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Summer Special

As the mercury rises and the New Year looms, it’s time to dive into a period of reflection and relaxation. That’s where our arts editors come in handy, sharing their picks for the very best stuff 2024 had to offer in cinema, small screens, music and books. This issue is pure summer refreshment: take the plunge!

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Privacy Policy

Our privacy commitment

Big Issue In Australia Limited (ABN 61 071 598 439) cares about your privacy and is committed to complying with the requirements set out in the Privacy Act (1988) (Cth) (‘the Act’) and the Australian Privacy Principles (‘the APPs’) in relation to the collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information.

We run several social enterprises, including The Big Issue magazine, the Women’s Subscription Enterprise and The Big Issue Classroom, the Community Street Soccer Program, and The Big Idea (together we, us and our). This Privacy Policy describes the type of information we may collect and how it is stored, used and disclosed.

Whom this policy applies to

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information that we collect, hold, use and disclose in relation to our subscribers, supporters, content contributors, interviewees, vendors and applicants for employment.

If you do not fall within one of these categories and would like to know more about how we manage your privacy, please contact us at hello@bigissue.org.au.

What personal information is and why we collect it

Personal information is information or an opinion about an individual who is identifiable or reasonably identifiable. Our objective is to handle personal information responsibly and provide you with information to make informed decisions about the personal information you provide to us.

Personal information collected by us may include your name, address, contact details, image, gender, credit/debit card information, information that you choose to give us in relation to an interview or submission (which may include sensitive information such as health information) or other information if necessary to perform one of our functions or activities.

We primarily collect this information so you can subscribe to The Big Issue magazine, access a digital edition of The Big Issue magazine, advertise in The Big Issue magazine, provide a donation to us, process a gift subscription, request a product or service from our online shop, contribute content to The Big Issue magazine, complete a survey or questionnaire, enter a competition or an event, communicate with us, to facilitate your application for employment, to manage your vendor relationship with us and to send promotional material about our activities and offers (see Direct Marketing below for further information).

Insufficient or inaccurate personal information

If you choose not to provide personal information to us or if the information you supply is insufficient or inaccurate, we may not be able to perform the activities described above. For example, we may not be able to contact you, deliver your subscription or issue receipts where certain personal information is not provided.

Where practicable, you will be given the opportunity to be anonymous or pseudonymous when dealing with us.

How we collect personal information

We generally collect personal information directly from you, however we may also obtain personal information from third parties we engage to assist with our functions or third parties who purchase a subscription on your behalf.

Whom we may disclose personal information to

We may disclose your personal information to our contractors and third party organisations we engage to provide a specific service to us, such as mailing of subscriptions, deliveries and other communications, processing credit card information, data analysis, telemarketing, accounting, legal and financial advice, archiving, IT support and consulting, research, advertising and otherwise where necessary to perform one of our functions.

In some circumstances, we may also disclose your personal information to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations who provide funding for some of our activities.

We will not disclose personal information to unrelated parties for them to market goods and services to you. We will not otherwise use or disclose your personal information unless the use or disclosure is authorised under the APPs.

How your personal information is held and secured

Your personal information may be stored in hardcopy or electronic form in storage facilities that we own and operate ourselves or that are owned and operated by our service providers.

Our security safeguards include:

  • technical solutions, security controls and internal processes to help us protect your information from misuse, interference, loss or unauthorised access, modification and disclosure
  • confidentiality requirements for employees and contractors
  • systems and site access restrictions
  • ongoing cyber security training and awareness programs, website security systems, including firewalls and data encryption on our websites

When we no longer require personal information we hold for one of our functions or activities, that personal information will be destroyed or de-identified.

Information held overseas

Your personal information may be held overseas or disclosed to third party service providers located overseas. We or the overseas service provider may disclose your personal information where required by Australian or foreign law.

Your personal information will most likely be held in Australia, USA, and Singapore. We will update this Privacy Policy if your personal information is to be held in other overseas countries in the future.

Our website

This Privacy Policy applies to use of www.thebigissue.org.au (‘the website’) and to any information you provide via the website.

If you visit the website to read, browse or download information, our system may record information about your browsing session such as the date and time of your visit to the website, the pages accessed and any information downloaded (‘clickstream data’). This information is used for statistical, reporting and website administration and maintenance purposes only.

The website may use cookies from time to time. Cookies are small text files that the website transfers to your computer through your web browser to enable our systems to recognise your computer. You can generally erase or disable cookies through your browser. Please note that some parts of the website may not function fully for users that disable cookies.

We do not try to identify users or their browsing activities from cookies or clickstream data information except as required by law.

The website may use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (‘Google’). Google Analytics uses cookies to help analyse use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including the IP address of users’ computers) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating individuals’ use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate IP addresses with any other data held by Google. By using the website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

While we take great care to protect personal information on the website, unfortunately no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be secure. Once we receive personal information, we protect its security in accordance with our legal obligations and this Privacy Policy. If you do not wish to submit personal information to us online, please write or call.

We take additional precautions to protect credit, debit and charge card transactions. Card details provided through the website’s payment facilities are encrypted using industry standard encryption technology.

Direct Marketing

We may use your personal information to send you promotional material about our activities and offers. If you want to opt out from receiving our marketing materials, you can contact us at The Big Issue, GPO Box 4911, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, by telephone: (03) 9663 4533 or by email: hello@bigissue.org.au.

Accessing or correcting your information

You have a right to request access to, or correction of, personal information that we hold about you, subject to certain exceptions under privacy law. Requests for access or corrections may be made by contacting us at The Big Issue, GPO Box 4911, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, by telephone: (03) 9663 4533 or by email: hello@bigissue.org.au.

Please provide as much detail as possible about the information you seek to access or correct in order to help us retrieve it. We may need to verify your identity before access can be provided and we may charge you our reasonable costs incurred to provide you with access to the information.

Complaints

If you believe that your privacy has been breached or you have a complaint about our handling of your personal information, please contact us at The Big Issue, GPO Box 4911, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, by telephone: (03) 9663 4533 or by email: privacy@bigissue.org.au. We will investigate your complaint and provide you with a response within a reasonable period.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a formal complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We may make amendments to this Privacy Policy from time to time to ensure we reflect changes to relevant laws or our operations. Your personal information will always be governed by our most recent Privacy Policy.

If you wish to access this Privacy Policy in a different format, please contact us at The Big Issue, GPO Box 4911, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, by telephone: (03) 9663 4533 or by email: privacy@bigissue.org.au.

Last updated: October 2021.