Terms of use

  1. In these Terms of Use the following meanings apply:
    1. 'Council, City, City of Gold Coast, we, us, our' all mean Council of the City of Gold Coast.
    2. 'Site' means the City of Gold Coast website and includes all other websites and sub-sites managed by Council, including but not limited to sites having the domain name www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au or sub-domains for example, www.[ ].goldcoast.qld.gov.au. Note that the www.cityofgoldcoast.com.au domain resolves to www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au.
    3. 'Material' means any information, text, symbol, logo, image, video, audio, document, file or other data on the Site.
    4. 'You, your' means any person accessing the Site.
  2. Access to and use of the Site is subject to the Terms of Use.
  3. By accessing the Site, and or using any Material available from or via it, you agree that you have read and understood and are legally bound by the Terms of Use.
  4. Council reserves the right, at its absolute and sole discretion, to update and or modify the Terms of Use at any time without further notice to you.
  5. If you do not agree to the Terms of Use, you must not access or use the Site.

Your obligations

  1. When you access the Site, you agree:
    1. to act in accordance with the Terms of Use and Council's Information Management Policy and Information Privacy Policy and any other terms and conditions on the Site.
    2. to use the Material only for personal or educational information purposes and not for any other purpose.
    3. to include the copyright notice in any copy you make.
    4. to not modify the Material, attribute it as Council material, and then present it as Council material without prior written permission.
    5. to not use including distribute the Material or a derivative of the Material for any commercial purpose.
    6. to not use, post to, or transmit to or via the Site any Material that breach any laws or regulations, infringe upon a third party's privacy or legal rights (including, or are contrary to any relevant standards or codes.
    7. to not use, post to, or transmit to or via the Site any material that interferes with other users or defames, harasses, threatens, menaces, offends or restricts any person, or inhibits any other user from using or enjoying the Site.
    8. to not use the Site to send unsolicited and unwanted email messages to anyone or make any fraudulent or speculative enquiries, bookings, reservations or requests using the Site.
    9. to not use another person's identifying information used to access the Site, including but not limited to, their name, username, password, rate account number or post code without their permission.
    10. to not post, or transmit to or via the Site any obscene, indecent, inflammatory or pornographic material, or material that could give rise to civil or criminal proceedings.
    11. to not tamper with, hinder the operation of, or make unauthorised modifications to this Site.
    12. to not post, or transmit to or via the Site any viruses, malicious code, other forms of interference (such as worms or Trojan horses), other disabling feature or anything else that may cause damage to us or a third party.
    13. if there is a prolonged period of inactivity between your browser and the Site servers, you may be disconnected, or you may need to resubmit your request. Council is not responsible for any information you may lose if a disconnection occurs.
    14. that any use, copying or reproduction of the Site, the Material or any parts of them other than in accordance with these Terms of Use or as permitted by law is strictly prohibited and may result in civil and criminal penalties.
    15. the extent permitted by law, release us from, any direct or indirect loss, damage, claim or expense - irrespective of the manner in which it occurs which may be suffered by you arising from:
      1. your use of the Site;
      2. the inaccessibility of the Site; or
      3. the fact that Material is incorrect, incomplete or not up to date.
    16. us pleading this release as a complete defence to any proceedings connected with these matters.
    17. the extent permitted by law, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless Council and our officers, employees, agents and related bodies from and against all actions, claims, suits, demands, damages, liabilities, costs or expenses arising out of, or in any way connected to, your use of the Site including the use of Online Services. This includes access to or use of the Site by someone using your identifying information to access the Site.

Suspension and Termination

  1. Council may in its absolute and sole discretion immediately, suspend, terminate or limit your access to the Site for any reason. This includes but is not limited to where:
    1. you are in breach of the Terms of Use;
    2. you attempt to manipulate or bypass any limitations of the Site by any means;
    3. you behave in a vexatious, illegal, inappropriate or unsociable manner;
    4. Council believes on reasonable grounds that there is a real risk of serious loss or damage to council or a third party;
    5. there is an emergency; or
    6. there are technical or other performance issues.

Copyright and Intellectual property rights notice

  1. © Copyright, Council of the City of Gold Coast (Council) unless stated otherwise.
  2. All Material on the Site is protected by the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth). Unless otherwise indicated, we own or license from third parties all rights, title and interest (including copyright, designs, patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights) in the Site and in all of the Material made available on the Site.
  3. Your use of the Site and use of and access to any Material does not grant or transfer any rights, title or interest to you in relation to the Site or the Material. Except for purposes permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, you must not use, copy, modify, transmit, store, publish or distribute the Site or the Material or any part thereof without written permission of the Chief Executive Officer. To request permission, please address all correspondence to:
    Chief Executive Officer
    City of Gold Coast
    PO Box 5042
    GCMC 9726

Disclaimer

  1. The Material on the Site is for general reference and is not comprehensive. Whilst we endeavour to ensure that the Material is current and accurate, Council makes no warranty in either respect.
  2. Please use caution in using the Material as it:
    1. may not have been produced by Council, but instead provided by third parties;
    2. may not be available, accurate, current or complete;
    3. is subject to change without notice;
    4. is not a substitute for independent professional advice and you should obtain specific professional advice relevant to your particular circumstances;
    5. may include the views or recommendations of third parties, which do not necessarily reflect the views of Council.
  3. Your use of the Site and the Material is your responsibility. Your use of the Material is at your own risk. You accept all risks and consequences that might arise from your use of the Site and the Material. This includes:
    1. any risk of your computer, software or data being damaged by any virus, disabling codes, worms or other devices and defects which might be transmitted or activated via the Site or any Third party websites accessed via the Site, or your access to or the downloading of files from the Site or any Third party websites accessed via the Site; and
    2. any risk of connections transmitted to and from the Site being intercepted and modified by third parties.
  4. Council shall not be liable, to the extent permitted by law, for any loss or damage whatsoever which is suffered (including but not limited to indirect or consequential loss) or for any personal injury, loss or damage suffered or sustained in connection with any use of or reliance on the Material.
  5. Any use of, or reliance on, such information is at the risk of the user who accepts all risk, responsibility and liability for any loss, damage, cost or other consequence arising directly or indirectly from such use or reliance.
  6. Council does not give any representation or warranty of any kind (whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise) including in relation to the availability, accuracy, currency, completeness, quality, reliability, merchantability, or suitability for any purpose of the Site and the Material, or that the Material will not infringe any third party intellectual property rights, or that the Site will be free from defects, viruses, third party interception or other security threats or vulnerabilities including those which could cause loss or damage to you; and
  7. To the extent that Council's liability for a breach of any statutory condition or warranty cannot be excluded, then to the extent permitted by law, liability is limited to, at Council's discretion, the replacement of the Material from the Site.

Third party websites

  1. Information of and links to external organisations which appear from time to time on the Site are provided for convenience and informational purposes only. Council has no direct control over the content of any linked sites, or the changes that may occur to the content on those sites. The provision of such information does not constitute an endorsement or approval by, or any relationship with, Council of any of the products, services or opinions of the organisation or person. Council makes no warranty about and accepts no responsibility for the accuracy, quality, suitability, completeness or legality of such content whether on its or on the external website or for that of subsequent links within such websites or that those sites are safe, secure and free from any virus. Accordingly users should make their own enquiries and decisions about these matters. Any use of, or reliance on, such information is at the risk of the user who accepts all responsibility and liability for any loss, damage, cost or other consequence arising directly or indirectly from such use or reliance.

Information collection

  1. Occasionally Council needs to collect your personal information to provide you with services. Where Council collects your personal information, it does so in accordance with the requirements of the Information Privacy Act 2009 and its Privacy Policy. The collection of personal information is necessary to provide you with the services requested, undertaking associated Council functions and services and may be used to update and maintain Council's customer information records. We may contact you from time to time to provide you with information regarding City of Gold Coast services and to ensure that our records are accurate. Your information will be handled in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) and may be accessed by Councillors, Council employees and authorised contractors where it is necessary. Unless authorised or required by law, we will not provide your personal information to any other person or agency. Please read our Privacy Policy for further information.

Queensland law

  1. These Terms of Use are governed by and subject to the laws of the State of Queensland.

Use of resources for education

  1. Schools, teachers and students are allowed to use the Material where relevant, only for study, research, criticism, review and projects but must acknowledge the source of the Material.
  2. Material provided on cityofgoldcoast.com.au/education and its sub-pages is able to be downloaded, copied or printed for personal or educational purposes, provided users acknowledge the source of the material and do not use the material for any other purpose.

Use of Online Services

  1. Online Services include online lodgement of applications for City services, payments, payment and direct debit arrangements, applications and accessing rate and water account balances online.
  2. By registering for a user account for Online Services in regard to a particular property you warrant;
    1. that you are the owner, authorised agent, lessee or occupier of the property; and
    2. that you are over 18 years of age.
  3. By registering for a user account for Online Services you acknowledge and agree;
    1. you are consenting to receive statements and notices relating to your account electronically (including rates and water notices);
    2. you will no longer receive paper copies of your rates and water notices;
    3. Council bares no responsibility for non-receipt of emailed rates and water notices once sent by Council;
    4. to keep your email address up to date;
    5. to advise Council of any updates to your email address;
    6. to ensure your mailbox is not 'full';
    7. to ensure your mailbox doesn't have a diversion or a "forward all emails" facility in place;
    8. to ensure your mailbox can receive the notices;
    9. to check electronic notices are not filtered into junk mail;
    10. to pay your accounts by the due date to avoid potential loss of discount and interest penalties;
    11. future rates and water notices will be sent to your nominated email address and dependant on the timing of your request, you may receive one more notice by mail before the email schedule is finalised;
    12. that notices will be emailed to the most recent email address you have provided to the City before the notice issue date. If you update your email address, depending on the timing of this update, you may receive one more notice delivered to the previous email address before the request is finalised;
    13. that Council will only register one email address for both your rates and water accounts, and all notices will be sent to the same email address, being the latest email address, you have provided to the City;
    14. that Council is unable to email rates and water notices for the same property to different email addresses. Similarly, we are not able to post one notice and email the other notices for the same property;
    15. that if you have multiple linked accounts you will receive rates and water notices for all linked properties to the registered email address;
    16. that if you had previously registered to receive your notices by email and the email address you use when you create your user account for Online Services for rates and water accounts is different, then the log-in email will become your single registered email address and will be used to email future notices, regardless of the email address you registered initially for electronic notices;
    17. that if water and sewerage services are not available to connect to your property, you will only receive your rate notice via email; and
    18. you cannot enter into an online payment arrangement with Council if you are already involved in an advanced level of recovery action;
  4. By entering an online payment arrangement with Council, you acknowledge and agree;
    1. that all online payment arrangements must be finalised by the end of the current billing period, i.e. end of June or December for rates, and end of March, June, September and December for water;
    2. the first online payment arrangement instalment must be paid within ten (10) business days of approval;
    3. online payment arrangements are only valid for the current rating period. If you wish to pay your future rates notice by instalments, please re-apply on receipt of your notice in respect of those future rates;
    4. a discount will only apply if the full net amount is paid within the discount period. As most payment arrangements are not finalised within the discount period, the gross amount applies;
    5. any further rates and charges issued to you throughout the year are required to be paid in full by their due date, in addition to your regular instalments;
    6. penalty interest, if applicable, will apply at the rate of 9.83 per cent per annum compounding on daily balances. Interest penalties shall be suspended while an approved payment arrangement is current and being complied with;
    7. that you are solely responsible for ensuring your instalment amount is sufficient to clear the outstanding rates in full to avoid interest charges.
    8. Council takes no responsibility for calculation of instalment amounts made by this web-based application. It remains your responsibility to ensure you have made sufficient payments to clear your rates and avoid interest charges;
    9. payment arrangements are offered to assist ratepayers who for reasons of financial hardship cannot pay their Council rates and charges by the due date;
    10. that if the terms of the arrangement are not honoured, Council will continue recovery action against you to collect the outstanding rates and charges;
    11. Council reserves the right to reject or cancel this arrangement if it does not meet the required conditions or the agreed repayments are not maintained;
    12. that if you are not able to make any of the agreed instalment payments for any reason, you must contact us immediately so we can discuss your plan and, where possible, help you to avoid any further recovery action; and
    13. that if you don't pay any of the scheduled payments in full by their due date and do not contact us, the payment plan will be automatically cancelled, and recovery action will commence.
  5. By obtaining a Rate Account Balance using Online Services you acknowledge and agree;
    1. the results displayed reflect the information held within Council records which is current at the date first published on the Online Services site and not necessarily at the time of the request, therefore the information may change in the time between the information being published and the time of the request.
    2. the information displayed may not represent the full amount owing on the account (e.g. if charges are pending as a result of changes to the calculated rates, or if legally recoverable charges have been incurred due to action taken to recover overdue rates), payment of the Rate Account Balance amount as displayed through Online Services may not represent full and final settlement
    3. of the rates and charges owing. If these circumstances apply to your account, please email Council at mail@goldcoast.qld.gov.au or phone on 07 5667 5995 or 1300 366 659 for an up-to-date balance before arranging payment.
    4. if your request cannot be processed using the Online Service, please email Council at mail@goldcoast.qld.gov.au or phone on 07 5667 5995 or 1300 366 659.
    5. Council does not warrant or represent that the information on the Online Services site is free from errors or omissions or is suitable for your intended use. Any advice contained on this Online Services site has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any advice on this Online Services site, we recommend that you consider whether it is appropriate for your circumstances.

Use of My City

  1. My City provides for the inclusion of an event listing in the City's events calendar and the inclusions of community services listing in the Gold Coast Community Directory (Listing).
  2. By registering for a My City account, you warrant;
    1. that where you are acting on behalf of an organisation or community group ('entity') that you are the duly authorised agent of that entity;
    2. that you are over 18 years of age; and
    3. that you are solely responsible for obtaining all authorities, consents, or permissions relating to, or in connection with any information provided by you in registering or for inclusion in a Listing.
  3. My City account holders are responsible for ensuring the listing details provided for publication are accurate, up to date and any and all authorities, consents, or permissions have been obtained to authorise the City to publish all Listing details, including any personal information included in the Listing.
  4. The City reserves the right to access and modify information in a Listing to ensure the accuracy and currency of the information.
  5. Events in the website content management system which are not used for more than 14 months will be deleted and removed from your My City account.
  6. Inclusion of a Listing is not guaranteed and the final decision about inclusion is at the discretion of the City.
  7. The My City account holder indemnifies and holds harmless the Council (including its officers, employees and agents) for any and all liability, loss or damage (including loss of opportunity) whether direct, indirect, special or consequential, arising in any way out of or in connection with the publication of a Listing or the promotion and or staging of an event except to the extent the liability, loss or damage was caused or contributed to by Council negligence or unlawful activity.

Event calendar listings

  1. The My City account holder warrants that all approvals, authorities and permits required in respect of the event have been obtained and that the event complies with all legal and regulatory requirements pertaining to the event.
  2. To be included in the City of Gold Coast events calendar, events must:
    1. be held on the Gold Coast;
    2. be family-friendly and have broad appeal to residents and visitors;
    3. provide clear and confirmed event details, including a description of the event (what, where, when), include contact details and note any entry or attendance fee at time of submission;
    4. not be for solely commercial purposes, except where the City deems the event provides a broad benefit to the Gold Coast or the event is hosted by a not-for-profit organisation.

Gold Coast Community Directory

  1. To have a listing included in the City of Gold Coast Community Directory, the My City account holder must meet at least one of the following criteria:
    1. provide services or activities that are free of charge or low cost, or are funded by the City of Gold Coast, and can be accessed by the Gold Coast community      
    2. run events to support people or groups in the Gold Coast community
    3. provide advocacy or support services to the Gold Coast community
    4. provide confirmed details at time of submission (incomplete submissions will not be accepted).

Use of interactive maps

  1. The Material on Council's interactive mapping sites (including the City Plan interactive mapping website):
    1. does not replace or substitute the formal planning scheme maps published on Council's City Plan website and, to the extent of any inconsistency between the interactive mapping and the formal planning scheme maps, the formal planning scheme maps prevail;
    2. does not represent Council's formal or final position on the content of the City Plan maps; and
    3. is not intended to be used for commercial purposes such as property transactions or settlements. You should NOT rely upon the interactive mapping to make any decisions, and not use interactive mapping as a basis to decide whether to purchase or otherwise invest in property.
  2. If you wish to obtain further or particular information with respect to any property, visit our Buying, selling and searches page for more information. Council makes no representations and gives no warranties in relation to the information provided in its interactive mapping sites (including accuracy, reliability, completeness, quality, merchantability, fitness for purpose or suitability) or that access to and use of the interactive mapping site will not expose you to viruses, malicious code or other forms of interference that may damage your own computer system.
  3. Additionally for City Plan interactive flood mapping including historical, current and draft flood maps:
    1. the State of Queensland has required local governments to include climate related factors in the local government's flood maps on the basis that a property may be affected by flood levels that are predicted on account of climate change induced factors, such as sea level rise over the period to 2100;
    2. Council does not accept any liability for any use made of the information in the City Plan flood mapping which has been included in accordance with State Government mandated requirements, including with respect to predicted climate induced sea level rise and other climate change related factors.
    3. Flood depth information in the interactive flood mapping should only be used as a guide and Council does not accept any liability for use made of the flood depth information for design work or any purpose that requires accurate ground levels.
  4. Council accepts no liability (including without limitation, an action in contract, negligence or other tortious action) for any loss, damage or costs (including consequential damage) relating to access to, reliance upon or any use of the interactive mapping or the open data sets available to the public.
  5. All matters relating to your access to and use of interactive mapping and Open Data are governed by the laws of the State of Queensland, Australia.
  6. Maps on the City Plan and ArcGIS are inaccessible to website assistive technologies. If you require assistance accessing or interpreting any of these maps please contact us on 1300 GOLDCOAST (1300 465 326).
  7. Interactive mapping includes data provided by the State of Queensland (Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy) which is subject to the following: © State of Queensland (Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy)
  8. Based on data provided by the State of Queensland (Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy) (the State). In consideration of the State permitting use of this data you acknowledge and agree that the State gives no warranty in relation to the data (including accuracy, reliability, completeness, currency or suitability) and accepts no liability (including without limitation, liability in negligence) for any loss, damage or costs (including consequential damage) relating to any use of the data. Data must not be used for direct marketing or be used in breach of the privacy laws.

Use of Open Data

  1. Open Data is provided by Council to share certain general information with the public. All reasonable measures are taken to ensure the quality and accuracy of this information; however Council makes no warranty in either respect. If you find any information that you believe may be inaccurate, please contact us. Use of information made available via our Open Data sites is permitted under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence and you agree to comply with the terms of that licence, the terms of which are available via the Creative Commons website. This licence allows you to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and remix, transform and build upon the material for any purpose.
  2. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license and indicate if changes were made..
  3. You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.
  4. No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.

Use of Libraries' collection

For information about the materials which form Gold Coast Libraries' collection of resources, visit our Libraries' website.

Feedback

  1. You can send us feedback about the Site online.
  2. We may, at our discretion, use, reproduce, publish, modify, adapt and transmit your feedback to others free of charge and without restriction. In using the Site you implicitly provide your permission for this to occur.
  3. This use of your feedback will be subject to these Terms of Use and Council's Privacy statement.