subject to that third-party application’s terms of service and privacy policy. For these purchases, Autism Mates does not receive your financial information, but may receive non-financial information related to your purchases, including your name, address, the goods purchased and your approximate physical location.
You acknowledge and agree that delivery of your purchase could involve disclosure of certain personal information about you to bring about delivery of the item(s) such as your name and contact details, which may be disclosed on the cover of the parcel, on an envelope or a delivery related document, as the case may be, which could be seen by third parties who view such parcel, envelope or said
Where the Act permits, Autism Mates may also disclose personal information to third party suppliers and service providers located overseas for some of the purposes listed

6. Cross-border disclosure of personal information

Autism Mates may, from time to time, have affiliated offices operating in overseas. Autism Mates may send your personal information to these offices for one or more of the purposes listed in clause 1. If Autism Mates’s overseas offices are operated by ‘related body corporates’ of Autism Mates, Autism Mates will take such steps as a reasonably required to ensure that there is appropriate data handling of your personal information and proper security arrangements are in place
From time to time, Autism Mates may also send your personal information overseas for the following reasons:
to third party service providers who store data or operate outside of Australia;
to complete a transaction involving an international financial institution; or
as required by laws and regulations of Australia or another
Before Autism Mates discloses personal information about you to an overseas recipient who is not a related entity of you, Autism Mates will take such steps as a reasonably required to ensure that there is appropriate data handling of your personal information and proper security arrangements are in
If you are a user of the Autism Mates website and located in the European Union, you may also have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Further details of any additional rights you may have are outlined in Annexure

7. Cookies

Cookies are used by Autism Mates in order to maximise and enhance our user experience.
When accessing Autism Mates’s website, small files of data may be placed on your device that enable Autism Mates to recognise you as a Autism Mates customer each time you return to our As a result of these cookies, you avoid the need to keep inputting your information throughout a session and may have these details auto filled when you visit the website. In addition, these cookies enable Autism Mates to ascertain information regarding what web pages you visit and how regularly, enabling us to make our websites and platforms increasingly user friendly and to target advertising to content that you may be interested in.
You are free to decline the cookies in which Autism Mates utilises and can disable them through your web

8. Protection of personal information

Autism Mates will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is properly protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or

9. Access to Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is publicly available, free of charge through Autism Mates’s

10. Change to Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time as required by Autism Mates in order to reflect legislative and other

11. Children’s Privacy

We do not, and do not intend to, transact through the Site directly with anyone we know to be under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, you should use the Site only with the involvement of a parent or guardian and should not submit any personal information to us. By providing any personal information to us, you declare that you are over the age of 18.

12. Mobile Application Use

This privacy policy applies to any mobile application operated by or on behalf of Autism Mates, now or in the future. By using an Autism Mates mobile application, the user consents to Autism Mates collecting, using, and holding metadata related to the mobile Individuals can opt-out of this consent at any time by uninstalling the application from their mobile device.

13. Accessing and requesting correction of Personal Information

To access, seek or request personal information that Autism Mates holds about you, please contact us at:

The Privacy Officer

Randa Habelrih – randa@autismmates.org.au

In the event that access to personal information is requested, Autism Mates will endeavour to respond to that request as soon as reasonably practicable if and to the extent required by the applicable law.
If Autism Mates is unable to give you access, or if Autism Mates declines to amend your personal information, Autism Mates will issue a written notice that describes our reasoning for doing so. Autism Mates notes that before providing you with any personal information Autism Mates will be required to verify your identity.
Autism Mates reserves the right to make an administrative charge to you if it is required, to provide you with access to personal information as outlined in clauses 1 and 11.2 above.

14. Resolving your concerns

If you wish to make a complaint regarding that way in which Autism Mates manages your personal information, or that you feel that Autism Mates has fallen short of the required standards set by the Act, please prepare your complaint in writing and supply it to The Privacy
A written acknowledgement of your complaint will be provided within 7 days, and Autism Mates will attempt to have your concern resolved within 30 days of receipt of your

Annexure A

Additional rights for individuals located in the European Union

The GDPR has co-ordinated the laws in the European Union (EU) in respect of data privacy. The GDPR provides individuals with more rights and imposes further obligations such as requiring the organisation to provide more information on how it collects, uses, shares and stores personal information, to protect that individual’s personal information.

1. Interpretation

In this Annexure A, any references to:

“personal information” refers to any information relating an identifiable natural person; and
“personal data” has the meaning given to it in the

If you are located in the EU and have an enquiry relating to your rights under the GDPR, please contact the data protection officer, who is the Privacy Officer specified in clause 11 of our Privacy Policy.

2. Personal information we collect

The personal information that will be collected from you is listed in clause 4 of our Privacy
There are specific types of personal information that we may only obtain or use with your consent or where it is lawfully permitted. Example of these types of personal information include, but is not limited to:
your racial or ethnic origin;
political opinion;
religious or philosophical beliefs;
trade union memberships;
biometric data; or
data relating to your health, sex life or sexual

3. Duration personal information is stored

Generally, your personal information may be retained by us for up to seven (7) years after you stop being a customer of Autism Mates.
We may however require your personal information for longer periods so that Autism Mates may:
fulfil Autism Mates’s legal or regulatory obligations;
conduct internal research and/or analytics; and
respond to an enquiry or complaint submitted by

4. Use of your personal information

Autism Mates may only use your personal information if we have a lawful reason to do so. Such reasons may include:

fulfilling contract or service you have requested from us;
fulfilling an enquiry submitted by you;
complying with any applicable law(s);
you have provided Autism Mates with consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose; and
subject to an overriding objective to protect your personal information, providing your personal information for the legitimate interests of Autism Mates and/or a third

5. Your rights

The GDPR affords you with the following rights in respect of your personal information:

(notification) to be notified and informed on how your personal information is collected and used. You may withdraw your consent for Autism Mates to use your personal information at any time. In the event you withdraw your consent, Autism Mates may only be able to provide limited services to you;
(access) access your personal information by contacting our Privacy Officer;
(rectification) to question any personal information Autism Mates holds in respect of you that may not be accurate or complete. If such enquiry is made by you, Autism Mates will take reasonable steps in confirming the accuracy of your personal information with us;
(delete) request for Autism Mates to delete your personal information. Autism Mates notes that such request may be subject to legal requirements imposed on us and will notify you of same in the event such request to delete is made by you;
(restrict processing) to restrict Autism Mates’s use of your personal information in specific circumstances. Autism Mates notes that such request may be subject to legal requirements imposed on us;
(portability) to provide you with a copy of your personal information held by us;
(objection) to object to us processing your personal information; and
(complaint) to complain to the relevant regulator if you are not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint that you submitted to Autism Mates. The European Commission website contains details of the relevant data protection authorities.