Southern Geoscience Consultants Pty Ltd (69 067 552 461) (“Southern Geoscience”, “SGC”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals and to handling personal information in an open and transparent way. We comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act), as amended by the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth).

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use, disclose, store and protect personal information, how you can access or correct your information, and how you can make a privacy complaint.

1. What is personal information?

Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information is true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not.

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information and includes information about an individual’s health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, criminal record, or membership of a professional or trade association. We only collect sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary for our functions and you have consented, or where otherwise permitted or required by law.

2. Personal information we collect

We generally collect personal information directly from you, unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. In some cases, we may collect information from third parties, such as our clients, referees, publicly available sources, or business partners.

The types of personal information we may collect include:

• Contact details, such as name, email address, telephone number, and postal address.
• Professional information, such as job title, employer, industry, qualifications, and business contact details.
• Correspondence, including information you provide when you contact us via enquiries, forms, email, workshops, events or other communications.
• Marketing preferences and event registrations.
• Records of your dealings with us, including services provided, invoices and payment information (excluding full card details, which are handled by our payment providers).
• Website usage data, including IP address, browser type, device identifiers, operating system, referral URLs, pages visited, and date and time of visits.
• Any other information you choose to provide to us

3. Purposes of collection, holding, use and disclosure

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for purposes reasonably necessary for our business functions and activities, including to:

• Provide, deliver and administer our professional geoscience consulting services.
• Respond to enquiries and communicate with clients, contractors, suppliers, workshop participants, and other stakeholders.
• Manage client, supplier and business relationships, including invoicing and record-keeping.
• Send marketing communications, newsletters, event and workshop invitations, and service updates, where permitted by law (see Section 5).
•  Recruit and assess prospective employees and contractors.
  Improve and maintain the functionality, performance, and security of our website and IT systems.
• Analyse website usage and trends.
• Comply with our legal, regulatory and contractual obligations.

Where we collect personal information for a particular purpose, we will not use or disclose it for another purpose unless you have consented, or the use or disclosure is otherwise permitted or required by law.

4. Anonymity and pseudonymity

Where lawful and practicable, you have the option of not identifying yourself, or of using a pseudonym, when dealing with us. However, this may not be possible in many circumstances (for example, where we need to verify your identity, provide a service, or respond to a formal request).

5. Marketing communications

We may send marketing or promotional communications to you where you have consented, or where otherwise permitted by law. You may opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by:

• Using the unsubscribe link included in our marketing emails; or
• Contacting us using the details in Section 15.

We do not sell personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

6. Disclosure of personal information

We may disclose personal information to third parties where reasonably necessary to carry out our business functions or provide our services, including to:

• Our employees, officers, contractors and related entities on a need-to-know basis.
• Professional advisers, such as lawyers, accountants, auditors, or insurers.
• Contractors, suppliers, and service providers, including IT, cloud and data hosting, CRM and marketing automation, analytics, payment processing, and communications providers.
• Our clients or joint venture partners, where disclosure is necessary to provide the services we have been engaged to deliver.
• Government agencies, courts, law enforcement, or regulators where required or authorised by law.
• Any other party with your consent.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that third parties handle personal information consistently with this Privacy Policy and applicable privacy laws, including through contractual arrangements where appropriate.

7. Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers (for example, cloud hosting, email, CRM and marketing platforms) may store or process personal information outside Australia. The countries in which these providers may be located include the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and other jurisdictions in which reputable cloud providers operate.

Before disclosing personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles in relation to the information, unless an exception under the Privacy Act applies (for example, where you have consented after being informed that APP 8.1 will not apply, or the recipient is subject to a substantially similar law or binding scheme).

8. Cookies and website analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to improve user experience, analyse website traffic, and support marketing activities. Cookies may be used to:

• Recognise return visitors and remember your preferences.
• Analyse aggregated website usage via analytics tools (such as Google Analytics).
• Deliver relevant advertising through third-party services (such as Google Ads and LinkedIn).

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your browser settings to refuse cookies or to notify you when a cookie is being set. Doing so may limit some website functionality. By continuing to use our website, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

9. Automated decision-making

Southern Geoscience Consultants Pty Ltd does not currently use computer programs to make, or to substantially and directly support, decisions about individuals that could reasonably be expected to significantly affect their rights or interests. If this changes, we will update this Privacy Policy to disclose the kinds of personal information used, and the kinds of decisions made or supported by automated decision-making technology, in accordance with the transparency obligations under APP 1.7–1.9 (which commence on 10 December 2026).

10. Storage and security of personal information

We take reasonable steps, including implementing technical and organisational measures, to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These measures include:

• Physical security of our premises and records.
• Access controls, authentication and role-based permissions on our IT systems.
• Use of reputable cloud providers with recognised security standards.
• Staff training and confidentiality obligations.
• Ongoing review of our information security practices.

While we take security seriously, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security of any information you provide to us.

11. Notifiable data breaches

If we experience a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to an individual whose personal information is involved, we will comply with the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme under Part IIIC of the Privacy Act. This includes notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as soon as practicable, in accordance with our obligations.

12. Retention of personal information

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, to meet our business needs, or as required by law (for example, tax, corporate and contractual record-keeping requirements). When personal information is no longer required and we are not required by law to retain it, we take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify it.

13. Accessing and correcting your personal information

You may request access to the personal information we hold about you and request corrections if you believe the information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. Requests can be made by contacting us using the details in Section 15.

We will respond within a reasonable period (normally within 30 days) and in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). In limited circumstances we may decline your request, in which case we will explain our reasons in writing and outline the mechanisms available to complain about our decision.

14. Complaints about privacy

If you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us in writing using the details in Section 15. We will investigate your complaint and respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

Website: www.oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992
Post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001

15. Contact us

If you have any questions, requests, or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact our Privacy Officer:

Southern Geoscience Consultants Pty Ltd
Email: geophysics@sgc.com.au
Address: 39 Richardson Street, West Perth WA 6005 

16. Third-party websites

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit. 

17. Children

Our website and services are not directed at children under 16 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected personal information from a child, please contact us so we can take appropriate steps to delete it.

18. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices or to comply with legal or regulatory requirements. Any changes will be posted on this page, and the “Last updated” date will be revised. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.