Privacy policy

Who we are and what this covers

Clarion Civic is run by Clarion Civic Pty Ltd (ABN 30 687 184 952), an independent, non-partisan company based in South Australia. It runs Portrait, which shows where you stand on political questions, and On the Record, which compares that with what parties have done in parliament. It is not affiliated with or funded by any political party.

This policy explains what personal information Clarion collects through its website and Portrait, why, how it is stored, and the choices you have. Clarion handles personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Some of what Clarion collects is sensitive information under the Privacy Act, because your answers can reveal your political opinions. Clarion collects it only with your consent and treats it with extra care, as set out below.

What information is collected

Your Portrait answers. Your answers to each question, the order the questions and answers were shown in, your results, how long you took, and any feedback or notes you add to a question.

Questions about you. Your age band, the state or territory you live in, your postcode, who you voted for at the last election and who you would vote for now (the Victorian state election in Crime and Justice, the federal election in Freedom and Authority). The voting questions have a “prefer not to say” option, so you never have to say how you vote. Age band, state and postcode are needed to show your result.

Your email address, only if you give it. If you join the waitlist or register interest on the website, reserve the full Portrait, or ask to hear when new tracks are ready to test, Clarion stores your email address and what you asked for.

Technical details. A random identifier, stored in your browser, which links your answers together without identifying you. If you take more than one track on the same device, the same identifier is used, so your answers to both are linked. Your age band, state and postcode are also kept in your browser so you don’t have to enter them again; they stay on your device and you can remove them by clearing your browser’s data for the site. Clarion also records a short code showing how you reached the site (for example, from a particular advertisement or post). Clarion does not use advertising trackers or cookies to follow you across other websites.

Clarion does not ask for your name, address, phone number or date of birth.

Why it is collected and how it is used

• To give you your result, including how your answers compare with the parties’ records.
• To test and improve Portrait. Pilot answers and feedback show which questions work, which are unclear and whether the results are reliable.
• To report findings about what Australians think, for example in articles, reports or research. Findings may include anonymous examples, such as how one answer was worded or a typical pattern of results, shown in a way that cannot identify anyone. Answers given during the pilot are used mainly to test the design of the questions and whether Portrait works as intended. Any findings are only ever reported for groups large enough that no individual can be identified, and individual answers are never published.
• To show you how your answers line up with the party you vote for, and to check results against who is answering. Your voting answer sets which party’s record your result is compared with first. The questions about you are also used to see whether results differ by age, place or voting intention, and to weight results so they better reflect the population.
• To carry your answers into the full Portrait. If you give your email, it is kept with your answers so that, when the full Portrait opens, your questions about you are already filled in and your answers to any questions that haven’t changed are carried over. Questions that have changed since the pilot will be asked again.
• To study how views change over time. Answers are kept so results can be compared across years and elections, for groups of people. If you gave your email, your answers may also be compared with answers you give later, for example after an election. This is only ever reported for groups, never for you as an individual.
• To contact you, only if you asked. If you gave your email to reserve the full Portrait or test new tracks, Clarion may email you. You can ask to stop at any time.

Clarion uses your information only for these purposes, or for a closely related purpose you would reasonably expect, unless the law requires otherwise.

Where it is stored and who can see it

Your answers and any email address you give are stored in a secure database run by Supabase, located in Sydney, Australia. If you give your email, it is stored with your answers, so they can carry over to the full Portrait and be found if you ask to see or correct them. If you don’t give an email, your answers are not linked to anything that identifies you.

Only Clarion’s founder can access the stored data. If Clarion engages anyone else to help analyse it, such as a researcher checking the method, they will only see answers with no email addresses attached, and they will be bound to keep the data confidential.

The Portrait pilot is hosted by Vercel and the main website by Framer, and its fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, which means your browser’s address is visible to those services when a page loads, as it is for most websites. They do not receive your answers.

What is never done with it

• Your information is never sold, rented or traded.
• It is never shared with political parties, candidates, campaigns, lobbyists or advertisers.
• It is never used to target you with political messages.
• Your individual answers are never published or reported in a way that could identify you.

The only exception is if Clarion is required to disclose information by law, for example by a court order. If that happens, Clarion will disclose only what is required.

How long it is kept

• Portrait answers and questions about you: kept for up to five years, so results can be compared over time and across elections, then deleted or made fully anonymous.
• Email addresses: kept until the thing you signed up for has happened (for example, the full Portrait opens), or until you ask to be removed, whichever comes first. Unused addresses are deleted after two years. When your email is deleted, your answers stay but are no longer linked to you.
• Anonymous findings that cannot identify anyone, such as published percentages, may be kept indefinitely.

Your choices: access, correction and removing your email

• Taking part is voluntary. You can stop at any point. Answers are only saved when you reach the questions about you at the end, and once saved they are kept.
• You don’t have to say how you vote. Both voting questions have a “prefer not to say” option.
• You can ask to see or correct your information, or to have your email removed. Email privacy@clarioncivic.com, using the address you gave so your answers can be found. Answers are not deleted once given, but if you ask, Clarion will delete your email address, and your answers will no longer be linked to you. If you didn’t give an email, your answers are held only under a random code in your browser, so Clarion can’t tell which answers are yours. Clarion will respond within 30 days.
• You can stop emails at any time by replying to one or writing to the address above.

Answers stay in the database once given, so that results and comparisons over time stay complete. They are only ever reported for groups, as set out above.

Security and data breaches

The database is encrypted, access is restricted to Clarion’s founder, and information sent from your browser to the database is encrypted in transit. The website can add new answers to the database but cannot read back anyone’s answers.

If a data breach happens that is likely to cause serious harm to anyone, Clarion will tell the people affected as soon as practicable, explain what happened and what they can do, and notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Contact and complaints

For any question about your information, or to make a complaint about how it has been handled, email privacy@clarioncivic.com. Clarion will respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with the response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

This policy may be updated as Clarion develops. The date at the top shows when it last changed, and any significant change will be noted on the website.