Privacy Policy

Our commitment

Constitutionalist (“we”, “us”, “the Association”) respects your privacy. We are a Private Members Association, not a government body, and we collect only the information we genuinely need to run the community and stay in touch with members. This policy explains what we collect, why, how we look after it, and the choices you have. It is written to align with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

What we collect

When you join or use the site, we may collect:

• Account details — your first and last name, email address, postcode, and (optionally) your mobile number.
• A password — stored only as a secure one-way hash. We never see or keep your actual password.
• Social handles — if you choose to add them to unlock additional access, we store the handle you provide.
• Messages you send us — if you use the contact form, we keep your name, email, phone (if given), subject and message so we can reply.
• Basic technical information — such as the IP address associated with a sign-in or a contact-form submission, kept for security and abuse-prevention.

We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. We do not collect sensitive information (such as health, racial, or religious details) as part of membership.

Why we collect it

We use your information only to:

• create and manage your free membership and sign you in securely;
• send you essential account emails — confirming your address, resetting your password, and important notices about your membership;
• operate community features such as the members’ forum;
• respond to enquiries you send us; and
• keep the site secure and prevent abuse.

Cookies

We use a single essential cookie to keep you signed in and to protect forms against cross-site request forgery. We do not use advertising cookies, analytics trackers, or third-party marketing pixels. Nothing about you is sold or shared with advertisers.

How we store and protect it

Your information is stored on our own systems. Passwords are hashed, sign-in sessions are protected, and access to member data is limited to the people who run the Association. We take reasonable steps to protect your information from loss, misuse, and unauthorised access. No system is perfectly secure, but we treat your data with care and keep it only as long as we need it.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers. We only disclose information where it is necessary to operate the site (for example, our email provider sends the account emails you request), or where we are required to by law.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you. You can close your account at any time. If you would like to do any of these, or if you have a concern about how we have handled your information, contact us using the details below and we will respond promptly. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update this page and adjust the date below. For significant changes that affect members, we will give reasonable notice.

Contact us

For any privacy question or request, please reach us through our contact page. We will always do our best to help.

Last updated: this version applies from the date the Association published it on this page.