Privacy Policy

We, Australian Partners of Defence (APOD), know that protecting your personal information is our priority. This Privacy Policy applies to APOD and governs our data collection and usage.

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, unless otherwise noted, all references to APOD include www.apod.com.au.

By using the APOD website, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.

Our Commitment

We recognise that your privacy is very important to you. We are committed to protecting the privacy of your Personal Information in accordance with the Federal Government’s Privacy Act 1988.

The Privacy Act details Australian Privacy Principles that set minimum standards for how private sector organisations should collect, use, disclose, keep secure and provide access to Personal Information.

We are committed to complying with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Collection and Use of your Personal Information

APOD may ask you for your personal information such as your name and contact details. If you purchase APOD products and services, we will also ask you for billing and credit card information. This information is used to complete the purchase transaction.

APOD may also ask for other information, such as your age, gender, household income. We may ask for other additional personal information in the future.

Information about your computer hardware and software may be automatically collected by APOD. This information can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times, location and referring website addresses. This information is used for the operation of our services, to maintain quality of ours service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the APOD website.

We generally collect Personal Information to provide the various products and services we offer. More specifically, we collect and use Personal Information primarily in order to:

  • operate our website(s) and deliver the services you have requested;
  • confirm your identity and protect Personal Information from unauthorised access;\
  • customise the advertising and content you see;
  • fulfil your requests for products and services and improve our services to you as a member;
  • contact you to advise you of any important changes that may affect you;
  • alert you of new services, business partners or offers that you may be interested in;
  • conduct research or gain customer feedback;
  • provide statistical analysis reports to our business partners;
  • improve our marketing efforts and services;
  • analyse site usage and customise our website’s content and layout;
  • to compile aggregate statistics on appraisals of our business partners;
  • satisfy legal requirements; and
  • confirm your eligibility to be a member of APOD and / or to be covered by APOD’s corporate licence with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

APOD may keep track of the websites and pages our users visit within APOD, in order to determine what APOD services are the most popular. This data is used to deliver customised content and advertising within APOD to customers whose behaviour indicates that they are interested in particular subject area.

If you provide Personal Information to us about another person (i.e. Defence ID as in the last 4 digits of the PMKeys number, email address or Veteran Card File Number of yourself or the nominated person you are related to in Defence):

  1. we rely on you to have made or make them aware that you will, or may, provide their information to us and the types of third parties we may provide it to, the relevant purposes we and any of the third parties will use it for and how they can access it, and
  2. we will notify that person of your provision to us of, the circumstances of our receipt of, the purpose of us receiving, that Personal Information.

Third Parties

APOD does not sell, rent, or lease its customer lists to third parties whether in Australia or overseas.

Links to Other Sites: Ads

Our websites may contain advertisements and links to other websites (“Third-Party Materials”). We are not responsible for the privacy policies or content of these Third-Party Materials.

Our Privacy Policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from our Websites. We encourage you to inquire about and review the privacy policies of providers of Third-Party Materials before you disclose your personal information to others.

Disclosure

APOD will disclose your personal information, without notice, only if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on APOD or the Site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of APOD; and / or (c) protect the personal safety of users of APOD, or the public.

Use of Cookies

The APOD website may use “cookies” to help you personalise your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or to deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and only be read by a web server in the domain that used the cookie to you.

One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the Web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you personalise APOD pages, or register with APOD site or services, or cookie helps APOD to recall your specific information on subsequent visits, this simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you return to the same APOD website, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the APOD features that you customised.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the APOD services or websites you visit.

Direct Marketing

We may use the Personal Information we collect from you to communicate directly with you to inform you of specific, members only offers and other information. You give us permission to so communicate with you, subject to your right to opt out of such communication at any time.

Opt-Out and Unsubscribe

We respect your privacy and give you an opportunity to opt-out of receiving announcements of certain information. Users may opt-out of receiving any or all communications from APOD by contacting us here:

Website: www.apod.com.au

Email: customerservice@apod.com.au

Security

All of the customer information we collect on our website is stored on APOD’s host server which is located in a restricted access area and is password protected.

We are committed to keeping your Personal Information secure and will use all reasonable precautions to protect it from loss, misuse or unauthorised alteration, including:

  • Physically securing external and internal premises;
  • Maintaining computer and network security such as user identifiers and passwords to control access to computer systems;
  • Restricting access to your Personal Information to employees or those who perform services on our behalf who are authorised to handle your Personal Information and on a ’need to know’ basis;
  • Entering into confidentiality agreements with relevant employees and third parties;
  • Appropriate training of staff;
  • Retaining your Personal Information for no longer than it is reasonably required to service a policy or continue to provide any products and services requested by you, unless we are required by law to retain it for longer; and
  • Taking reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify Personal Information that we no longer require.

APOD will not be liable for personal information given by you to our Business partners, if you do so voluntarily.

Quality of your Personal Information

We aim to ensure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up to date. We reserve the right to correct any Personal Information which we consider is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

During the course of your relationship with us we will ask you to inform us of any changes to your Personal Information. You should, however, contact us at any time to update your Personal Information or advise us that the information we have is not accurate or complete.

Access to and Correction of your Personal Information

You may generally access the Personal Information we hold about you, and you may and request corrections.

In most cases, you may gain access to personal information by logging into your member account at www.apod.com.au. You may also request to have any of your personal information corrected or updated by sending an email to customerservice@apod.com.au.

Your right to access and ask us to correct Personal Information is, however, subject to the exceptions detailed in the Australian Privacy Principles.

We may refuse access to Personal Information for any of the reasons set out in the Australian Privacy Principles. For example, we may refuse access to Personal Information where:

  • The information may have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
  • The request is frivolous or vexatious;
  • The information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings; and/or
  • The information would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations in such as way as to prejudice those negotiations.

If we deny you access we will let you know why.

Where providing access which would reveal evaluative information in connection with a commercially sensitive decision-making process, we will provide an explanation for the decision rather than direct access to the information.

For access to complex or sensitive information or more detailed requests for access to your Personal Information, for example, access to information that is archived, we may require you to place your request in writing and charge you a fee for our reasonable costs of retrieving and supplying the information to you.

In all cases, you will be asked to verify who you are before your Personal Information is provided. All requests for Personal Information will be handled in a reasonable period of time.

We may refuse to correct Personal Information if it is not reasonable to so correct. If so, we will provide you with reasons for that refusal (to the degree that is reasonable to do so).

If we do refuse to correct Personal Information, you may either (1) ask for the Personal Information to be accompanied by a statement that the Personal Information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading; or (2) contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for more information on your rights.

Feedback

We appreciate your comments and questions regarding this Privacy Policy. If at any time you believe we have handled your information otherwise than in accordance with this Privacy Policy, please notify us by email at customerservice@apod.com.au and we will use commercially reasonable efforts to investigate and, if we deem necessary, remedy the matter.

Changes to this Statement

APOD will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy to reflect company and customer feedback. APOD encourages you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how APOD is protecting your information.

Contact Information

APOD welcomes your questions or comments regarding this Statement of Privacy. If you believe that APOD has not adhered to this Statement, please contact APOD at:

Website: www.apod.com.au

Email: customerservice@apod.com.au

Address: Level 1 Mitsubishi Administration Building, 1 Tonsley Blvd, Tonsley SA 5042

If you have any questions, suggestions or complaints about our privacy practices or this privacy policy, please email complaints@apod.com.au. We will respond to your question, suggestion or complaint as soon as possible.

You can obtain information on privacy issues in Australia by visiting the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website located at www.oaic.gov.au, or by telephoning 1300 363 992.

Effective as of 1st November 2019