OPERATION OF THE SITE

The Australian VolunteerSearch (VolunteerSearch) site is managed and maintained by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (the Department). The Department reserves the right to determine what information is displayed on this site. The Department also reserves the right to canvass feedback from registered users of the site to assist in the improvement and further development of the site.

The website has been established to facilitate the contacts between volunteers and volunteer organisations. The Department does not provide any screening of potential volunteers and the final selection of a volunteer is the responsibility of the volunteer organisation, either directly or through a third party engaged by the volunteer organisation.

DEFINITIONS

A Volunteer refers to a person seeking, of their own free will, to volunteer their services for no financial payment.

A Volunteer Organisation ’means an association or other body (whether incorporated or unincorporated) the activities of which are not engaged in for the purpose of making a profit’.

Subject to verification by staff of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, in some circumstances, organisations that do not fit the above non profit status may be permitted to advertise volunteer opportunities. These circumstances are likely to be:

• A one-off event or annual event that provides benefit (financial, promotional, social) to a community, town or city and not to an individual or company. The Olympic Games may be seen as an example, as will the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
• An event run by a local government, State/Territory government for the purposes of bringing revenue and tourism to their region/state/territory. The Rally of Canberra is an example.
• A government (either local, state or Commonwealth) department/agency that runs a specific project that benefits its constituents. ATO Taxhelp is an example at the Commonwealth level and CALM Discovery Centre Mundairing is an example of a WA State government project reliant on volunteers.

In all circumstances, it is imperative that the:

• volunteers know what is expected of them,
• organisation/event organisers can offer insurance coverage for volunteers,
• volunteers are not taking work from others who would otherwise be paid,
• volunteers are not exploited in any way for individual gain.

VOLUNTEER

The VolunteerSearch site allows Volunteers to post a Profile on the site that outlines their details, skills and experience and the type and duration of volunteering they wish to undertake. This Profile is used to automatically generate a potential list of volunteer opportunities and by volunteer organisations searching for suitable volunteers.

1. Before completing a profile a volunteer will need to register. They will also need to take care to safeguard their password, as this will be required to amend their profile and check their list of potential volunteer opportunities.
2. Profiles must be for real and existing people who are genuinely seeking to volunteer their services free of charge.
3. Up to six Profiles will be permitted per person.
4. Profiles will be on display for 90 days (from the date they were first lodged) after which time they will be removed from the system unless viewed or amended by the Volunteer.
5. Volunteers are required to remove their profiles from the site if they are no longer seeking to volunteer.
6. Profiles that are considered offensive, unlawful or bogus will not be displayed and will subsequently be removed from the system. The responsible person will be refused future access to this service.
7. Volunteers must be over the age of 15 to lodge a Profile on this site.
8. The site will provide Volunteers with the identity of volunteer organisations who have accessed their Profile.
9. By completing a Volunteer Registration and a Profile input form the Volunteer is agreeing to have their Profile publicly displayed via the Internet. Personally identifiable information such as, your name, address, or gender, is not displayed on the site. Please read the Privacy Statement before proceeding.
10. As of 28 June 2002, all organisations listed on the site must have public liability insurance. However, the onus is on Volunteers to check that the organisation they wish to volunteer with has additional specific insurance cover in place to adequately protect volunteers.
11. Only Australian residents or visitors travelling with appropriate visas are allowed to register on the site.

VOLUNTEER ORGANISATION

1. This site is for advertising legitimate volunteer opportunities that are current or anticipated in the near future.
2. This site is for searching for the Profiles of Volunteers who meet your selection criteria for a particular opportunity.
3. The site will not provide volunteer organisations with any information relating to a Volunteer other than the information contained on their Profile. No personally identifiable information such as name, address, or contact numbers is provided.
4. This site is NOT to be used for information gathering or survey purposes.
5. The site is not to be used for advertising positions of paid employment.
6. Access to Profiles stored on this site will be via the site search facility only. Arrangements WILL NOT be entered into for bulk down loading of Profiles.
7. Any correspondence or dealings with potential Volunteers or third parties is solely between you and those Volunteers or third parties. VolunteerSearch will not be liable or responsible for any loss or damage incurred as a result of your dealings with volunteers.
8. Responsibility for selecting volunteers that are suitable for your organisation rests with you. You are responsible for meeting all legal and other requirements in relation to the volunteers that you select. VolunteerSearch makes no recommendation regarding the suitability of any volunteer.

REGISTRATION AND VALIDATION OF VOLUNTEER ORGANISATION STATUS

In order to make use of the site, all Volunteer Organisations are required to register. This is by way of completing an on-line Volunteer Organisation Profile form or doing so via the Hotline facility. When you register you must provide accurate, complete and up to date information. Once your organisation has been validated, this information will be displayed on the site. Please read the Privacy Statement.

You are required to safeguard your password and thereby authorise VolunteerSearch to assume that any person using the site with your registration name and password is either you or is authorised to act for you.

INSURANCE COVER

As there is a risk that volunteers may become injured or incapacitated whilst participating in voluntary activities, the Department requires each Volunteer Organisation to have in place appropriate insurance, before a Volunteer Organisation may be allowed to register on Australian VolunteerSearch.

To be able to use the VolunteerSearch web site, Volunteer Organisations are required to have in place at the very least, a public liability insurance policy providing coverage for both the organisation and its employees, for claims up to $5,000,000 as a minimum. This insurance would normally cover the organisation and its employees for its liability arising out of negligent acts that cause personal injury to third parties or damage to third parties’ property.

For participants engaged in Community Work and Work for the Dole activities, the Department purchases Public and/or Products Liability insurance to the value of $10 million. This covers the participants’ liability arising out of their negligent acts that cause personal injury to third parties or damage to third parties’ property. Personal Accident cover is also provided by the Department to protect Community Work and Work for the Dole participants for accidental bodily injury or accidental death sustained during their placements, including travel to and from such activities.

Further details of the insurance coverage provided by the Department can be found at:
Insurance Cover for Volunteer Organisations.

However, the Department does not have in place, insurance providing coverage for volunteers, who are NOT Community Work or Work for the Dole participants.

The Department highly recommends that Volunteer Organisations also take out insurance for all volunteers, providing at a minimum, coverage for the types of risks covered under public liability and personal accident insurance policies. A listing of some of the forms of insurance cover available can be found at: Insurance Cover for Volunteer Organisations.

The Department recommends that each Volunteer Organisation seek independent professional advice, in order to determine whether they have adequate insurance in place.

In order to be able to register on VolunteerSearch, a Volunteer Organisation must enter on the registration screen, the name of their insurer, the policy number, the policy expiry date, and must complete the declaration stating that their organisation is providing current and accurate public liability insurance information. Where an organisation’s status is unclear or the organisation does not comply with the mandatory requirement to have at the very least, public liability insurance in place, the Department reserves the right to disallow the registration.

Appropriate pubic liability insurance must be maintained annually for registration on VolunteerSearch to remain current. The organisation will be responsible for updating the insurance information on the web site. Organisations will receive reminder emails prior to the expiry of their insurance cover.

NOT FOR PROFIT STATUS

In addition to public liability insurance cover, all organisations which register to use the site must be a not for profit organisation. Volunteer organisation profiles entered on VolunteerSearch are subject to screening by Departmental staff or staff contracted by the Commonwealth. After registration the organisation will be contacted to obtain proof of not for profit status (eg evidence of income tax exemptions for not for profit organisations or incorporation as an association details). Contact will be made within 24 hours of the organisation registering to use VolunteerSearch. Once documentary proof of not for profit status is received, an organisation is usually activated within 24 hours.

VolunteerSearch supports the Volunteering Australia "Model Code of Practice" - for organisations involving volunteer staff.

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR USE OF VOLUNTEERSEARCH

VOLUNTEER ORGANISATIONS

This Code of Conduct (Code) is for organisations advertising volunteer opportunities on VolunteerSearch.

The Code:

• is a framework for clear, concise and accurate opportunity advertising;
• ensures all advertisements comply with State, Territory and Commonwealth law; and
• is a consumer protection measure for Volunteers and volunteer organisations who use VolunteerSearch.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE CODE

The Department reserves the right to assess all advertisements and withhold advertisements it believes do not comply with the State/Territory fair trading legislation, Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA), anti discrimination and other applicable laws.

VolunteerSearch is monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure compliance with the Code. Where possible breaches of the Code are found or where complaints are received about advertisements on VolunteerSearch, the advertisement in question may be withdrawn and access to VolunteerSearch by the originating individual or organisation withheld during investigation. Where breaches of the Code are confirmed, access to VolunteerSearch will be denied to people or organisations responsible.

ADVERTISING REQUIREMENTS

Formal volunteering is an activity which takes place in not for profit organisations or projects and is undertaken:

• To be of benefit to the community and the volunteer;
• Of the volunteer’s own free will and without coercion;
• For no financial payments; and
• In designated volunteer positions only.

This intent should be reflected in the volunteer opportunity advertisement.

By advertising on VolunteerSearch, a volunteer organisation agrees:

• to ensure that the advertiser’s advertisements comply with State, Territory and Commonwealth law;
• to comply with the VolunteerSearch Code of Conduct;
• to hold the Commonwealth of Australia, its officers, employees and agents harmless against any liability for any loss howsoever caused whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the organisation’s advertisements; and
• that the Commonwealth may:
  • deny them access to VolunteerSearch; and
  • remove any advertisements at its sole discretion.

What Volunteers and volunteer organisations can expect from advertisements on VolunteerSearch:

• All advertisements will comply with State, Territory and Commonwealth law.
• People or organisations lodging volunteer opportunities will provide
  • a clear description of the nature of the opportunity;
  • the name of the volunteer organisation and a contact name, street address and a conventional (not mobile) phone number for contact and follow up.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All information and data (including graphics) contained on this site are, unless otherwise noted, copyright by the Commonwealth. The information is provided for non commercial electronic viewing by individuals or organisations only. Any Third Party information/content contained within this site is the property of its respective owners. No part may be reproduced by any process, except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act, 1968, without express permission of the respective owners. Copyright 2001, Commonwealth of Australia.

DISCLAIMER

The Commonwealth of Australia does not give any guarantee, undertaking or warranty concerning the accuracy, completeness or currency of the information provided on VolunteerSearch. The material contained in this site is made available on the understanding that the Commonwealth is not thereby engaged in rendering professional advice for a particular purpose. Before relying on the material, users should independently verify its relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice. In some cases, the material may include views or recommendations of third parties. Such material does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commonwealth, or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action. Links to other web sites are inserted for convenience and does not constitute endorsement of material at those sites, or any associated organisation, product or service. The Commonwealth is not responsible for the accuracy or legitimacy of information found elsewhere on the Internet and there is no guarantee that any of the sites listed will be available at any particular time. The Commonwealth does not guarantee any services which might be announced.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

This web site is managed and maintained by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (the Department).

When you visit this web site, we record anonymous information about your visit and log the following information for statistical purposes - your server address, your top level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc), the date and time of visit to the site, the pages accessed and documents downloaded, the previous site visited, and the type of browser used. This information is not specific to an individual and is used for system administration purposes, as well as statistical analysis. While anonymous information does not tell us anything about you specifically, it tells us about how you use our site.

Another type of anonymous information shared between your browser and our server is a cookie. A cookie is a small text file that a server places on your hard drive to identify that subsequent requests to a site have come from the same user. The Department uses cookies to ’remember’ your browser between page visits. In this situation, the cookie identifies your browser, not you personally. The Department uses cookies on this web site to develop patterns of site usage.

No personal information is stored within the Department’s cookies. For more information on cookies refer to:

http://www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.mspx

No attempt is made by the Department to identify users or their browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the Department’s logs.

This site collects some personally identifiable information, such as your name, address or gender. This information is not displayed on the site, and your identity is protected and the onus is on you to disclose any relevant personal details. Information you provide when completing the Profile Builder form will only be used for automatically generating a list of potential volunteer opportunities and for searches made by volunteer organisations validated to use VolunteerSearch. Selection is based on your area of volunteering interest, your preferred geographical area, and the time commitment you are prepared to make. No personal information is disclosed and you are identified only by a system assigned profile number. A synopsis of: the hours you wish to volunteer, area of interest, location and education and the first 60 characters you have recorded under each of the experience and skills section, will be provided to the volunteer organisation if you are selected through Profile Search. Information about your volunteer organisation and the name of the contact person and contact details (phone, fax or email) you provide when completing the Organisation Profile and in Advertise an Opportunity, will be displayed on the site. Any personal information collected by this site will not be sold or divulged to any third party without your permission.

The Department will only record your e-mail address if you send us a message, or if you are required to enter an e-mail address to enable you to use the services provided by this site. Your email address may be used from time to time by the Department to send update information to you as either an individual volunteer or as a volunteer organisation as part of a bulk email process. Actual email addresses will not be disclosed. At no time will your email address be disclosed without your consent.

External sites that are linked to or from the Department’s Internet site are not under our control and you are advised to review their privacy statement. Users should note there are inherent risks associated with transmission of information via the Internet. Therefore users should make their own assessment of the potential risks to the security of their information when making a decision as to whether or not they should utilise external sites that are linked to or from the Department’s Internet site.

Anyone using the site expressly consents to monitoring by the Computer System or Commonwealth Personnel as outlined above.

Volunteer Organisation and Volunteers should report any abuse of these Terms and Conditions and Code of Conduct, to: volunteersearch@deewr.gov.au