Privacy Policy

This website is administered by The Endocrine Society of Australia.

The Endocrine Society of Australia (“ESA” or, as the context requires, “we”, “us” or “our”) is the national peak body for endocrinologists in Australia.

The information and resources on this website (“Materials”) are of a general nature only and are not intended to be used as a substitute for professional health advice.

For a specific health problem, consult your doctor or contact an Endocrinologist in your state or territory.

Material may be updated or amended from time to time. While the ESA endeavors to keep the information on this website accurate and up to date, we cannot guarantee that the website contains the latest or most accurate information, products or research. Where we have included materials provided by others, research, individual stories or links to other sites, the views expressed therein are not necessarily those of the ESA.

The internet is not a secure medium and communications to and from this website may be intercepted or altered in transit. The ESA does not warrant that the website is free from anything which may damage any computer which accesses the website or data on such computer.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the ESA excludes completely all liability to any person for loss or damage of any kind (however caused, including by negligence) arising from or relating in any way to the materials and/or any use of the website (“Services”). Where any law implies a warranty into these terms of use which may not lawfully be excluded, then to the maximum extent permitted by law, the ESA’s liability for breach of the warranty will at its option be limited to the supply of the Services again, or the payment of the cost of having them supplied again.

This website is maintained by the ESA. Unless otherwise indicated, we reserve all copyright in the content and design of this website. The ESA owns all such copyright or uses it under licence or applicable law.

The material contained on this website is intended for personal use only. You may make a temporary copy of part or all of this website on your local computer for the sole purpose of viewing it, and print a single hard copy of a whole page of this website for personal use, provided that any copyright notice on such page is not removed.

You may not otherwise:

• reproduce, adapt, store in a retrieval system, transmit, print, display, perform, publish or create derivative works from any part of the content or design of this website;
• any of the Material to be framed or embedded in another website; or
• commercialise any products, information or services on this website,
• without our prior written permission or as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968. All requests and enquiries in relation to copyright must be in writing and directed to the Marketing Manager, the Endocrine Society of Australia, 145 Macquarie Street, Sydney, 2000 NSW.

The ESA’s social media platforms aim to provide a safe, comfortable, respectful space for people living with all types of endocrine-related disorders, people with an interest in the field of endocrinology, health professionals and researchers. We aim to publish posts that are informative, credible and useful. The following document outlines the principles and ethics for Hormones-Australia social media and forms Hormone-Australia’s social media statement.

If you would like to submit your story or experience to be considered for inclusion in the ‘Latest Articles’ section of the website, you will retain the copyright in the Story. However, by submitting the Story you:

• warrant that the Story is your creation and has not been copied from another person’s work;
• that we have sole discretion as to whether, and if so when, to publish the Story;
• agree to grant us a world-wide, permanent, irrevocable, royalty and licence-fee free, non-exclusive licence (including the right to sub-license) to exercise and exploit the copyright in that Story;
• agree that the ESA and its licensees may: (i) exercise any and all rights in relation to the Story, without identifying any person as the individual responsible for creating the Story; and (ii) edit, modify or alter the Story as they deem fit in their absolute discretion.
• You must not submit any information that is defamatory or otherwise breaches any other law.

The ESA owns a number of trade marks, including “Hormones-Australia”, “ESA – Endocrine Society of Australia”, the Hormones-Australia and ESA logos, and reserves all rights in relation to them. Without limiting our other rights, these trade marks must not be used without the prior written approval of the ESA.

Other product and company names referred to on this website may be trade marks owned by third parties.

All requests and enquiries in relation to trade marks must be in writing and directed to the Marketing Manager, the Endocrine Society of Australia, 145 Macquarie Street, Sydney, 2000 NSW.

This website contains links to other websites that are not controlled by Hormones-Australia. While care has been taken in providing these links, Hormones-Australia is not responsible for the content on those sites and does not necessarily endorse their content. It is the responsibility of the web user to make their own decisions about the accuracy, reliability, relevance and correctness of information found. In general we only link to government or not-for-profit websites.

To request a link be included from this website to your website, please email info@hormones-australia.org.au indicating your website URL, the nature of your website, and the proposed link format. Due to the volume of requests we receive, we can only respond to those websites whose request is successful. Hormones-Australia retains the sole discretion as to whether, and if so when, to include a link from this website to external websites.

We encourage other sites to consider linking to this website. However, you must not link to any page of this website without our prior consent.

If you wish to seek Hormones-Australia’s consent to link to this website, please email info@hormones-australia.org.au indicating the website URL that will contain the link, the nature of your website, the proposed link format and which page of this website you wish to link to.

Hormones-Australia will contact you if it consents to you linking to this website. Any linking must comply with any directions given by Hormones-Australia and:

• unless stated to the contrary, the link must be in the format of a text link reference to our website comprised of the words “Hormones-Australia”. You must not use any of Hormone’s Australia’s trade marks, whether with an embedded URL or otherwise, without our prior written permission;
• a description of Hormones-Australia and the ESA should be included, either immediately under or immediately next to the link. Unless stated to the contrary, the following set of words must be used when providing a description of Hormones-Australia with your link: “Hormones-Australia is run by the Endocrine Society of Australia, the national peak body for Endocrinologists in Australia.”

You must not place or phrase links in any manner that is misleading or that implies that Hormones-Australia endorses, sponsors or approves of your website / product / service, or that you or your website is in anyway affiliated with Hormones-Australia.

Hormones-Australia collects your personal and sensitive information only if you have consented to the information being collected, if the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities or if one of the other exceptions applies under the APPs.

We collect personal information about you, such as your name, contact details, gender, date of birth, Medicare or Department of Veterans’ Affairs number, country of birth, details of your parent or carer and details of your medical practitioner. We also collect sensitive information about you such as whether you are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, main language spoken at home, disorder type, height, weight, whether your immediate relatives have had endocrine disorders, treatment information and insulin status. We collect information from individuals who elect to register with the Hormones-Australia mailing list. These individuals receive a regular e-newsletter with endocrine and ESA related content including, but not limited to, research, activities and information.

We only collect your information by lawful and fair means. We collect your information in a few different ways, including:

• Forms – electronically, such as through our website
• Phone calls – information you provide while calling and speaking to ESA staff
• Other correspondence – such as email and mail.

We will always collect personal information from you directly unless it is unreasonable or impractical for us to do so.

If we receive personal information about you that we did not request (for example, if you complete a form and you attach extra documents that we did not ask for) and we could not have collected this information as set out in the dot points above, we will destroy or de-identify the information (i.e. any information that could reasonably identify you as an individual is removed) as soon as practicable. This will apply except where the information is part of a Commonwealth record, or we are required by law or a court/tribunal order to retain the information.

When we collect your information, or as soon as practical after, we will take reasonable steps to let you know:

• that the information has been received by Hormones-Australia and how to contact us
• if we received your information from another source, details of the information we have received and why we received it
• why we are collecting the information
• the main consequences (if any) for you if you do not provide all or part of the information we have requested
• the organisations or types of organisations to which we normally pass on information
• that you can access and seek to correct your information and that our Privacy Policy explains how that can be done
• that our Privacy Policy contains information about how someone can complain if they believe we may have breached the APPs and how we will handle that complaint and
• whether we are likely to disclose information to overseas parties and if so, the countries in which those parties are located.

The Hormones-Australia website and sites administered by the ESA use software known as ‘cookies’ to record your visit to the website and collect some statistical information. We use this information to help administer and improve our websites. We do not use this information to personally identify you. Information we may collect includes:

• your server address
• your domain name
• the date and time of access to the website
• pages accessed and documents downloaded
• the previous site visited
• if you have visited the website before
• the type of browser software in use.

You may set your web browser to disable cookies when visiting our websites. However, some website functions may be unavailable if you choose to do so.

It is your choice to provide information to us. Wherever it is lawful and practicable, you have the option not to identify yourself or to use a fictional name when interacting with us. You can remain anonymous when using some parts of the Hormones-Australia website or sites administered by the ESA. However, it may be necessary for us to collect your personal or sensitive information if you would like to access certain materials or services. If you choose to withhold the information we require, we may not be able to provide the services you have requested.

We take appropriate steps to protect your personal and sensitive information held by us from misuse, interference, unauthorised access, modification, loss or disclosure. This includes during storage, collection, processing, transfer and destruction of the information.

Information is stored in access-controlled premises or in secure electronic databases. Employees of the ESA, its Staff, contracted third parties and other parties to whom we disclose your information, are required to comply with the Privacy Act and our Privacy Policy.

We take steps to ensure the security of the Hormones-Australia website. However, users are advised that there is always some risk when transmitting information across the Internet, including a risk that information sent to or from a website may be intercepted, corrupted or modified by third parties.

The Hormones-Australia website and sites administered by the ESA contain links to external websites. We recommend that you review the privacy policies of those external websites as we are not responsible for their privacy practices.

When we no longer need personal information for any purpose we will take reasonable steps to destroy the information or ensure that the information is de-identified. This will apply except where the information is part of a Commonwealth record, or we are required by law or a court/tribunal order to retain the information.

We only use your personal and sensitive information for purposes which are directly related to the reason you provided us with your information in the first place and where you would reasonably expect us to use your information.

We will not use your personal information for another purpose unless you have given consent or one of the exceptions under the Privacy Act applies. For example, if the use of the information is authorised by Australian law or is necessary for law enforcement by an enforcement body, such as the Australian Federal Police.

When you provide us with your personal and sensitive information, we seek your consent to disclose the information for the purposes identified.

We only disclose your personal and sensitive information for purposes which are directly related to the reason you provided us with your information in the first place and where you would reasonably expect us to disclose your information.

You can be assured that we will take all reasonable steps to ensure your personal details remain confidential at all times. All external parties who receive your information must sign a confidentiality agreement that requires them to comply with the Privacy Act and our Privacy Policy.

We do not currently disclose your personal information to overseas parties. If your personal information is transferred overseas, we will comply with our obligations under the APPs.

We will not disclose your personal information for another purpose unless you have given consent or one of the exceptions under the Privacy Act applies. For example, we may disclose your personal information if authorised by Australian law or if necessary for law enforcement.

From time to time, we may send out promotional materials for the purposes of Hormones-Australia or the ESA. If you do not wish to receive these communications, please contact Hormones-Australia to unsubscribe. Your information may also be used by us to provide you with details of our services and events where permitted by the Privacy Act or where you have consented to the use or disclosure of your personal information for direct communications and promotional materials.

It is our policy that any direct communication or promotional material will include a statement advising that you may request not to receive further material by contacting us using the details provided.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that all personal information that we collect, use or disclose is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

We will correct any personal information that we believe to be incorrect, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. This includes taking reasonable steps to notify any organisation or government agency to which information was disclosed about the correction. You may request to access or correct your personal information at any time by contacting the Administrative Officer using the details below. We will give you access to the information unless one of the exceptions under the Privacy Act applies. For example, if providing access would be unlawful or denying access is authorised by law.

If you request to access or correct your information, we will respond within a reasonable time (usually within 30 days). If your request is refused, we will give you a written notice that sets out the reasons for refusal and how to complain about the decision.

The Spam Act prohibits sending unsolicited commercial emails, SMS and MMS messages for commercial purposes. Examples of unsolicited communications are ones that do not directly relate to a service you have previously signed up with or agreed to. While not-for-profit organisations such as the ESA do have some exemptions from the Spam Act, we are guided by the Code of Practice developed by the Australian Direct Marketing Association.

It is our policy that all electronic communications will include an unsubscribe facility.

The ESA is committed to the protection of your privacy. If you have any questions about how we handle personal information, would like to complain about how we have handled your information, or would like further information about our Privacy Policy, please submit a written query or complaint to our Privacy Officer. Our Privacy Officer will assess any complaints and liaise with you to resolve any issues within a reasonable time (usually within 30 days). If you are unhappy with the outcome, you may lodge a complaint with the Australian Information Commissioner who can order the payment of compensation by the ESA in certain circumstances.

Administrative Officer of Hormones-Australia Website
The Endocrine Society of Australia,
145 Macquarie Street, Sydney, 2000 NSW.

Phone: 02 9256 5405 Email: info@hormones-australia.org.au