We collect personal information to better understand community needs and inform council decisions. This may include sensitive information, which you can choose not to provide. Providing personal information is voluntary. You may choose not to provide certain details; however, this may limit your ability to fully participate in some engagement activities.

We handle your information in line with the Queensland Privacy Principles, which govern how personal information is collected, stored, used, and disclosed.

As far as practicable, we will collect personal information directly from you. In certain circumstances, we may collect your personal information from a third party; for example, if you are a minor, from a parent or guardian.

Personal and demographic information

Through Shape Your Ipswich, the council collects the following types of information:

• Name
• Email address
• Screen name
• Gender (optional)
• Year of birth
• Cultural background (optional)
• Suburb
• What is your connection to the City of Ipswich? For example, do you work, live, or visit the city

Only your Screen name is visible to the public when commenting and contributing to a consultation.

User-generated information

Through Shape Your Ipswich, digital correspondence may be exchanged between Shape Your Ipswich and you (via email or a message on the platform). This can include responses and/or submissions Shape Your Ipswich has had from you.

Automatically collected information

When using Shape Your Ipswich, information about your use of our website and the device you are using (including numbers that identify your device, IP address, geographic location of your IP address and device where that is relevant to the services and information we are providing, cookie information, and user preferences) may be collected. You may choose to enable or disable information you share via the website in your browser or device settings. Disabling the sharing of some information may affect your ability to use certain features of the website, and your visitor experience generally.

To obtain your views on council policies, services and projects

Council wants to hear from the whole community, and we collect this information to help inform decision-making. The intent of the Shape Your Ipswich information collection is to identify gaps in community representation and to encourage more inclusive engagement. In turn, this will inform Council policies, services and programs that will align with the diversity of our community.

To send you periodic communication (if you opt-in)

To send you periodic communication (if you opt-in) Shape Your Ipswich will send information and updates about the projects discussed on this site to the email address you provide.

At any time, you can unsubscribe from receiving updates via the newsletter by using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email.

To protect the integrity of the discussion

Comments provided to Shape Your Ipswich are moderated by Ipswich City Council. We do this to create a productive and safe environment where people can get involved with the issue and each other without feeling bullied, harassed or intimidated.

Please read our Moderation Statement for further information.

When you register for a user account and participate in the Shape Your Ipswich consultations, you provide the council with two types of personal information.

Information available to other persons

Publicly available information is limited to your screen name and any comments you leave under that name in the forums or other tools on the site.

You are able to choose a screen name that does not personally identify you to other participants.

After the consultation period has ended, council will publish reports that may incorporate community feedback and the results of polls and surveys. As appropriate, selected quotes or comments from surveys may be included in the reports. None of the selected material will be attributed to identifiable individuals.

Information available to both Ipswich City Council and Open Point

Personal information is collected and managed by Ipswich City Council. Open Point securely hosts the platform and stores this data on the council’s behalf but does not use or share it for any other purpose. For more details, see Open Point's Privacy Policy and Ipswich City Council Privacy Statement.

• All information from the Registration form
• Comments
• Survey, Quick Poll, and comment voting responses
• General site activity, such as document downloads.

Council protects your personal information against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, and any other misuse. Council stores the personal information it collects in secure locations and databases located in Australia.

Some examples of the safeguards the council uses to protect your personal information include:

• password protection on council computers
• restricted access to council officers
• training for council employees on the council’s information security and confidentiality procedures
• regular back-up of council databases.

The Shape Your Ipswich platform uses cookies and analytics tools provided by our platform vendor to support site functionality, security, and engagement analysis. These tools may collect information about your device, browser, and interactions with the site.

The vendor may also use third‑party services (such as analytics, monitoring, and security tools) to help operate and improve the platform. For details about these technologies, please refer to the Open Point Privacy Policy.

Some optional features provided by our platform vendor may use artificial intelligence (AI) to process the content you submit (for example, to support moderation, summarisation, or analysis).

Council does not use your information to train AI models.

Occasionally, Ipswich City Council may include links to third-party sites on a Shape Your Ipswich project page.

These can either be contract consultations and/or expert information services on a particular topic. Council will clearly identify when a link is to a third-party site. These third parties have separate and independent privacy policies.

Your participation on the Shape Your Ipswich digital engagement platform is subject to the terms and conditions set out in this Privacy Statement.

At any time, you may close your Shape Your Ipswich account or request deletion of the personal information we hold, by emailing communityengagement@ipswich.qld.gov.au.

If you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact using one of the following channels:

• Postal address: PO Box 191, Ipswich, QLD, 4305
• Phone: (07) 3810 6666
• Email: communityengagement@ipswich.qld.gov.au

Please note that we will ask you to lodge your complaint in writing. Council will endeavour to:

• acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 business days of receiving your complaint; and
• provide you with a response within 45 business days of receiving your complaint.

Information Privacy Officer
Postal address: PO Box 191, Ipswich, QLD, 4305
Phone: (07) 3810 6666
Email: privacy@ipswich.qld.gov.au