AWG Privacy Policy

The Australian Writers’ Guild Ltd (AWG) and the Australian Writers’ Guild Authorship Collecting Society Ltd (AWGACS) take your privacy very seriously. This Privacy Policy sets out how AWG and AWGACS protect and handle your personal information through adopting the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).  Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time, but you’ll find the current version below in a question and answer format.

What is personal information?
When referring to ‘personal information’, we mean information which identifies you as an individual or from which your identity can be reasonably ascertained. Your name or pseudonym, your postal address or email address and/or your phone number are examples of personal information.

What is sensitive information?
Sensitive information is a subset of personal information.  The Privacy Act imposes special obligations where sensitive information is collected, used and disclosed.  We collect some forms of sensitive information, including details about membership of professional or trade associations (including your membership of other collecting societies and guilds) and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status. AWG will not collect sensitive information about you unless you consent (we take your provision of the information to be consent to its collection), and the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities.  If AWG holds any sensitive personal information about you, that information will only be used and disclosed by AWG for the purpose that it was provided by you.

What personal information does the AWG collect and hold? 
We only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for us to perform one or more of our functions or activities. Depending upon the circumstances you may provide to us, and we may collect, information such as, but not limited to: 

• your name;
• your pseudonym;
• your gender;
• your date of birth;
• your contact information;
• your marital status;
• your employer and job title;
• your educational qualifications;
• your contractual information;
• your bank account details for electronic funds transfer payments;
• your lists of works

Some personal information you may provide to us, and we may collect, is considered sensitive information. We only collect sensitive information where we have received your consent to that information being collected, used, disclosed and stored in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This information includes: 

• details of other professional memberships and associations (including other collecting society and guilds);
• your nationality and Australian residency status;
• your political opinions;
• your political party membership (if any);
• your racial or ethnic origin;
• your Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status;
• your sexual orientation;
• any disabilities, illnesses or injuries you may have; and/or
• any other health information.

How does the AWG collect and hold information?
Wherever possible, we collect personal information about you directly from you. For example, when you submit a membership registration form, enter a competition, fill out a survey, register to access the AWG’s Pathways website or nominate yourself for a Pathways program. 

AWG may also collect your personal information from third parties in accordance with the requirements of the APPs, including from: 

• other rightsholders in a work, including co-writers. This personal information is restricted to information which will assist AWG in member recruitment, such as contact information;
• the public domain including social media, industry directories, industry guides, and the Internet;
• similar organisations in other countries; and
• funding agencies, such as Screen Australia, Film Victoria and Screen NSW, among others.

In common with many websites, when you read, browse or download information from our website, we may also collect information such as the date and time of your visit to the website, the pages accessed, and any information downloaded. This information is used for statistical, reporting and website administration, security, maintenance and improvement purposes.

Like many websites, our websites may use ‘cookies’ from time to time. Cookies are small text files that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser to enable our systems to recognise your browser. Cookies may also be used to record information such as the date, time or duration of your visit, or the pages accessed, for website administration, security, statistical and maintenance purposes.   Irrespective of whether personal information is stored electronically or in hard copy form, we take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.  Our websites provide facilities for the secure transmission of information across the internet.  However, users should be aware that there are inherent risks transmitting information across the internet.

We keep your hard-copy or electronic records on our premises and systems or offsite using trusted third parties. Our security safeguards include: 

• training and reminding our staff of their obligations regarding your information;
• when we send information overseas, or use third parties that handle or store data, we ensure that appropriate data handling and security arrangements are in place; and
• where practical, we keep information only for as long as required.

How do we use personal information?
Where we collect and hold personal information, it is collected and held for our business purposes, to fulfil our legal obligations and to keep members informed of our activities and services. Our business purposes are set out in detail on our website.

We may also use and disclose your personal information in the following circumstances: 

• to manage memberships and access to services provided by us such as industrial advice and script assessment and registration services;
• to overseas and local collecting societies in relation to the collection and distribution of international and domestic royalties for the use of your works;
• to persons authorised by you, such as your agent or manager;
• to government bodies and agencies, including state and national funding bodies;
• to third party specialists we engage to provide us with legal, administrative, financial, insurance, research, marketing or other services;
• to support our advocacy projects on behalf of members and in industry studies carried out by us or on our behalf;
• to administer the Pathways program, including assessing and processing nominations and applications and liaising with members and industry about projects and writers; and
• in relation to other secondary purposes you might reasonably expect us to use your personal information for in connection with the primary purposes outlined above.

This is not an exhaustive list. We may also use and disclose your personal information for any other purpose to which you have consented, which you would reasonably expect the personal information to be used or disclosed and in other ways subject to the requirements of the APPs.

Do we send your personal information overseas?
We may disclose your personal information to overseas collecting societies that collect and distribute royalties and that have a reciprocal agreement with us or with which we have an agreement to share information.  We have partnerships with 29 overseas collecting societies that are listed here on our website.  Information is disclosed to these overseas recipients for the purpose of collecting payments for the use of members’ works in these countries.

How can I access or correct my personal information?
To make a request to access or correct any personal information we hold about you, please contact our Privacy Officer via the details provided below.

If you would like to access your personal information, please provide us with as much detail as you can about the information you seek to help us retrieve it.

We will not charge you for making a request to access or correct your personal information. However, a reasonable fee may be charged for providing access to your personal information, where permitted by law.

In certain circumstances, we may not be required by law to provide you with access or to correct your personal information. If that is the case, we will give you our reasons for that decision.

We take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

Questions and complaints
If you have any questions or concerns about AWG’s handling of your personal information, please contact us at privacy@awg.com.au or by mail:  

Privacy Officer 
Australian Writers’ Guild 
Level 4, 70 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000

If you have a complaint relating to a breach of the APPs by AWG, you should contact our Privacy Officer at the details provided above. AWG will investigate your complaint and respond to you within a reasonable time in accordance with our legal obligations. AWG will take any necessary corrective actions promptly.

Further information
For more information about your right to privacy please visit the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website at www.oaic.gov.au.

Last updated May 2024