Privacy Policy

McKellar Institute Pty Ltd (ABN 45 695 222 121, “McKellar Institute”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect through mckellarinstitute.com and our certification application process, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights you have. It’s written to reflect how the Site actually works today, and forms part of our commitment to handling your information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Account and application information. When you create an account or apply for a certification, we collect information such as your name, date of birth, gender, email address, mobile number, nationality and country of residence, education history, professional background (field, job title, years of experience), your goals for applying, and any other details you choose to share with us.

Identity verification documents. Some certifications require us to verify your identity. If so, we’ll ask you to upload an identification document. It’s stored in a private file store that only authorised McKellar Institute staff can access, via links that expire after a few minutes.

Payment information. When you pay for a certification, you’re taken to Stripe’s own secure checkout page to enter your payment details. We don’t receive or store your full card number — Stripe processes payment on our behalf and shares with us only what we need to confirm and reconcile your payment, such as the amount and a payment reference.

Enquiries and communications. If you contact us — through the contact form, by email, or via the “Talk to McKellar” chat or voice assistant — we collect what you send us, so we can respond and keep a record of the conversation.

Information collected automatically. Like most websites, we automatically receive some technical information when you visit the Site, such as your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you view. We also use your IP address, via a third-party lookup service, to estimate your country so we can default parts of the application form, such as your fee category — this happens regardless of your cookie preferences, since it isn’t a cookie.

We use cookies and similar technology, grouped into three categories. You can choose which of the optional categories to allow at any time via “Cookie Preferences” in the site footer.

• Necessary — always on. Required to run the Site, for example keeping you signed in or remembering that you’ve responded to our cookie notice.
• Analytics & performance — helps us understand how the Site is used, via Google Analytics, so we can improve it. Only active if you allow it.
• Targeting — used to measure and improve advertising, via the Meta (Facebook) pixel. Only active if you allow it.

Your choice is stored in your browser; it isn’t tied to your account or shared with us as identifiable information.

We use your information to:

• assess your eligibility and process your certification application;
• administer your enrolment, communicate with you about it, and issue certificates;
• verify your identity where a certification requires it;
• process payments and manage refunds, via Stripe;
• respond to enquiries and provide support, including through the “Talk to McKellar” assistant;
• send you service communications, such as application or payment updates, and, if you’ve agreed, marketing communications;
• understand how the Site is used and improve it, where you’ve allowed analytics or targeting cookies;
• meet our legal and regulatory obligations.

Where you choose to use our AI-based chat or voice assistant, your messages are processed by Anthropic, our AI provider, in order to generate a response and, where relevant, to read or update your application information on your behalf — for example, saving an answer you’ve given in conversation. Identity documents are handled separately: the file itself is never sent to or seen by the assistant — uploads go directly to our secure document store.

We don’t sell your personal information. We share it only as needed to run the Site and deliver our services, with:

• Supabase, who host our application, database and document storage;
• Stripe, who process payments;
• Brevo, who send transactional emails on our behalf, such as application and payment updates;
• Anthropic, who power the “Talk to McKellar” assistant, where you use it;
• Google and Meta, for analytics and advertising measurement, only if you’ve allowed the relevant cookie category;
• our own staff, who may access your application and identity information as needed to assess and process it;
• a professional adviser, regulator or authority, where we’re required to by law.

Some of these providers are based, or process data, outside Australia — including in the United States. Where that’s the case, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information continues to be protected consistently with this policy.

We keep your account and application information for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterwards, to meet record-keeping, tax and legal obligations and to resolve any disputes.

Identity verification documents are deleted six months after they were last uploaded. We keep a record that your identity was verified, so a certification you’re already enrolled in isn’t affected and you won’t be asked to re-upload. If you’d like us to review or delete information we hold about you sooner, contact us and we’ll consider your request in line with our legal obligations.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including transport encryption, access-controlled storage for identity documents, and restricting staff access to what they need to do their job. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security.

You can ask us to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you, or ask us questions about how we handle it, by contacting hello@mckellarinstitute.com. We’ll respond within a reasonable time. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

The Site is intended for working professionals and isn’t directed at children. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children.

We may update this policy as our practices or the Site change. The version in effect is the one published here, with its “last updated” date above.

Questions about this policy, or a privacy-related request? Contact us at hello@mckellarinstitute.com or +61 7 3640 5064, or write to us at McKellar Institute Pty Ltd, Office D11, Level 1, 888 Brunswick St, New Farm QLD 4005, Australia.