Privacy Policy

1.About this policy

Homelessness Queensland (HQ) is committed to protecting the privacy of everyone who uses this website, including visitors, HQ members, training and course participants, job applicants and newsletter subscribers.

This policy explains what personal information we collect through homelessnessqld.au (the "Site"), how we collect, hold, use and disclose it, and how you can access, correct or make a complaint about your information. It is written to meet the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) ("Privacy Act").

By using the Site, creating an account, enrolling in training, applying for a role, or otherwise providing us with personal information, you agree to the collection and handling of that information as described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site or provide us with your information.

This policy applies to personal information collected through the Site. It does not cover personal information HQ collects and holds in other contexts, for example information collected directly by HQ staff in the course of sector-support work, which may be subject to separate arrangements.

Homelessness Queensland, ABN 37 982 149 059.

2.What personal information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you use the Site. It may include:

• Contact details — name, email address, phone number, organisation and job title, for example when you use a contact form, subscribe to updates, or register interest.
• Account and membership information — name, email, phone, organisation, password (stored in encrypted or hashed form), membership tier and membership status, if you create an HQ account or become an HQ member.
• Training and course information — course enrolments, progress, quiz and assessment results, certificates issued, and any information you submit as part of a course.
• Payment information — billing name, billing address and transaction details for paid courses, membership fees or other paid services purchased through the Site. We do not collect or store your full card number.
• Job application information — name, contact details, resume, cover letter, employment history and any other information you submit when applying for a role advertised on the Site.
• Technical and usage information — IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, referring pages and general usage data, collected automatically through cookies and analytics tools.
• Any other information you choose to provide, for example through enquiry forms, surveys or event registrations.

We do not seek to collect sensitive information, such as health information, through the Site. If you choose to include sensitive information in a free-text field, we will only use it for the purpose for which it was provided, or as otherwise permitted by law.

3.How we collect personal information

We collect personal information directly from you when you fill in a form on the Site, create an account or become an HQ member, enrol in or purchase a course through the Academy of Learning, apply for an advertised role through the Careers page, or otherwise interact with the Site, including automatically through cookies and similar technologies.

We may also collect information from third parties where necessary, for example payment confirmation from Stripe, or account and enrolment data from our course and membership platforms, but only where you have provided that information to those platforms in connection with your use of the Site.

4.Why we collect, hold, use and disclose your information

We collect and use personal information for purposes including to:

• provide, operate and improve the Site and the services offered through it;
• create and manage member and user accounts;
• process enrolments, deliver training content, issue certificates and track course progress;
• process payments and manage billing, invoicing and refunds;
• assess and manage job applications submitted through the Site;
• respond to enquiries and provide member support;
• send you information you have requested, including membership communications, course updates and, where you have opted in, newsletters and marketing;
• maintain the security, integrity and proper administration of the Site;
• comply with our legal, regulatory and reporting obligations; and
• any other purpose disclosed to you at the time of collection, or with your consent.

We will only use or disclose personal information for the purpose it was collected, a related purpose you would reasonably expect, or as otherwise permitted or required by law.

5.Payments and Stripe

Payments for paid courses, membership fees and other paid services on the Site are processed by Stripe, a third-party payment processor. When you make a payment, your card and payment details are entered directly into Stripe's secure payment system and are not collected, seen or stored by HQ.

Stripe processes and stores payment information in accordance with its own privacy policy and applicable card industry security standards (PCI-DSS). HQ receives limited transaction information from Stripe, such as confirmation of payment, amount, order reference and billing name, to process your order, issue receipts and maintain financial records.

Because Stripe may process and store data on servers located outside Australia, your payment information may be handled overseas. See section 8 below. We encourage you to review Stripe's privacy policy at stripe.com/au/privacy.

6.Accounts and membership

If you create an account or become an HQ member, we hold your account details — name, contact details, organisation, membership status and login credentials — for as long as your account remains active, and for a reasonable period afterwards to meet record-keeping, legal and dispute-resolution obligations.

You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for all activity that occurs under your account. Please notify us immediately if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your account.

7.Cookies and analytics

The Site uses cookies and similar technologies to keep you logged in and remember your preferences, to enable cart and checkout functionality, and to understand how visitors use the Site so we can improve it.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings; however, some parts of the Site, such as account login or checkout, may not function properly if you do so. Where required, we will seek your consent to non-essential cookies via a cookie banner or similar mechanism.

8.Who we disclose your information to, including overseas

We may disclose personal information to:

• our staff and contractors who need it to operate the Site and deliver our services;
• service providers who host, maintain or support the Site and its plugins, including our web hosting provider, our course and membership platforms, and our job board provider;
• Stripe, for payment processing (see section 5);
• email and communications platforms used to send member, course or newsletter communications;
• our professional advisers, such as accountants, auditors and lawyers, where reasonably necessary;
• government bodies, regulators or law enforcement, where required or authorised by law; and
• any other party you have consented to, or as required to complete a transaction you have requested.

Some of these service providers, including Stripe, may store or process information on servers located outside Australia. Where we disclose personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure the overseas recipient handles it consistently with the APPs, including by relying on the provider's contractual privacy and security commitments. Overseas recipients may not be subject to the same privacy laws as Australia.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

9.Direct marketing

We may send you direct marketing communications, such as newsletters, course updates or membership news, where you have opted in, or otherwise in accordance with the Privacy Act and the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe option, and you can opt out at any time by using that link or contacting us.

10.Data quality and security

We take reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up to date, and to protect it from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include secure hosting and access controls for the Site and its database, encrypted transmission (HTTPS) and password hashing for account credentials, restricting access to staff and contractors who need it, and using reputable third-party providers for payment processing.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If you have reason to believe your interaction with the Site is no longer secure, please contact us immediately.

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law, after which it is securely destroyed or de-identified.

11.Access and correction

You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. To make a request, contact us using the details in section 14. We will respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before providing access, and in some circumstances permitted by law we may decline a request, in which case we will explain why.

There is no charge to request access to or correction of your information.

12.Data breaches

If we become aware of a data breach involving personal information that is likely to result in serious harm, we will assess and, where required, notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act.

13.Children's privacy

The Site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate consent. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information without appropriate consent, please contact us and we will take reasonable steps to remove it.

14.How to contact us and complaints

If you have a question about this policy, want to access or correct your information, or wish to make a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us.

We will investigate and respond to complaints within a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

15.Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices or legal requirements. The current version will always be available on the Site, with the effective date shown at the top. Continued use of the Site after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

This policy was last updated on 24 August 2026.