Terms and Conditions

The Treaty Authority – Website Terms and Conditions

Effective Date: 27 June 2024

These terms and conditions govern your use of the Treaty Authority’s website and Negotiations Database (together, ‘Website’) available at:

The Website is owned and operated by the Treaty Authority (ABN 25 193 474 723) (the ‘Treaty Authority’, ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’).

These terms constitute a binding legal agreement between you and the Treaty Authority regarding your use of the Website. By accessing this Website, you acknowledge that you have been given the chance to review the terms and agree to be bound by such terms, either in your own capacity or (as the case may be) for and on behalf of your organisation. These terms include and incorporate by reference the Treaty Authority Privacy Policy accessible at https://treatyauthority.au/privacy-policy/, the Treaty Authority First Peoples Data Sovereignty and Data Governance Framework accessible at https://database.treatyauthority.au/ and the Treaty Authority Copyright Statement accessible at https://treatyauthority.au/copyright/.

For the avoidance of doubt, these terms are subject to any Collection Notice applying to any content you provide to us through our Website, or any other terms as agreed with you from time to time.

You acknowledge and agree that these terms may be revised from time to time in our sole discretion. Your continued access to or use of the Website following such variation or amendment will be deemed to be a confirmation of your acceptance of the revised terms, either in your own capacity or (as the case may be) for and on behalf of your organisation.

Interpretation

In these terms, unless the context otherwise requires, the following rules of interpretation applies:

words referring to one gender include every other gender;
words referring to a singular number include the plural, and words referring to a plural include the singular;
words referring to a person or persons includes companies, firms, corporations, organisations and vice versa; and
any obligation on a party not to do something includes an obligation not to allow that thing to be done.

Licence to use and access Website

The Treaty Authority grants you a limited, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, non-assignable and non-exclusive licence to access and use the Website subject to your compliance with these terms, in addition to all other applicable terms, conditions and policies imposed by us, including but not limited to the terms and conditions of any storage or other agreement which you have entered into with us.

The grant of this licence does not constitute a transfer or sale of the Website or any copy thereof, and we retain all rights, title, and interest in and to the Website, including any intellectual property rights. For the avoidance of doubt, the Website is licensed, not sold, to you by us pursuant and subject to these terms and any other applicable terms and conditions imposed by us.

Availability of the Website

The Treaty Authority will use reasonable efforts to make the Website available to you.

Without limiting any provisions under these terms, you acknowledge and agree that:

as the applicable laws may be subject to changes from time to time, we cannot guarantee that your access to or use of the Website will always remain compliant with the applicable laws;
the availability and performance of the Website may vary depending on a variety of factors, including without limitation to the specifications of the device used to access the Website, or the stability of the internet or telecommunications network; and
the Treaty Authority may not be held in any way responsible or liable for any disruptions to the Website or for your inability to access or use the Website for any reasons, and for any losses or damage you may suffer as a result of such unavailability.

Website Materials

When using the Website, we may provide you with access to various other content, documentation, materials, information, goods or services (‘Materials’) that is located on the Website. These terms and our Copyright Statement, will govern your use of all pages of the Website, as well as your use of the Materials.

You may use the Materials in accordance with the terms and conditions set out under our Copyright Statement accessible at https://treatyauthority.au/copyright/.

User Restrictions

You must:

at all times access and use the Website in compliance with these terms and all applicable laws; and
obtain all consents, permissions, and authorisation required under applicable laws from individuals or organisations as necessary to input, provide, transfer, and make available data (including personal data) to us for the purposes of using the Website.

When using the Website, you must not:

rent, lease, lend, sell, resell, sublicense, assign, distribute, publish, or lease the Website or otherwise make available to any third party for any reason;
interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Website, or any information and content contained;
copy, adapt, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, transfer, publicly display, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Website, including any function or feature, otherwise than in accordance with the terms of our Copyright Statement;
harass, abuse, or threaten any other person or to otherwise violate any other person’s legal rights;
violate any intellectual property rights of the Treaty Authority or of any third party;
post, upload, publish, submit or transmit or otherwise make available any content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships, that infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or that otherwise violates applicable law or regulation;
publish or distribute any obscene or defamatory material or any material that incites violence, hatred or discrimination towards any person, group or community;
commit any kind of fraud when using the Website;
reverse engineer, or attempt to reverse engineer or disassemble any code or software in relation to the Website;
violate or circumvent the security of the Website or use any manual or automated software, devices or other processes (including but not limited to spiders, robots, scrapers, crawlers, avatars, data mining tools or the like) to “scrape” or download any information and data from the Website;
upload, disseminate, store or transmit code, files, agents, or programs that could harm the Website or other users, including viruses, worms, time bombs, and Trojan horses; or
otherwise use the Website or Materials in any way that could damage the Website, Materials or the Treaty Authority’s reputation or operations.

You agree to notify us in the event you commit or discover any unacceptable use of the Website in breach of this clause.

The Treaty Authority reserves the right to investigate and take any legal action in respect of violations of these terms to the fullest extent and involve and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who violate these terms.

User Registration

In order to use or access certain features of the Website, including the Negotiations Database, you may be required to become a registered user by registering or creating an account on the Website or required to use details provided by the Treaty Authority to access an account (‘Account’).

If you create an Account, you may be asked to provide personal details such as your name and email address, as well as choosing a user name and a password (‘Account Information’). The Treaty Authority may also provide you with certain Account Information (such as a user name and password).

When creating or using an Account, you agree to:

provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as may be required when creating an Account;
ensure and maintain the accuracy of any Account Information, including by promptly updating the Account Information to keep it true, accurate, current and up-to-date; and
take reasonable steps to secure and protect your Account Information and not to share your Account Information with any third party.

You acknowledge that providing false or misleading information, or using the Website to further fraud or unlawful activity is grounds for immediate termination of these terms.

User Content

The Website permits certain user content or materials, including through online forms, to be added, uploaded, posted, published or otherwise made available on the Website or the Negotiations Database (‘Content’).

By adding, posting or uploading any Content on the Website or the Negotiations Database, you grant us an exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferrable, worldwide right and licence to access and use the Content for the purposes of undertaking our statutory functions.

This licence includes a right and licence to:

reproduce, copy, alter or make derivate works from your Content in any way we choose;
display, communicate to the public, broadcast or transmit your Content in any way we choose; and
authorise any other person, company or organisation to use your Content in any way we choose.

You represent and warrant to us that you have all necessary rights to grant the licences and to provide the consents set out in this clause in relation to any intellectual property rights in respect of your Content.

Where the Content includes personal information (which has the meaning given to it under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic)), the Treaty Authority will collect, use, disclose and store that personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and any applicable Collection Statement.

Where the Content includes Indigenous Data, the Treaty Authority will collect, use, disclose and store that Indigenous Data in accordance with clause 13 and the Treaty Authority First Peoples Data Sovereignty and Data Governance Framework accessible at https://database.treatyauthority.au/.

You represent and warrant that you own the Content, or have the legal right and authority to grant to us a licence to use such Content, and will continue to own or maintain the legal right and authority to grant such licence.

You acknowledge and agree that:

you are solely responsible for making sure that the disclosure and use of data (including but not limited to personal data), Content and other information that you provide to us do not violate any applicable law or infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party;
you shall not knowingly post or upload any Content or data which:
- is libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, harassing or threatening;
- violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including but not limited to Intellectual Property Rights or any right of privacy or publicity; or
- otherwise violates any applicable law or the order or requirement of a court or governmental authority; and
the Treaty Authority may take any of the following actions in our sole discretion:
- monitor, review, edit or delete any Content, whether or not you have breached these terms;
- review any allegations about breaches of these terms, and determine in our sole discretion whether to take any action in response to those alleged breaches, including removal of any Content in relation to those alleged breaches; or
- determine in our sole discretion whether to suspend or terminate your access to any particular section or sections of the Website or Materials.

Third Party Materials

The Treaty Authority may display, include or make available third-party content or provide links to third-party websites or services (collectively, ‘Third-Party Materials’) on the Website. You acknowledge and agree that any Third-Party Materials you access through the Website are entirely at your own risk

Without prejudice to the foregoing, you acknowledge and agree that:

we will not be responsible for such Third-Party Materials, including their accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability, suitability, or validity or any other aspect;
we will not in any way have any liability or responsibility to you or any other person or entity for any Third-Party Materials;
Third-Party Materials and any associated links are provided solely as a convenience to you and you access and use them entirely at your own risk and subject to such third parties’ policies and terms and conditions;
we do not guarantee the continued availability of such Third-Party Materials, and may cease displaying, including or making available such Third-Party Materials at any time at its sole discretion without any liability to you; and
we make no representations or warranties whatsoever, and shall not be liable for any damage, liabilities, losses (including any loss of data or profits), or any other consequences that you may incur arising out of, in connection with or in relation to your use of Third-Party Materials, any transactions completed in or through the same, nor for any contract entered into by you with any third party.

Exclusion of liability

Your use of the Website is entirely at your own risk. We do not assume responsibility or liability for any information provided through the Website or Materials.

You accept and acknowledge that this Website, or any Materials, may contain mistakes, errors and inaccuracies.

Neither we, nor any third parties, provide any guarantees or warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, performance, reliability, timeliness, quality, merchantability, safety, legality or suitability for a particular purpose of this Website or any Materials.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we expressly exclude all warranties, guarantees, representations or terms (whether express or implied) as to the performance (including without limitation to quality, speed, service level or efficiency), uptime, or availability of the Website, or that your access to or use of the Website will be uninterrupted, error-free or will meet your needs or requirements. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this clause attempts to waive or exclude any statutory guarantees that are required to be provided under law.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we hereby expressly exclude any liability in relation to any damage or loss (whether direct or indirect), including loss of data, loss arising from any interruption to your business or any damages which are incidental to or arise from such loss of data or interruption to business incurred by you in connection with your use of this Website or the Materials.

Indemnity

You indemnify us, our employees, affiliates, agents or other representatives and agree hold us harmless in relation to any and all claims, suits, demands, actions, liabilities, costs and expenses which may arise from or relate to your use or misuse of the Website or Materials in a manner that materially breaches these terms.

Termination

These terms commence on the date when you accepted these terms and remain in full force and effect while you access or use the Website unless terminated earlier in accordance with these terms.

Upon any termination of these Terms and Conditions:

all rights and licenses granted to you shall cease, and you shall immediately discontinue use of the Website;
your access to the Website shall be terminated; and
your Account and related information, files and content associated with or inside your Account, may be deleted from our database at our sole and absolute discretion. You acknowledge and agree that we will not have any obligation to retain information, files and content associated with or inside your Account and will not in any way have any liability whatsoever to you for deletion of such information, files, content.

We may immediately terminate these terms at any time, with or without cause.

We specifically reserve the right to terminate these terms if you breach these terms in any way.

These terms terminate automatically if we cease to operate the Website for any reason.

At the termination of these terms, any provisions which would by their nature be expected to survive termination shall remain in full force and effect.

The Treaty Authority Intellectual Property

The Materials may contain intellectual property that is owned by us and/or that is licensed to us. This includes, but is not limited to, the contents, layout, design, colours, appearance, graphics and imagery of theWebsite or Materials as well as all copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents and other intellectual property contained in the Materials (‘The Treaty Authority IP’).

Nothing in these terms amounts to a transfer of any intellectual property rights from us to you.

You acknowledge and agree not to use the Treaty Authority IP for any unlawful or infringing purpose.

You acknowledge and agree that you may only reproduce or distribute the Treaty Authority IP in accordance with the Treaty Authority Copyright Statement found here https://treatyauthority.au/copyright/.

Indigenous Data Sovereignty

Website Materials and User Content may include Indigenous Data, being information or knowledge, in any format or medium, which is about and may affect Indigenous peoples both collectively and individually, as endorsed by delegates at the 2018 Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit.

You and the Treaty Authority acknowledge and agree that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have the right to control, maintain, protect and develop data or information collected about them or their ICIP in accordance with Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Any Indigenous Data included in Website Materials and User Content is subject to principles of Australia’s Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance, in accordance with the 2018 Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit Communique (Maiam nayri Wingara, 2018), which asserts that in Australia, First Peoples have the right to:

exercise control of the data ecosystem including creation, development and stewardship, analysis, dissemination and infrastructure;
data that is contextual and disaggregated (available and accessible at individual, community and Indigenous levels);
data that is relevant and empowers sustainable self-determination and effective self-governance;
data structures that are accountable to Indigenous peoples; and
data that is protective and respects Indigenous peoples individual and collective interests.

For the purposes of this clause 13:

“Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property” or “ICIP” means the cultural rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to their Heritage.
“Indigenous Data Governance” refers to the right of Indigenous peoples to autonomously decide what, how, and why Indigenous Data is collected, accessed, disclosed and used, as endorsed by delegates at the 2018 Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit.
“Indigenous Data Sovereignty” refers to the right of Indigenous peoples to govern the collection, application and ownership of their Indigenous Data and information relating to them, as endorsed by delegates at the 2018 Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit.

Privacy

Through your use of the Website, you may provide us with some of your personal information (which has the meaning given to it under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic)). By using the Website, you authorise us to use your information for the purposes of enabling your use of the Website and to otherwise perform our statutory functions.

We will take reasonable steps to handle any personal information you provide to us through the Website in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

For further information regarding our handling of your personal information, please visit our Privacy Policy found here https://treatyauthority.au/privacy-policy/.

General provisions

Applicable law: Your use of the Website is subject to the laws of Victoria and each party submits to the jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria.

Written communication: In relation to any correspondence or notification which is required under these terms to be provided in writing from one party to the other party:

such notice is properly given if given to the other party:
- by email to an email address that the other party has nominated, acknowledged or used in connection with the use of the Website;
- by facsimile to a facsimile address which the other party has nominated, acknowledged or used in connection with the use of the Website; or
- by post to a postal address the other party has nominated, acknowledged or used in connection with the use of the Website; and
such notice is taken to be received:
- if sent by email, when the email becomes capable of being retrieved by the recipient at the relevant email address;
- if sent by facsimile, at the time shown of correct and complete transmission to the recipient’s facsimile number by the sending machine;
- if sent by prepaid post within Australia, five (5) days after the date of posting; or
- if sent by prepaid post to or from an address outside Australia, twenty one (21) days after the date of posting.

No assignment: You must not assign, sub-license or otherwise deal in any way with your rights under these terms without our prior written consent.

Severability: If any clause or sub-clause of these terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, it is to be read down or severed such that the remaining clauses and sub-clauses will be enforced to the maximum extent possible. In such circumstances, the remainder of these terms shall continue in full force and effect.

No waiver: In the event that we fail to enforce any provision of these terms, this shall not constitute a waiver of any future enforcement of that provision or of any other provision. Waiver of any clause or sub-clause of these terms will not constitute a waiver of any other clause or sub-clause.

Separate agreements: You may have other legal agreements with us. Those other legal agreements are separate from and are in addition to these terms. These terms do not alter, amend, revise or replace the terms of any other legal agreements you may have with us.

Contact Us

You can contact us about these terms using the following details:

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 1300 133 033

Address: Level 4 The Commons, 54 Wellington Street, Collingwood Vic 3066