’We’ and ‘us’ refers to the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG). ‘You’ or 'registered user/s’ refers to a person accessing and registering to use the ACELG website (hereafter referred to as 'the site').

By registering for the site, you are bound by conditions and obligations outlined in these Terms and Conditions, and also under the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government Privacy Statement and Disclaimer.

On the site you must follow these terms and conditions to keep the discussions safe and friendly for all users. If you do not agree to any of these terms and conditions, do not use the site.

We may revise these Terms and Conditions from time to time without notice and such revision will take effect when it is posted on the site.

Your continued use of the site will be regarded as your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions as amended.

Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to use the facilities provided within the site to report the message, or contact us immediately by email. The administrator has the ability to remove objectionable comments and will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if removal is determined necessary.

We reserve the right to:

• refuse, reject and terminate any registration at any time for any reason and are under no obligation to provide reason
• remove information which is racist, unlawful, threatening, abusive, indecent, pornographic or defamatory
• modify or discontinue the site at any time for any reason
• amend the Terms and Conditions at our discretion. We recommend you review the Terms and Conditions regularly.
   

You agree that when contributing content or posting comments on the site you will not contribute content or post comments that:

• are insulting, threatening, annoying or provocative towards another person or people
• are hateful towards a specific group of people
• include swearing, hate speech, or obscene or vulgar comments
• break the law. This includes breach of copyright, defamation, condoning or promoting illegal activity and contempt of court (by making posts that could affect the outcome of an impending court action)
• are spam (posting the same comment multiple times)
• advertise commercial interests
• impersonate or falsely claim to represent a person or organisation
• invade someone's privacy. Do not post anyone's personal details without their permission. Only post professional details wherever possible.
• post comments that are not relevant or related to the discussion thread
• display unsolicited, fraudulent or deceptive information
• post information which includes but is not limited to intimidating or harassing statements or such which may lead to civil or criminal action
• post information or link to files which are pornographic, obscene, indecent or encourage acts which constitute a criminal offence or civil liability
• post information or link to files which may contain viruses or other malicious programs and cause harm to user’s access and the general operation of the site.
   

You agree that you will not knowingly subvert the functionality of the site. This includes any action that manipulates the underlying software application or other technologies in order to interrupt the service, access information or otherwise derive results that are not part of the intended purpose of the site. Such actions are considered "malicious misuse" and we reserve the right to revoke membership of the site and take appropriate legal action if at any time we suspect any user of having such intentions.

You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you. By making comments on the site you are attesting that you are the original author of the work and that any citation or appropriation of other people's work within its content has been appropriately referenced or otherwise cleared and approved by the relevant copyright holder.

Users may download printed copies of the material displayed on the site for personal use only (including use at work); provided that you maintain all copyright notices and other proprietary notices and comply with all confidentiality obligations hereunder. You must not permanently store or otherwise copy contents for commercial gain.

All postings must be informational in nature and for informational purposes only. We recognise that consultants and representatives of companies that offer services to local governments have knowledge to contribute to the community; however, overt promotion of products and services by users is prohibited. Commercial use or any other unauthorised use of either site is prohibited.

By making comments on the site you acknowledge that you are contributing to an open forum and that your post can be viewed by any person.

Users who choose to undertake a blog on the site must also read and agree to the blogging guidelines.

You agree to indemnify and hold us (and our related bodies corporate, directors, officers, employees, agents and contractors) harmless from any claim, action, demand, loss or damages made or incurred by any third party arising out of or relating to your conduct (including transmitting any defamatory, derogatory or offensive statements or material to any person), your use of the site, your breach of these Terms and Conditions, or your breach of any rights of third parties.

Moderators may be monitoring the site. Any person who fails to observe these rules may have all or part of their post removed without warning.

People who seriously or repeatedly offend against these rules will be deregistered and excluded from any future participation in the site.