Terms of Use

Commonwealth Home Support Programme
Sector Support and Development Community of Practice

1. General

1.1 The Commonwealth Government, through the Department of Health and Aged Care (ABN 83 605 426 759) (Department), administers the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) to support senior Australians access entry-level support services to live independently and safely at home in the in-home aged care sector (Sector).

1.2 These Terms of Use (Terms) set out the terms and conditions which apply to users (Users) of the online community of practice (CoP) by CHSP Sector Support and Development providers (Providers) and Aged Care Sector Peak Bodies (Peak Bodies), as well as the Department (together, the SSD Community).

1.3 You must agree to these Terms as a condition of your use of the CoP. The Department may update and amend these Terms from time to time at its discretion. The Department will provide you with an opportunity to accept the Terms, as amended from time to time, before accessing the CoP. By continuing to use the CoP, you accept the Terms as they apply from time to time, and agree to be legally bound. You must not continue to use the CoP if you do not agree with the Terms.

1.4 If you breach these Terms the Department may, without limiting its rights, terminate or suspend (for any period of time) your access to the CoP.

2. Purpose of the CoP

2.1 The purpose of the CoP is to support members of the SSD Community to engage with each other and uplift service delivery in the CHSP by:

(a) increasing consistency, visibility and awareness of news, issues and developments across the SSD Community through a single, accessible platform;

(b) sharing best practice, resources, information and practical examples;

(d) establishing a transparent and open communication channel between SSD Providers, Peak Bodies, and the Department;

(e) enabling the Department to gauge developments and disseminate information on reforms relating to the Sector;

(f) enabling SSD Providers and Peak Bodies to consult with the Department in relation to Sector reform; and

(g) providing the CHSP with a process to quantify SSD Provider engagement and activity in the Sector.

2.2 You acknowledge and agree that the information, data, know-how and materials (Materials) shared by you and each other User:

(a) is intended to support the objectives of the CHSP; and

(b) is not intended to represent the official position of the Department or Commonwealth Government; and

3. Accessing the CoP

3.1 To access to the CoP you must be one of the following:

(a) a person employed by an SSD Provider;

(b) a person employed by a Peak Body; or

3.2 You agree to provide your personal information (including your contact information and employment details) to establish an account to access the CoP (Account). You are responsible for ensuring that your account registration and authentication details are true, accurate, correct and up to date.

3.3 Unless you are representing the Department, when you establish an Account, you agree that you have authority to represent your employer organisation, whether that is a SSD Provider organisation or a Peak Body organisation (Organisation). You agree that your conduct, activities and omissions, including all your posts and uploads to the CoP, represent both yourself and your Organisation.

3.4 Once your Account has been established, the Department, as administrators of the CoP, will grant you access to the Portal, for the purpose of either:

(a) User access: participating in the CoP as a general User (other than a Moderator), with the rights and responsibilities set out in the User Guide (available from the CoP); or

(b) Moderator access: participating in the CoP as a Moderator, with the rights and responsibilities set out in the Moderator Guide (available from the CoP).

3.5 The CoP will automatically assign you a ‘trust level’ (from Level 0 to Level 4), depending on your Account type and engagement with the CoP. The information and functionality of the CoP available to you will depend on your Account type and the ‘trust level’ you have achieved. You must ensure that your use of the CoP complies with the limitations which apply to your access level. For example:

(a) Users will automatically be assigned to Level 0 from commencement and will be able to progress through to Level 3 by contributing and participating in CoP activities in accordance with the User Guide; and

(b) Moderators will be assigned to Level 4, which will enable them to perform their functions in accordance with the Moderator Guide and these Terms.

3.6 You may close your account at any time but you must notify the Department if you no longer require access to the CoP (for example, if you are no longer representing your Organisation in the CHSP).

3.7 The Department may restrict, suspend or close your Account if, in the Department’s discretion, it determines that:

(a) you have breached any of these Terms; or

(b) it is necessary to protect the rights and interests of any other person on the CoP.

4. Your obligations

4.1 You agree to use the CoP:

(a) only in accordance with these Terms and the Code of Conduct (annexed to these Terms at Annexure A;

(b) to participate and engage in discussions, including through posts and direct messages;

(d) in a way which is aligned with the objectives of the CHSP and in a manner that does not contravene or limit the rights of any other person, including any other User in the SSD Community.

4.2 In relation to your Account, you agree:

(a) to ensure that your access credentials (the username and password) are kept secure and confidential at all times;

(b) not to permit any other person to use your access credentials.

(c) to immediately notify the Moderators and the Department if you become aware that your access credentials have been compromised or your Account has been subject to unauthorised use or disclosure or subject to any other breach of security, and you must take all other actions that the Department reasonably deems necessary to maintain or enhance the security of the CoP; and

(d) that disclosing your access credentials to any other person is a security risk and could result in your Account being terminated.

4.3 You must not:

(a) use the CoP to contravene any laws;

(b) use the CoP unless you are 18 years of age or older;

(c) use the CoP, including to post any material or send any messages to target or have an effect on another person, in a way that could reasonably be interpreted as being:

(i) cyber-bullying, including where the material or messages are seriously threatening, intimidating or humiliating; or

(ii) cyber-abuse, including where the messages are intended to cause serious harm, or in all circumstances are menacing, harassing or offensive;

(d) post or send any material that is offensive, obsene or abhorrent, or any images that are non-consensual intimate images of a person;

(e) access the CoP from outside of Australia;

(f) use or try to use another User’s account or impersonate any person or falsely represent your authority or association with any person or organisation;

(g) defame any person, including any other member of the SSD Community;

(h) buy, sell, or otherwise trade user names or other unique identifiers on the CoP;

(i) send advertisements, chain letters or other solicitations through the CoP;

(j) use the CoP to send emails to distribution lists, newsgroups, or group mail aliases;

(k) use or misuse the CoP in any way which may disrupt or impair the functionality of the CoP or systems used to support the CoP;

(l) not circumvent, override or undermine (or attempt to circumvent, override or undermine) the security or integrity of the CoP;

(m) falsely imply that you or your Organisation are affiliated with or endorsed by the Department;

(n) falsely imply that the content you post or upload is sponsored or approved by the Department;

(o) remove any marks showing proprietary ownership from Materials you download from the CoP;

(p) re-transmit, distribute, disclose or make available any of the Materials on the CoP to any person without the written consent of the owner of the Materials, including, for example, taking screenshots to share and distribute;

(q) provide false or misleading information in connection with the CoP;

(r) disable, avoid or circumvent any security or access restrictions of the CoP;

(s) undertake any action which would be in contravention of these Terms;

(t) encourage or help anyone to violate these Terms; and

(u) publish any confidential or commercially sensitive information on the CoP, including any information relating to grant agreements and funding.

4.4 You must not share content to the CoP that:

(a) is illegal, defamatory, offensive, obscene, scandalous or otherwise harmful to others, including any content that is harassing, inappropriate or abusive;

(b) infringes another person’s intellectual property rights;

(d) discloses information that you do not have the right to disclose, including any other person’s confidential information or personal information who has not consented to the disclosure.

4.5 You are and remain at all times responsible for all content you share and upload to the CoP.

4.6 The Department is not liable for any content you share, including if you share information in contravention of these Terms. Nothing in these Terms requires the Department to store, maintain or provide copies or back up of any content you submit to the CoP.

5. Moderators

5.1 You acknowledge and agree that Moderators are authorised to:

(a) monitor and regulate the activity of Users on the CoP, including to request you and other Users to comply with reasonable directions;

(b) maintain the quality and safety standards of the CoP; and

(c) edit and flag any content and Materials posted on the CoP, however, Moderators are not required to preview posts or uploads and have no responsibility for any content posted by the community.

5.2 You must:

(a) comply with the reasonable directions and instructions from Moderators; and

(b) notify a Moderator immediately if you observe any inappropriate conduct or content, including by flagging topics, posts or direct messages that you believe are inappropriate.

5.3 Moderators will check for flagged content daily and may respond to Users as necessary. Moderators have an ability to cast a single flag on any post which will immediately take effect and hide the post. Posts with 3 or more flags from Users will be hidden automatically.

5.4 The CoP will include a “Moderator Lounge”, which is a restricted area on the CoP accessible by Moderators and the Department. The Moderator Lounge will be a forum for Moderators to access information (including the Moderator Guide) and to discuss their role in managing and administering the CoP.

6. The Department

6.1 You acknowledge and agree that the Department will monitor and quantify your Account and your use of the CoP for the purposes of determining your level of engagement, participation and contribution to the CoP. Your use, and the use of each User from your Organisation, including Moderators, contribute to your Organisation achieving its milestone obligations under its CHSP funding agreement.

6.2 The Department may, acting reasonably and in accordance with the objectives of the CHSP, do any of the following:

(a) admit new Users and Moderators to the CoP;

(b) monitor and regulate the activity of Users and Moderators on the CoP, including to issue reasonable directions and to access your direct messages if it believes that you have breached the Terms; and

(d) deal with any disputes which may arise from time to time between Users; and

(e) remove Users and Moderators from the CoP.

6.3 You must comply with reasonable directions and instructions from the Department. You acknowledge that the Department has the authority to settle any disputes related to your use of the CoP and that Department’s decision in relation to such a dispute will be final.

7. Intellectual Property

7.1 You acknowledge that the information, data, content or Materials you share on the CoP may be protected by intellectual property rights. You must ensure that your use of CoP does not infringe the intellectual property rights (IP Rights) of the Department or any other person, and that, before you share any Materials on the CoP, you either:

(a) own the IP Rights in the Materials; or

(b) have permission to use the Materials from the relevant owner of the IP Rights.

7.2 The Department is not liable if you infringe the IP Rights of any other person.

7.3 Except for this clause 7.3, nothing in these Terms assigns any IP Rights in the Materials you share on the CoP from you to the Department or any other person. You grant to the Department a non-exclusive, world-wide and perpetual licence to use the Materials you share to the CoP to copy, publish, analyse and share with other Users of the CoP and the SSD Community for the purposes of the CHSP.

7.4 Nothing in these Terms assigns any IP Rights in the Materials shared by the Department or any other User on the CoP to you, including (without limitation) any IP Rights in trade marks, logos, icons, brand names or service names. You must not use the IP Rights in Materials on the CoP that was shared by the Department or any other User without prior written permission.

8. Confidentiality

8.1 You acknowledge and agree that the CoP is intended to be a public forum for the sharing and distribution of information, ideas and materials. You must not share any Materials of a confidential or sensitive nature, without the express consent of the person who owns or is responsible for that Material.

9. Privacy and Online Safety

9.1 Subject to clause 9.2, the Department may collect, hold, use and disclose personal information about you and your use of the CoP for the purposes of administering the CoP and the CHSP, including to:

(a) collect and maintain records of your access and use of the CoP for security and administrative purposes and to prevent, resolve and analyse system errors;

(b) disclose to Moderators of the CoP; and

9.2 The Department will:

(a) handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), as well as the Department’s privacy policy (published on the Department’s website at https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/privacy-policy), as updated from time to time (Privacy Policy); and

(b) comply with its obligations under the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) (Online Safety Act).

9.3 Your access to the CoP is subject to applicable legislation, including the Privacy Act and the Online Safety Act. You remain solely responsible for complying with all applicable laws in connection with your use of the CoP. It is your responsibility to check that storage of, transfer and access to the Materials you share on the CoP complies with all applicable laws.

9.4 You consent to the Department collecting, using, holding and disclosing your personal information for the purposes set out in clause 9.1. If you do not agree to provide this information, the Department may not be able to grant you access to the CoP.

9.5 You warrant to the Department that:

(a) you have ensured that information you submit to the Portal has been de-identified and does not contain any personal information, including any personal information about patients or healthcare professionals; or

(b) to the extent that Material does contain personal information, you or your Organisation have:

(i) obtained consent from each individual to whom the personal information relates (Affected Individual) for the Department to collect, use and disclose their personal information, and

(ii) notified the Affected Individuals of the Department’s privacy policy.

9.6 Please refer to the Privacy Policy for further information on how the Department deals with your personal information and how you may:

(a) access and update the personal information the Department holds about you; or

(b) make a complaint about a breach of these Terms or the Privacy Act.

Alternatively, you may contact the Department using the Contact Information set out below at clause 13.2 below if you wish to report or make a complaint about material on the CoP which you consider to be offensive, abhorrent or constitutes cyber-bullying or cyber-abuse. You may also contact the eSafety Commissioner directly to make a report or a complaint, at https://www.esafety.gov.au/report.

10. Links to Other Websites and Advertising

10.1 The CoP may contain links to websites on the internet owned and operated by third parties which are not under the Department’s control. By accessing the CoP you agree to the following:

(a) the Department provides links to other sites as a convenience to you and the existence of a link to another site does not imply any endorsement by the Department of the contents of the linked site;

(b) the Department is not responsible for the accuracy or otherwise of the material contained on linked sites; and

(c) to the extent that the Department is permitted to do so by law, it accepts no liability (whether in contract, tort (including negligence, statute or otherwise)) in respect of linked sites.

10.2 The Department does not endorse or control any advertising that may be displayed by another linked website on the CoP.

11. No Warranty

11.1 You acknowledge and agree that, to the extent permitted by law, your use of the CoP is on an ‘as is, as available’ basis only.

11.2 To the extent permitted by law, the Department does not warrant, guarantee or make any representation in respect of the following matters:

(a) that the Materials shared on the CoP will be accurate or free from inaccuracies or error;

(b) that the CoP, or the servers that make the CoP available, are or will remain free of software viruses;

(c) that any software contained on the CoP, or the functions provided by that software, will operate in an uninterrupted or error-free way; and

(d) that any errors and defects in the CoP will be corrected.

11.3 Unless expressly stated otherwise by the Department, the views expressed on the CoP are not the views of the Australian Government and the Department disclaims all liability for any such views, comments, advertising or other content.

12. Liability and Indemnity

12.1 To the extent permitted by law, you agree, on behalf of yourself and your Organisation, that the Department will not be liable to you or your Organisation for any loss, cost or damage whatsoever that you or your Organisation suffers or may suffer that arises directly or indirectly from any of the following things:

(a) your use of, or inability to use, the CoP;

(b) your use or reliance on the Materials shared on the CoP or any links made available through the CoP;

(d) any inappropriate activities resulting from the loss or misuse of your username and password;

(e) any attempt by you, or by a person on your behalf, to use the CoP without authorisation;

(f) any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct by any User of the CoP, whether caused through the Department’s negligence or the negligence of the Department’s employees, contractors or agents or by any other cause;

(g) the cost of any necessary repair, correction and maintenance of any of your computer software or hardware, arising from your use of the CoP; and

(h) any other loss or damage arising from your use of the CoP.

12.2 You agree, on behalf of yourself and your Organisation, to indemnify and hold the Department harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, expense, claim, proceeding or liability of any kind that the Department may incur or that may be brought by any person against the Department, that arises from:

(a) your breach of these Terms; and

(b) your use of the CoP and your activities in connection with the CoP (including any wilful misconduct, fraud or illegal activity).

12.3 The Department is not liable to you or your Organisation for any direct or indirect loss or damage that you or your Organisation may suffer as a result of, or in connection with your use, or any other Users’ use, of the CoP.

13. General

13.1 Feedback

(a) The Department welcomes your feedback and suggestions for the CoP. See clause 13.2 below for ways to get in touch with the Department.

(b) You agree that the Department will be free to act on feedback and suggestions you provide and that the Department is not obliged to notify you that your feedback was used, obtain your permission to use it or pay you. You agree not to submit feedback or suggestions that you believe might be confidential or proprietary to you or others.

13.2 Contact

(a) You may contact the Department if you have any queries about these Terms or the CoP by:

(i) telephone on (02) 6289 1555 or freecall 1800 020 103;

(ii) email: HomeSupportPolicy@health.gov.au;

(iii) online enquiries form at www.health.gov.au; or

(iv) complaints form at www.health.gov.au.

(b) The Department may contact you under these Terms using the email address you provide for your account on the CoP, by sending you a direct message or by posting a message to the homepage of the CoP or your account page.

13.3 Updates to the CoP

(a) The Department may at any time update or modify these Terms and the CoP, including to change the content of the CoP or remove any Materials held in the CoP, in its discretion and without notice to you.

(b) You will need to accept any updated Terms if you want to continue using the CoP.

13.4 Governing Law and Jurisdiction

(a) These Terms are governed by the laws of the Australian Capital Territory.

(b) You agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Australian Capital Territory.

13.5 Waiver and validity

(a) If any of the provisions in these Terms are invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining Terms will continue in full force and effect.

(b) If either party waives any breach of these Terms, this will not constitute a waiver of any other breach. No waiver will be effective unless made in writing.

Annexure A: CoP Code of Conduct

1. The CoP is a Civilised Place

(a) Please treat the CoP with the same respect you would a public park. The CoP is a shared resource — a place to connect and collaborate, share skills, knowledge and information.

2. Improve the Discussion

(a) Help make the CoP a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

(b) One way to improve the discussion is by discovering conversations that are already happening. Spend time browsing the topics before replying or starting your own and you’ll have a better chance of avoiding duplication of effort and meeting others who share your interests.

(d) Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree.

(e) You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticise ideas, not people.

(f) Please avoid:

i. name-calling;

ii. antagonistic commentary;

iii. responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content; or

iv. knee-jerk contradiction,

instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

3. Your Participation Counts

(a) As a CoP user we encourage you to engage in discussions and share useful content.

(b) Discourse provides tools that enable the community to collectively identify the best (and worst) contributions: bookmarks, likes, flags, replies, edits and so forth. Use these tools to improve your own experience, and everyone else’s, too.

4. If You See a Problem, Flag It

(a) Moderators have special authority; they are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the CoP. But so are you. With your help, moderators can be community facilitators, not just janitors or police.

(b) When you see bad behaviour, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behaviour by acknowledging it, consumes your energy and wastes everyone’s time. Just flag it. Users and moderators can flag content that looks inappropriate to hide it from view of all users. Flagged content will then be reviewed by an admin where it may be deleted and the user notified.

5. Always Be Civil

(a) Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness. So:

i. Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive or hate speech.

ii. Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit.

iii. Respect each other. Don’t harass or give anyone grief, impersonate people or expose their private information.

iv. Respect the CoP. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalise the CoP.

(b) These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of a national newspaper. Keep the language, links and images safe for family and friends.

6. Keep It Tidy

(a) Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less time cleaning up.

(b) This means:

i. don’t start a topic in the wrong category;

ii. don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics;

iii. don’t post no-content replies;

iv. don’t divert a topic by changing it midstream;

v. don’t sign your posts — every post has your profile information attached to it;

vi. rather than posting “+1” or “Agreed”, use the Like button; and

vii. rather than taking an existing topic in a radically different direction, use Reply as a Linked Topic.

7. Powered by You

(a) If you have any further questions about how things should work here, open a new topic in the CoP feedback category and let’s discuss! If there’s a critical or urgent issue that can’t be handled by a meta topic or flag, contact the Moderators via the staff page.

8. You are Responsible for Your Account

(a) You must monitor, control and take responsibility for all activities occurring by use of your account, username, login, password and security questions and answers including taking responsibility for any activities which may result from your negligence, carelessness, misconduct or failure to use or maintain appropriate security measures.

(b) You must not transmit any message, data, image or program that would violate the intellectual property rights of others, including unauthorised use of text, images or programs that are protected by copyright or unauthorised use of trade secrets or other confidential proprietary information.