Last updated: 17 August 2026
The People Say respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information you provide to us.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, when it may be processed by service providers, and the choices and rights available to you.
1. Who we are
The People Say is operated by David Westman, ABN 73 828 741 609 (“The People Say”, “we”, “us” or “our”).
Our purpose is to give people an opportunity to contribute their views on issues affecting their communities and to help identify, analyse and communicate community opinion.
You can contact us about privacy at:
Email: [email protected]
Postal address: 109 Winton Street, Goondiwindi QLD 4390
2. Information we collect
When you register with The People Say or contribute to an issue, we may collect:
- your first and last name;
- email address;
- residential address;
- year of birth;
- sex;
- telephone number, where provided;
- suburb, postcode and geographic information derived from your address;
- demographic information you choose to provide, such as relationship status, dependants, housing status, employment, education, household income, length of residence in an area, property ownership or investment, and business ownership;
- political outlook, where you choose to provide it;
- responses to surveys, questionnaires and issues;
- comments and other written contributions;
- preferences about communications and publication; and
- technical and administrative information reasonably required to operate, protect and maintain the service.
Some demographic questions are optional. Where a question is optional, you may choose not to provide that information.
We aim to collect only information that is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy.
3. Political opinions and sensitive information
Some questions may ask about your general political outlook or invite responses from which a political opinion could reasonably be apparent.
Political opinions are sensitive information under Australian privacy law and receive additional protection.
Providing demographic information about your political outlook is voluntary. You do not need to answer an optional political-outlook question to participate in The People Say.
Where we specifically collect political outlook or other sensitive information, we will seek appropriate consent at the point of collection.
We may analyse political outlook together with other responses to understand whether views on an issue vary according to political outlook. We will ordinarily report this information in aggregated or de-identified form.
We will not sell or provide your political opinions to political parties, candidates, lobbyists, advertisers, data brokers or other third parties for their independent campaigning, marketing, profiling or commercial purposes.
4. Why we collect personal information
We collect and use personal information to:
- establish and maintain an individual contributor record;
- reduce duplicate, fraudulent or manipulated submissions;
- associate contributions with the correct contributor;
- conduct surveys and collect community views;
- analyse opinions and identify trends and differences between groups;
- understand how opinions vary according to factors such as age, sex, location and voluntarily provided demographic characteristics;
- analyse how proximity to a particular issue or location may relate to people’s views;
- prepare aggregated research, reports, statistics and summaries;
- communicate results and outcomes relating to issues to which contributors have provided input;
- provide contributors with relevant information and significant developments concerning issues to which they have contributed;
- administer and improve The People Say;
- maintain the integrity and security of our research and information; and
- comply with applicable legal obligations.
We will not use personal information for an unrelated purpose unless we have consent or the use is otherwise permitted or required by law.
5. Residential addresses and geographic analysis
We collect residential addresses so that we can understand the geographic distribution of community views and, where relevant, determine a contributor’s proximity to an issue.
We may convert or supplement an address with geographic information such as:
- latitude and longitude;
- suburb and postcode;
- local government area;
- State electorate;
- Federal electorate; and
- distance from the location or defined area of an issue.
For example, this may allow us to compare the views of people living within two kilometres of a particular intersection with those living further away.
A contributor’s residential street address will not be published as part of survey results, reports or public analysis.
6. How we use your contributions
Responses may be analysed individually or together with responses from other contributors.
We may use contributions to produce:
- statistical results;
- aggregated demographic analysis;
- geographic analysis;
- summaries of community opinion;
- identification of recurring themes;
- comparisons between different groups;
- reports and research;
- articles and website content; and
- other analysis directly related to the issues on which people have provided their views.
Our normal practice is to publish results in aggregated or de-identified form so that private personal information is not disclosed.
7. Publication of individual comments
Providing a response to The People Say does not automatically give us permission to publicly identify you as the author of that response.
Where we wish to publish an individual comment or quotation, contributors may be offered choices such as:
- Anonymous – the comment may be published without identifying you;
- First name and general location – for example, “David, Palm Beach”;
- Full name – your full name may accompany the comment; or
- Not for publication – your contribution may be included in aggregated analysis but your individual comment will not be published.
The options available may vary according to the particular survey or issue.
We will not publish your residential street address, private email address or telephone number.
8. Artificial intelligence and automated analysis
We may use statistical software, automated systems and artificial intelligence tools to assist with analysis.
These systems may assist us to:
- summarise responses;
- identify themes;
- categorise comments;
- analyse sentiment;
- identify similarities and differences between responses;
- compare demographic or geographic groups; and
- assist with statistical analysis.
We will retain the original response where reasonably practicable so that an automated interpretation can be checked against what the contributor actually said.
Where reasonably practicable, information supplied to external analytical systems will be de-identified or limited to the information necessary for the particular analysis.
We will not use automated analysis to make decisions that determine an individual’s legal rights or access to essential services.
9. Communications about issues
We use contributors’ contact details to communicate information reasonably related to their participation, including:
- confirmation or administration of a submission;
- survey results;
- findings and outcomes;
- significant developments concerning an issue to which they have contributed; and
- important administrative, security or privacy information.
When we collect an email address, we will explain that it may be used for these purposes.
10. Optional newsletters and other communications
We will seek separate consent where we wish to send newsletters, promotional communications or information about other issues beyond communications reasonably associated with a contributor’s existing participation.
Where appropriate, forms may therefore contain a separate option such as:
“I would like to receive information about other issues and opportunities to have my say.”
Choosing not to receive these optional communications will not prevent you from participating in an issue.
Optional electronic communications will contain an appropriate unsubscribe mechanism where required.
We maintain records of communication preferences and may retain sufficient information about an unsubscribe request to ensure that the preference continues to be respected.
11. Service providers and third parties
We do not sell or rent contributors’ personal information.
We do not provide private personal information to political parties, candidates, lobbyists, advertisers, data brokers or other third parties for their independent marketing, campaigning or profiling purposes.
However, we use technology and professional service providers to operate The People Say. These may include providers of:
- website hosting and security;
- database and cloud storage;
- email delivery;
- form processing;
- address validation and geocoding;
- analytics;
- artificial intelligence and data processing;
- information technology support; and
- professional, legal or regulatory services.
These providers may process personal information on our behalf where reasonably necessary to provide their services.
We will take reasonable steps to select appropriate providers and protect personal information handled on our behalf.
We may also disclose information where required or authorised by Australian law, a court or tribunal order, or another applicable legal requirement.
12. Overseas processing and storage
Some technology providers used by The People Say may store or process information outside Australia.
Before launch, we will review the location and privacy arrangements of our principal technology providers and, where practicable, identify the countries in which recipients of personal information are likely to be located.
Where Australian privacy law applies to an overseas disclosure, we will take reasonable steps required by that law in relation to the disclosure.
Processing locations are Australia and the United States.
13. Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.
Measures may include:
- restricting access to identifiable contributor information;
- using individual user accounts and appropriate access permissions;
- protecting administrative systems with appropriate authentication;
- maintaining backups and security controls;
- limiting access to information according to operational need;
- separating or excluding directly identifying information from general analytical datasets where practicable; and
- reviewing access when staff, contractors or service providers no longer require it.
People undertaking general analysis should not ordinarily require access to contributors’ names, email addresses, telephone numbers or street addresses.
No internet-based information system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
If a suspected data breach occurs, we will investigate and assess it and, where applicable, take action in accordance with Australian data-breach notification requirements.
14. Retention and deletion
We retain identifiable personal information only for as long as it is reasonably required for the purposes for which it was collected, legitimate research and record-keeping purposes, or applicable legal requirements.
We will establish retention periods for major categories of personal information and periodically review whether identifiable information remains necessary.
Where personal information is no longer required and Australian privacy law requires its destruction or de-identification, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.
Aggregated or properly de-identified information that no longer identifies an individual may be retained for historical, statistical and research purposes.
15. Accessing your information
You may ask us for access to personal information we hold about you.
We may need to verify your identity before providing access.
There may be limited circumstances in which access can lawfully be refused. Where required, we will explain the reason for a refusal.
Requests should be sent to:
16. Correcting your information
You may ask us to correct personal information you believe is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.
We may need to verify your identity before making changes.
Requests should be sent to:
17. Withdrawing consent
Where we rely on your consent to collect or use particular information, you may contact us to withdraw that consent for future use.
Withdrawal of consent does not necessarily require us to remove information from research or analysis that has already been properly aggregated or de-identified so that it no longer identifies you.
There may also be circumstances in which information must be retained for legal, security, integrity or record-keeping purposes.
18. Privacy complaints
If you believe we have not handled your personal information appropriately, please contact:
Privacy Officer
The People Say
Email: [email protected]
Postal address: 109 Winton Street, Goondiwindi QLD 4390
Please provide sufficient information for us to understand and investigate your concern.
We will investigate privacy complaints and respond within a reasonable period.
If you are not satisfied with our response and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) applies, you may be entitled to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
19. Cookies and website information
Our website may collect technical information necessary for its operation, security and performance. This may include browser and device information, IP addresses, security information and website activity.
We may use cookies and similar technologies for legitimate website functionality, security, preferences and analytics.
Where third-party analytics, advertising, social media or tracking technologies are introduced, we will review their privacy implications and provide appropriate information or choices where required.
We will not knowingly provide identifiable political opinions or sensitive survey responses to advertising platforms or data brokers for targeted advertising.
20. Children and young people
The People Say may establish minimum-age requirements for participation in particular surveys or issues.
Where participation by children or young people is permitted, we will consider whether additional consent, privacy and information-handling measures are appropriate having regard to the nature of the information being collected and the participant’s ability to understand the consequences of providing it.
21. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy as The People Say develops, our technology changes or legal requirements change.
The current version will be published on our website with its effective date.
Where a change materially affects how we propose to use information already collected, we will consider whether affected contributors need to be notified or further consent obtained.
22. Contact us
Questions about this Privacy Policy or the way we handle personal information can be directed to:
The People Say
Operated by: David Westman
ABN: 73 828 741 609
Privacy Officer: David Westman
Email: [email protected]
Postal address: 109 Winton Street, Goondiwindi QLD 4390