Privacy Policy

Morningtide Consulting Pty Ltd

Effective Date: September 2, 2025
Last Updated: Above date

1. About Us

Morningtide Consulting Pty Ltd (ACN 642 843 856), domiciled in Victoria, Australia, operates https://morningtide.com.au.

We are a small business with annual turnover under AUD 3 million. This means we are not legally required to comply with the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) or the Victorian Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic).

However, we believe trust is the cornerstone of strategy. That’s why we voluntarily align our practices with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and similar standards of good privacy governance.

Contact for Privacy Enquiries

• Email: info@morningtide.com.au
• Phone: +61 (0)403 987 946

2. What Personal Information We Collect

We only collect what’s necessary for our work and website functionality:

• Comments: name, email, website, IP address, and browser details (to help moderation and spam detection).
• Profile Images: an anonymised hash of your email may be sent to Gravatar to display profile pictures.
• Media Uploads: if you upload images, please strip out GPS location data—others may access it.
• Cookies/Tracking:
  • Cookies to remember your details for comments.
  • Session cookies to confirm browser compatibility.
  • Login and screen preference cookies (expiring between 2 days and 1 year).
• Embedded Content: Content (e.g. videos, widgets) from other websites behaves as if you visited them directly. These providers may collect additional data under their own policies.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use personal information to:

• Manage and moderate comments.
• Improve your website experience.
• Display uploaded content (media, avatars).
• Protect our website against spam and misuse.
• Communicate with you if you choose to subscribe to updates.

4. Sharing and Disclosure

We don’t sell or trade your personal information. We may share it only when:

• Required for spam prevention or website security services.
• Necessary for embedded services (e.g. Gravatar, video hosting), subject to their own privacy practices.
• Legally required to comply with Australian law.

Some third-party providers may be located overseas. We take steps to ensure they handle information in line with Australian best practice, or we will seek your consent.

5. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to secure your information, including encryption, restricted access, and secure hosting. While no system is 100% foolproof, we continually improve safeguards to reduce risk.

6. Retention and Deletion

• Comments and metadata may be stored indefinitely for context.
• Registered user data can be edited, exported, or deleted by you at any time (subject to technical/legal requirements).
• We will delete or de-identify data that’s no longer needed.

7. Your Rights

Even though not legally required, we give you rights (where feasible) similar to those under the APPs:

• Access: request a copy of your data.
• Correction: ask us to update or fix your information.
• Deletion: request that we erase your data, unless retention is required by law.
• Opt-out: unsubscribe from emails or marketing at any time.

Requests can be made by email; we aim to respond within 30 days.

8. Direct Marketing

We only send newsletters or updates with your explicit consent (e.g. when you subscribe). Every message includes an easy unsubscribe option.

9. Data Breach Response

If we become aware of a serious data breach that could cause harm, we will:

• Notify affected individuals promptly, and
• Consider notifying the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), even though we are not legally required to.

10. Third-Party Services

We carefully select service providers (e.g. hosting, security, analytics) and expect them to meet high standards of privacy and data protection.

11. Policy Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be available on our website, with the effective date clearly shown.

12. Applicability of Law

• Privacy Act 1988 (Cth): Not legally applicable due to our turnover, but we voluntarily align with its principles.
• Victorian Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic): Not applicable as we are not a Victorian public-sector body or a contracted service provider.
• Best Practice Commitment: Regardless of formal obligations, we adopt privacy safeguards to protect individuals and maintain professional trust.