Privacy Policy

Effective date: 25 July 2026
Last updated: 25 July 2026

1. About this policy

Planning Compass is operated under ABN 43 294 857 250 (“Planning Compass”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

We provide planning-related information, preliminary assessments, advice and associated services through our website and other communication channels.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information, how we protect that information, and how you may request access, correction or make a privacy complaint.

We intend to handle personal information consistently with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles where they apply to us. We may also choose to follow these standards as a matter of good practice where an exemption applies.

2. What is personal information?

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable. It may include information that is correct or incorrect and information recorded in any form.

Sensitive information is a more protected category of personal information. It may include health information and information about racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or criminal history.

Please avoid providing sensitive information unless it is genuinely relevant to your request and we have asked you to provide it.

3. Personal information we may collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Your name, email address, telephone number, postal address and preferred contact details.

• Your employer, company or organisation and your role within it.

• Property addresses, lot and plan details, ownership information, title particulars and other property-related information.

• Information about a proposed development, use, subdivision, building project or other planning matter.

• Your planning objectives, questions, priorities, budget expectations and preferred timeframes.

• Documents you provide, including certificates of title, plans, drawings, photographs, reports, correspondence and supporting material.

• Information contained in documents that relates to property owners, consultants, neighbours, applicants or other individuals.

• Records of enquiries, meetings, telephone calls, emails and other correspondence.

• Quotation, invoicing, payment and transaction information. We do not intend to store complete payment-card details where payments are processed by a third-party payment provider.

• Feedback, survey responses, testimonials and complaint information.

• Website and technical information such as IP address, browser type, device type, referring page, pages visited, approximate location, session information and cookie identifiers.

• Any other information you voluntarily provide.

We may create administrative information about your matter, including a reference number, assessment status, internal notes and records of advice or services provided.

4. How we collect personal information

We generally collect information directly from you when you:

• Complete our planning-assessment or contact forms.

• Upload documents through our website.

• Request a quotation, assessment or service.

• Communicate with us by email, telephone, video meeting, social media or another channel.

• Subscribe to updates or respond to a survey.

• Enter into an agreement with us.

We may also collect information from:

• A property owner, applicant, client or person acting on your behalf.

• Your authorised representative, consultant, architect, designer, surveyor, lawyer or other adviser.

• Government agencies, councils, planning authorities and publicly available planning or property records.

• Public registers, mapping systems, property-information services and other lawful public sources.

• Our contractors and technology providers where necessary to operate our services.

If you give us personal information about another person, you should have authority to do so and, where reasonably practicable, tell that person about this Privacy Policy and the relevant Collection Notice.

5. Why we collect and use personal information

We may collect, hold and use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and communicate with you.

• Identify the property and understand the proposed project or planning issue.

• Assess the type and scope of assistance you require.

• Prepare preliminary assessments, quotations, advice, reports or service proposals.

• Provide planning-related services and manage our relationship with you.

• Receive, review, organise and retain documents relevant to your matter.

• Verify information and obtain relevant public planning or property information.

• Establish and administer client files.

• Arrange appointments and provide progress updates.

• Issue invoices, process payments and manage accounts.

• Maintain business, compliance, insurance and taxation records.

• Improve our website, forms, services and customer experience.

• Protect our website, systems, clients and business against misuse, fraud, security incidents and unlawful activity.

• Manage complaints, disputes, legal claims and regulatory requirements.

• Send service-related communications.

• Send marketing communications where permitted and subject to your ability to opt out.

• Comply with applicable laws, court orders and lawful government requests.

We will not ordinarily use personal information for a materially different purpose unless you consent or the use is otherwise permitted or required by law.

6. Is providing information optional?

You may choose not to provide personal information. However, without the information identified as required, we may be unable to:

• Assess your property or planning matter.

• Contact you about your request.

• Verify relevant details.

• Provide an accurate quotation or service.

• Accept uploaded documents.

• Create and administer your matter.

Fields marked optional may be left blank without preventing submission, although the missing information may affect the completeness of our assessment.

7. Documents and third-party information

Uploaded property and planning documents may contain personal information about people other than the person submitting the form.

Before uploading a document, please consider whether it contains irrelevant personal or sensitive information. Where practicable, redact information that we do not need, such as bank details, identity-document numbers, signatures or unrelated personal information.

We may retain the original document where necessary to assess the matter, maintain an appropriate professional record, comply with legal obligations or protect legitimate legal interests.

8. Who we may disclose information to

We may disclose personal information where reasonably necessary to:

• Our personnel, contractors and professional advisers.

• Website-hosting, form, cloud-storage, document-management, email, communications, cybersecurity and IT-support providers.

• Google Workspace services, which may include Google Drive, Gmail and related tools used to create, store and communicate matter records.

• Framer and other providers involved in hosting or operating our website.

• Payment, accounting, invoicing and bookkeeping providers.

• Consultants engaged with your knowledge or authority.

• Councils, planning authorities, government agencies, utilities and information providers where required to obtain information or progress an authorised service.

• Insurers, auditors, lawyers, accountants and other professional advisers.

• A purchaser, investor or successor in connection with a proposed or completed business transaction, subject to appropriate confidentiality arrangements.

• Law-enforcement bodies, regulators, courts or other parties where required or authorised by law.

• Other parties with your consent or at your direction.

We do not sell personal information or customer lists.

Our service providers may only use information for the services they perform for us, subject to their terms, privacy practices and applicable law.

9. Overseas handling and disclosure

Some technology and cloud-service providers may store, process, back up or support information outside Australia. These providers may operate in the United States and other countries in which they or their subcontractors maintain facilities.

The countries involved may change as providers update their infrastructure.

Where the Australian Privacy Principles apply, we will take reasonable steps required by law in connection with overseas disclosures. However, privacy protections in another country may differ from those in Australia.

10. Website analytics, cookies and similar technologies

Our website or its service providers may use cookies, pixels, logs and similar technologies to:

• Operate essential website functions.

• Remember preferences and form progress.

• Understand website traffic and usage.

• Diagnose errors and improve performance.

• Protect the website against misuse or security threats.

Information collected may include IP address, device and browser information, referring pages, pages viewed and the time of access.

You may restrict cookies through your browser settings, although doing so may affect website functionality.

11. Direct marketing

We may send relevant news, service information or promotional communications where you have consented or where otherwise permitted by law.

You may unsubscribe using the link in an electronic marketing message or by contacting us. We will process opt-out requests within a reasonable period and will not charge you for opting out.

Service messages concerning an active enquiry, assessment, transaction or account are not marketing messages.

We do not use sensitive information for direct marketing without consent.

12. Automated decisions

We do not currently arrange for computer programs to use personal information to make decisions that could reasonably be expected to significantly affect an individual’s rights or interests.

Technology may assist with administrative activities such as validating form fields, generating reference numbers, organising documents or sending confirmation messages. A person remains responsible for substantive planning assessments and advice.

If our practices change, we will update this policy and provide any information required by applicable law.

13. Security

We take reasonable steps appropriate to the nature of the information to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

These measures may include:

• Access controls and authentication.

• Restricted access to client files.

• Reputable hosting and cloud-service providers.

• Encryption where supported and appropriate.

• Software updates, malware protection and security monitoring.

• Backups and recovery processes.

• Staff and contractor confidentiality obligations.

• Procedures for responding to suspected privacy and security incidents.

No internet transmission or storage system is completely secure. You should keep copies of important documents and contact us promptly if you believe information sent to us has been compromised.

14. Retention and deletion

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including providing services, maintaining professional and business records, resolving disputes and satisfying legal, accounting, insurance and taxation requirements.

Our intended retention periods are:

• Unconverted enquiries: 12–24 months.

• Client and matter files: 6 years after completion or last activity.

• Financial and taxation records: for the period required by law.

• Marketing contact details: until consent is withdrawn, the person opts out or the information is no longer required.

When information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify it, subject to legal requirements and practical limitations relating to backups.

15. Accessing or correcting your information

You may ask to access personal information we hold about you or request that inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading information be corrected.

Please contact our Privacy Contact using the details below. We may need to verify your identity before processing a request.

We will respond within a reasonable period and generally aim to respond within 30 calendar days. Access may be refused or limited where permitted by law—for example, where access would unreasonably affect another person’s privacy or relate to existing or anticipated legal proceedings.

If we refuse a request, we will ordinarily provide written reasons and explain the available complaint process, unless the law permits otherwise.

We do not charge for correction requests. We will not charge for making an access request, although a reasonable charge may apply to the cost of providing access where permitted by law. We will tell you about any proposed charge beforehand.

16. Privacy complaints

If you believe we have mishandled your personal information:

1. Contact our Privacy Contact using the details below.

2. Describe your concern and provide relevant information.

3. We will acknowledge and investigate the complaint.

4. We will provide a response within a reasonable period, generally within 30 calendar days, or tell you if additional time is reasonably required.

If you are dissatisfied with our response and the Privacy Act applies to the matter, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

• Website: www.oaic.gov.au

• Telephone: 1300 363 992

• Postal address: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001

Other complaint avenues may also be available depending on your location and the nature of the matter.

17. Data breaches

We maintain procedures for responding to suspected loss, unauthorised access or unauthorised disclosure of personal information.

Where the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme applies and an incident is likely to result in serious harm, we will assess the incident and notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner where legally required.

18. External websites

Our website may link to websites or services operated by other organisations. We are not responsible for their privacy practices or content. You should review the privacy information provided by those organisations.

19. Children and people acting for others

Our services are intended for adults and organisations dealing with property or planning matters.

A parent, guardian or authorised representative should assist where a person cannot provide informed consent or manage the enquiry independently. Please do not submit a child’s personal information unless it is necessary and you have authority to do so.

20. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our practices, providers, services or legal obligations change.

The current version will be published on our website with its effective date. Material changes may also be communicated through an additional website notice or direct communication where appropriate.

21. Contact us

Privacy Contact
Planning Compass
Email: contact@planningcompass.com.au
Website: https://planningcompass.com.au/contact