1. Overview
Medical Training Navigator Australia is an educational discovery platform that helps medical students and junior doctors find and compare verified intern, resident, and registrar programs across Australia. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, and how we handle it under Australian privacy principles.
We operate on a minimal collection model. We do not sell your data. We do not accept payments from hospitals, health districts, Local Health Networks, Hospital and Health Services, or training sites to influence what you see. Program information is sourced from public health service and college sites and linked for verification.
2. Who we are and scope
Medical Training Navigator Australia is an independent product team building tools for workforce transparency in Australian healthcare. This policy applies to the website hosted at our current domain and any sub-routes including /privacy, /terms, and /cookies.
The platform uses Buildy platform authentication and Supabase-backed data storage for account and entity data such as program listings and review submissions. These are our data processors for hosting and auth in the current build. For questions about corporate details, contact us via the method in Section 12. Placeholder: legal entity name, ABN, and postal address to be updated when registered.
3. What we collect
a) Account information via platform authentication
When you create an account or sign in, we receive email, display name if provided, and account identifiers from our authentication provider. We do not receive your password in readable form. We use this to let you submit reviews, view your own submissions privately, and manage session security.
b) Peer review submissions
When you submit a review you provide program reference, ratings for dimensions such as education quality, culture, work-life balance, supervision, and optional written comments, plus your anonymity choice for any future public display (initials, role, or fully anonymous). In v1 reviews are not published publicly and remain in a pending moderation state visible only to you as the creator and to our moderation team via secured entity access. Files are not accepted in v1. You must not include patient-identifiable information, MRNs, or case details.
c) Search, filter, and product usage aggregated
We collect aggregated, non-identifying counts of search queries, filter selections such as state, district, specialty, sub-specialty, training stage, setting, and comparison actions. In v1 this is stored as in-app state; if analytics are added later we will update our Cookie Policy before enabling them.
d) Device and technical information
We may receive device type, browser type, approximate region from IP for security and performance, time zone for correct date display, and error logs. We do not undertake biometric collection or cross-site tracking for advertising.
4. Why we collect it — purpose and lawful basis in Australia
- Operate the navigator: to display 22 verified programs, enable text search, filters, and up to three-way comparison, and maintain stable ordering alphabetically within filters.
- Enable peer insight submission: to allow account holders to submit genuine first-hand training experience, stored privately for moderation in v1.
- Moderation, safety, and integrity: to ensure reviews contain no patient data, harassment, defamation, or employment offer manipulation, and to allow edit or rejection for privacy.
- Product improvement: to understand which districts or specialties need clearer source linking and which filters are most used, using aggregated counts only.
- Legal, security, and compliance: to prevent abuse, protect the service, and respond to lawful requests where required under Australian law.
Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the APPs, we collect and use information where it is reasonably necessary for our functions, with your consent where you provide reviews, and for legitimate interests in running a safe, independent discovery service.
5. Review submissions — how privacy works in v1
Creator-only private storage: When you submit a review, the record is created with row-level access so only you as the creator and authorized moderation tooling can retrieve it. It does not appear in discovery, search, comparison, or any public feed.
Pending moderation and not public in v1: All reviews have status pending in v1. There is no public listing of reviews in this version. A future update will introduce a moderated, anonymized display.
Optional public anonymity: At submission you choose how you would like a future public display to appear: initials, role label such as PGY2 or Basic Trainee, or fully anonymous. We store that preference with the review but do not publish anything in v1.
No patient data allowed: You must not include patient names, initials linked to a case, URNs, dates of birth, images, or any information that could identify a patient. Reviews containing such material will be rejected and deleted during moderation.
No editing for hospital preference: We may edit or redact only for privacy, safety, or to remove unlawful content. We never edit to make a program look better for commercial reasons, consistent with our Terms on editorial independence.
7. Data storage, security, and sub-processors
Data is stored via Buildy infrastructure and Supabase entities for TrainingProgram and ReviewSubmission. Authentication is handled by Buildy Auth. We rely on their security controls including encrypted transport, access controls, and isolated tenancy. We apply additional measures including row-level policies on review submissions so users can only read their own pending reviews, and scoped internal moderation access.
No method of transmission is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps under Australian Privacy Principle 11 to protect data from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorized access or disclosure. If you believe your account is compromised, sign out and contact us promptly so we can rotate session tokens and investigate.
8. Retention
We retain account identifiers for as long as you maintain an account. Review submissions in pending state are retained for moderation and to allow future aggregated insight work, unless you request deletion. If you delete your account, we will remove authentication linkage and either delete or anonymize pending reviews so they cannot be linked back to you, except where retention is required for safety, legal compliance, or to resolve disputes.
10. Your rights and choices
You may request access to personal information we hold about you, request correction if it is inaccurate, or request deletion or anonymization of your pending reviews and account. To make a request, contact us using the details in Section 12 and include the email associated with your account.
We will respond within a reasonable time frame consistent with APP 12 and 13. We may need to verify your identity before actioning the request. If a future public review display is introduced, we will provide controls for updating your anonymity preference before publication occurs, and a mechanism to request removal where publication would create a safety risk.
11. Minors
Medical Training Navigator Australia is intended for medical students and junior doctors over 18 pursuing training in Australia. It is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 18 for this product.
12. Changes to this policy and contact
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect product changes, for example when moderated public peer insights become available, or to reflect legal requirements. We will update the last-updated date at the top and, where changes are material, provide a notice in the product.
Placeholder: Update with support email and correspondence address before public launch. Current draft contact: privacy@medicaltrainingnavigatoraustralia.com (example placeholder). Include subject line: Privacy Request — Medical Training Navigator Australia and include your account email and description of request.
If you are in Australia and not satisfied with our response you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for guidance.
