What we do

Cultural Commitment

The Centre’s stakeholders are drawn from the diverse Indo-Pacific region and as part of the Centre’s work, international speakers and guests are frequently invited to Perth, Western Australia. The Centre is committed to cultural diversity at all events with a particular focus on including young and emerging representatives from the region in our programs. The Centre is aligned with The University of Western Australia’s Indigenous Commitment and is dedicated to acknowledging that the Perth USAsia Centre, and Perth USAsia Centre events are held on Noongar land, and that Noongar people remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land, and continue to practice their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge.

Gender Equity

In accordance with The University of Western Australia’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, the Perth USAsia Centre seeks to enhance the inclusion of women in its programs and events and to promote the contribution of women to Australia’s strategic policy development. The Centre is therefore committed to:

• never knowingly and deliberately hosting an all-male panel event
• ensuring that all events aim to have gender parity across conference programs
• recruiting staff and interns via a process that provides equal opportunities for all applicants 
• provision to speakers of child-care during events, child-friendly flights and family friendly accommodation.

The Centre is proud to have committed to:

• The Panel Pledge: Gender Balance at Every Forum, through the embassy of Australia in Washington DC
• The UWA Panel Pledge.

Event Accessibility

In accordance with The University of Western Australia’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, the Perth USAsia Centre is committed to providing an environment of equitable opportunity and outcomes, appropriate access and support.

Specifically the Centre is committed to:

• sourcing easily accessible event venues that feature accessible bathroom facilities
• ensuring that event content (speeches, screens, speakers, panellists, materials and Q&A sessions) are accessible to all participants
• partnering with event caterers who are able to cater for participants’ dietary preferences, intolerances and conditions with clearly labelled and easily accessible meal options
• our affiliation with the Companion Card program. Companion Card holders are entitled to one complimentary ticket for their companion with their booking for any Perth USAsia Centre event at which a fee is payable.

Digital Content

The Perth USAsia Centre publishes a variety of digital content including, but not limited to website materials, email content and communication materials, videos, photographs and social media content.

In alignment with the Western Australian Government digital services content standard, the Perth USAsia Centre aims to create digital content that is available and accessible to as many people as possible and is:

• easy to find and access
• easy to read, hear and/or watch and understand
• relevant and current.

The Perth USAsia Centre endeavours to produce digital content that is accessible to all, including people with a disability, older people, people who find using digital services difficult, people from diverse cultural backgrounds who use a range of languages, people living in remote areas and people using mobile devices.

Communications

The Perth USAsia Centre is committed to conducting its public communications in a socially responsible manner. The relevant governing statute is the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Centre prioritises aligning itself with the Act even though the Centre considers itself exempt from the provisions in the Act given:

• the Perth USAsia Centre is registered as a charitable organisation under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth); and
• the Centre’s electronic messages fall within the factual information requirements of sch 1, cl 2 of the Act and these messages would not constitute commercial electronic messages.

The Centre chooses to adhere to the relevant provisions by:

• gaining either express or inferred consent from prospective recipients, as listed in sch 2, cl 4 of the Act which states that consent may be inferred from the publication of the electronic addresses of holders of public office;
• ensuring the identity and contact information of the sender is clearly available in all messages; and
• consistently including an ‘unsubscribe’ link as required by the Act.

Privacy

The Perth USAsia Centre is committed to protecting stakeholder personal information, and ensuring its privacy, accuracy and security. Engaging with the Centre by (for example) accessing our publications, registering for Centre events or providing the Centre with contact information, may result in the Centre collecting, storing and using stakeholder details for future communications.

The Perth USAsia Centre collects contact information such as the names, addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, occupation, affiliation and other information to assist the Centre in conducting its operations and activities; namely:

• sharing the Centre’s activities with stakeholders who have given express or implied permission for us to store and use their information
• measuring email reach and performance.

The Perth USAsia Centre uses MailChimp, an online marketing platform service provider for the storage of stakeholder contact information and to send and manage email communications. Information collected and stored using the MailChimp service is never shared with, sold to or used by third parties. The Centre (via MailChimp) maintains stakeholder data in compliance with Australian Privacy Principles.

While the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR) contains new data protection requirements (applicable from 25 May 2018) the Centre considers itself exempt from the GDPR given the Centre:

1. Does not have an establishment/office in the EU
2. Does not offer goods and services in the EU, does not enable EU users to order goods or services in a European language (other than English), does not enable payment in euros and/or does not mentions customers or users in the EU on our website
3. Does not monitor the behaviour of individuals in the EU in order to profile individuals to analyse and predict personal preferences, behaviours and attitudes
4. Complies with the Australian Privacy Act.

(as per advice provided by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner)