The terms for using the Australian Democrats website and affiliated services.
By accessing or using this website, any subdomain of democrats.org.au, or any affiliated online service we operate (together, the “site”), you agree to these Conditions of Use. If you do not agree with them, please do not use the site.
The site is operated by the Australian Democrats, a political party registered with the Australian Electoral Commission. We are a volunteer-led organisation.
You may use the site only for lawful purposes. You must not use the site in any way that could damage, disable, overburden or impair it, interfere with any other person’s use of it, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the site, its infrastructure, or the systems of our service providers.
Content on the site — including policies, articles, campaign material and commentary — is provided for general information and political communication. It is not legal, financial, medical or other professional advice, and you should not rely on it as such.
The site is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. While we work hard to keep it accurate and running, we make no representations or warranties of any kind — express or implied — about the site’s availability, accuracy, completeness, currency or fitness for any particular purpose, or that the site will be free of errors, interruptions, or harmful components.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Australian Democrats — including our office-holders, members, volunteers and agents — exclude all liability for any loss, damage, cost or expense of any kind (including direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, loss of data, or loss arising from viruses or other harmful code) arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use, the site or anything on it, however that liability arises, including through negligence.
You use the site entirely at your own risk. Where any law (including the Australian Consumer Law) implies a guarantee, condition or warranty that cannot lawfully be excluded, our liability is limited, at our option and to the extent permitted, to re-supplying the relevant service or paying the cost of having it re-supplied.
As a registered political party, the Australian Democrats are exempt from the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). That exemption applies to this site and to our handling of personal information generally.
Even though the Act does not bind us, we aim to treat the personal information of members, donors and supporters carefully and respectfully, to collect only what we need, and never to sell it. Payment card details are handled by our payment processor, Stripe, under its own terms and security standards — we do not store your card details.
What this section is for. These intellectual-property terms exist for one purpose: to protect the property the Australian Democrats actually own — our brand, our designs and our original work (our “Party Assets”) — and to stop that property being copied, stolen or passed off as someone else’s. They are not intended to limit anyone’s freedom to talk about, question or criticise us. We support freedom of speech and expression, and nothing in these terms takes that away.
What we own (the “Party Assets”). Except for the third-party material described below, all material on the site — including its visual design and design system, page layouts, source code, markup, stylesheets, scripts, interactive experiences and games, graphics, icons, illustrations, our own photographs, videos, wordmarks, logos and trade marks, and the selection and arrangement of all of the above (together, the “Party Assets”) — is owned by, or exclusively licensed to, the Australian Democrats. All rights in the Party Assets are reserved.
Preventing theft and passing-off. So that the Party Assets are not stolen, misappropriated or used to mislead, you must not — and must not assist, procure or permit any other person to — without our express prior written permission, signed by an authorised officer of the party:
Your freedom to analyse and criticise is not affected. Nothing in these terms restricts, and we do not seek to restrict, your right to read, quote, link to, report on, discuss, analyse, fact-check, comment on, satirise or criticise the Australian Democrats, our policies, our representatives or our public statements. Genuine criticism, review, parody, satire, news reporting, and other fair-dealing uses and uses protected by the implied freedom of political communication recognised under Australian law, are expressly preserved. Robust debate about a political party is a feature of a healthy democracy, not a breach of these terms.
Using our name and logos in commentary. Journalists, commentators, researchers and members of the public may use our name and logos to the extent reasonably necessary to report on, refer to or comment on the Australian Democrats — for example, to illustrate a news story, review or opinion piece about us. What is not permitted is using our name, logos or branding to represent yourself as the Australian Democrats, or to suggest falsely that you are us, or that you are authorised, endorsed by, or affiliated with us, when you are not. Approved logo files, and guidance on their correct use, are available in our media centre.
Third-party and openly-licensed material. Some images and other material on the site are not owned by us but are supplied by third parties and used by us under an open or public licence (for example, a Creative Commons or similar licence). Where an item is verifiably owned by a third party and made available under such a licence, that licence — and not this section — governs that item. Nothing in these terms purports to claim ownership of that third-party material, to grant us any rights beyond what its licence gives us, or to reduce, revoke or interfere with the rights that the open licence gives you, or anyone else, in that material. The reservation of rights in this section applies only to the Party Assets — the material we own or exclusively licence — and not to third-party material used under an open licence, which remains subject to its own terms, including any attribution requirements.
We take theft and misappropriation of the Party Assets seriously and will enforce our rights in them — including under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) and the Australian Consumer Law — to the fullest extent available. Requests for permission to use the Party Assets can be made through our contact page. Permission, if given, applies only to what is expressly stated in writing, and may be withdrawn at any time.
In short: you may use this site as an ordinary visitor. You must not attempt to break into, damage, overload, alter or interfere with the site or the systems behind it. If you notice a security problem, please tell us — but do not test, probe or exploit it. Attempts to hack our systems are strictly prohibited.
The site, its content, its source code and the servers, networks, databases, accounts and infrastructure that run it (together, the “systems”) are provided for lawful, intended use only. You must not — and must not attempt to, assist, procure, encourage or permit any other person to:
Reporting a security vulnerability (responsible disclosure). We welcome, and are grateful for, good-faith reports from people who come across a genuine security weakness. If you believe you have found a security vulnerability in this site, please tell us promptly and privately through our contact page, giving enough detail for us to reproduce and fix it, and give us a reasonable opportunity to respond before disclosing it to anyone else. In doing so you must not: access, copy, modify, delete or disclose any data that is not your own; degrade, disrupt or damage the service; use the vulnerability beyond the minimum needed to demonstrate it; or run automated scans or exploits. Reporting a suspected weakness is encouraged and is not itself a breach of these conditions — but this section is not an invitation or authorisation to test, probe, scan or exploit our systems. We do not authorise, and expressly prohibit, any attempt to hack, break into or interfere with our systems, whether or not it is framed as “research”.
We take the security and integrity of our systems, our members’ data and the public’s trust extremely seriously. We monitor for, and log, unauthorised activity. We may suspend or block access, preserve evidence, and report suspected offences to, and fully cooperate with, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and other authorities. Unauthorised access to, modification of, or impairment of computer data or systems is a criminal offence under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) and equivalent State and Territory laws, and we will enforce our rights, and pursue recovery of loss, to the fullest extent available.
In short: our IT team includes cybersecurity specialists, and our systems are monitored and defended. We treat attempted intrusion by foreign state actors as a national security matter: it will be detected, documented and — where lawful and safe to do so — made public, and the hostile state responsible will be named. We stand for Australian national sovereignty and the integrity of our democracy.
Our IT team includes cybersecurity specialists, and our systems are actively monitored and defended around the clock. We treat attempts at intrusion by foreign state actors — or anyone acting on their behalf — with the utmost seriousness. Where it is lawful and consistent with Australia’s national security to do so, any such attempt will be detected, documented, preserved as evidence and made public; the hostile state responsible will be named and called out; and the matter will be referred to the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the relevant national security agencies. We stand, without qualification, for Australian national sovereignty and the integrity of Australia’s democracy.
Foreign interference has no place in Australian democracy.
The Australian Democrats’ IT team includes cybersecurity specialists. Our systems are monitored and defended. Any attempt at intrusion by foreign state actors will be detected, documented and made public. The hostile state responsible will be named and reported to the Australian authorities. We stand firmly against foreign interference in Australia’s elections, institutions and public debate, and we will work with Australia’s security agencies to expose and counter it. We defend Australian national sovereignty and the integrity of our democracy.
The site links to external websites — including electoral commissions, news outlets and our payment and CRM providers. Those sites are not under our control, and linking to them does not mean we endorse them. We accept no responsibility for their content, terms or privacy practices.
Memberships and donations made through the site are governed by our Constitution and our Donations Policy, and are disclosed in accordance with electoral law — see our public Donations Register. Payments are processed by Stripe under Stripe’s terms of service.
We may update these Conditions of Use at any time by publishing the revised version on this page. Your continued use of the site after a change is published is acceptance of the revised conditions. These conditions are governed by the laws of Australia.
Questions about these conditions — including requests for written permission to use any material — can be sent through our contact page.