Changes to the Australian Privacy Act: Why Your Club Needs a Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions Now

As you hopefully know by now, the Australian Government plans to make several changes to the Australian Privacy Act in 2024. As part of the planned changes to the Australian Privacy Act, all clubs and associations will need to seek informed consent from their members with regard to how they handle those members' data and information. 

When the planned changes go through, the Australian Privacy Act will apply to clubs and associations regardless of their annual turnover. That means your club will need a functional Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions when the changes come into effect later this year. 

With that in mind, let's talk about how to easily create an effective and functional Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions for your club or association.    

What Should A Privacy Policy For Your Club Contain?

According to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, a Privacy Policy in Australia needs to give your members the following information: 

• What kind of information do you collect from your members
• What sort of information do you store
• Where you'll store collected information 
• If and with whom you will share that information
• You will share their information with other countries, and if so, who
• Under what circumstances you will share collected information
• How can members request to view the information you have stored
• How members can request their stored information be altered
• How they can lodge a complaint if they believe you have misused their information

It is worth noting that the above requirements are the current requirements before the changes to the Privacy Act. It is best to work towards these goals and make any adjustments as necessary when the Privacy Act is changed. 

If you are a Member Jungle customer, it may be worth sharing a link to the Member Jungle Privacy Policy so your members know that we will never misuse their data either. You can find the Member Jungle Privacy Policy here. 

 

 

How To Create A Privacy Policy For Your Club Or Association 

Not only is a privacy policy soon to be a legal requirement for your club or association, but it is also just good practice to show your members that you take their privacy seriously. 

Creating a Privacy Policy for your club isn't too hard either, and with a bit of help, you could have it done in an afternoon. Plenty of free and paid privacy policy generators are available, not to mention guides, legal experts and, of course, AI like ChatGPT. 

Privacy Policy Generators For Your Club

Various free and paid services are designed to make creating a privacy policy for your club or association an easy and streamlined process. 

These include services like Termly and Lawpath and this editable template from Business Victoria. 

Using AI like ChatGPT to generate a privacy policy is also worth trying. I did exactly that in writing this article, and it turned out pretty well. 
 

 

 

It's worth noting that these methods will all produce templates or drafts of a privacy policy, not a finished product. You will still need to edit them and ensure all the details are correct and reflect your club or association's use of member data. 

Privacy Policy Experts And Guides For Your Club

As well as the above privacy policy generators, there are also various guides to creating a privacy policy, plus, of course, legal experts to assist you in creating a privacy policy. Using some combination of these systems will help guarantee you end up with an accurate and lawful privacy policy. 

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has the following guide to creating a privacy policy, which is available on their website. 

If you are a Member Jungle customer, your website will have an inbuilt place for your privacy policy. You must remember to switch out the existing sample privacy policy with your proper one once it is created. 

What Should Your Club's Terms And Conditions Contain?

Your terms and conditions are a contract between you and your members; they act as legal protection from the misuse of your website. They help limit your liability and help you regulate your website. 

According to the Small Business Development Corporation of the WA Government, your terms and conditions perform the following functions:

 

• A legally binding contract between you and your members
• Define the rights and responsibilities of both your club and your members
• Define how disagreements will be resolved
• Define how payments to your club will be made and the consequence for not paying

 

It is common for your terms and conditions to include or link to your privacy policy. 

Please note that your terms and conditions must comply with the Australian Consumer Law. The following link will give you details about the Australian Consumer Law and contains links to the agencies that monitor it in each of Australia's states and territories. Australian Consumer Law Resources And Guides. 

How To Create Terms And Conditions For Your Club 

Just like when creating a privacy policy for your club, there is a whole range of generators, guides, and AI tools you can use to create terms and conditions for your club. 

Terms And Conditions Generators For Your Club

There is a wide range of generators and services out there that you can use to help create your terms and conditions. As your terms and conditions are a legally binding contract, using a proper service and/or getting a legal expert to check them over is an excellent idea. 

Regarding generators, Termly, TermsFeed and Lawpath can be quite helpful. There are also a lot of government and legal websites that are available to help with creating terms and conditions for your club. 

As mentioned above, the Small Business Development Corporation of the WA Government has a pretty in-depth guide to what needs to be in your terms and conditions. The Australian Consumer Law Unfair Contract Terms Guide is also available to help guide you through the process of ensuring your terms and conditions are fair to your members. 

Where To Next In Creating Your Club's Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions?

I know that was a whole lot of text and a bunch of technical terms, but having spent some time looking into this, I can see that it really isn't as hard as it looks. With the right tools and a good cup of coffee, you could easily have time to create your Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in the afternoon. 

If you haven't already looked into the changes to the Australian Privacy Act, you can read about them here: Is Your Club Or Association Ready For The Changes To The Australian Privacy Act?

If you want to know more about how to keep your club's data private and secure, look at Keeping Your Club's User Data Private.