Terms & Conditions

The Australia Reads Author and Illustrator Directory (‘the Directory’) showcases many of Australia’s exceptional authors and illustrators, with the aim of connecting them with communities through event opportunities.

To be listed on the Directory, authors and illustrators must meet and agree to the following terms and conditions:

1. The Directory is open to authors and illustrators who are Australian citizens and/or are currently residing in Australia.
2. The Directory is open to authors and illustrators of adult fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young adult and children’s books. It is not open to authors of purely academic work.
3. Authors and illustrators listed on the Directory must be over the age of 18.
4. Authors and illustrators must have a book traditionally published in Australia in the last 5 years. To be considered professionally published, books must be published by publishing houses with a professional editorial process, independent of the author/s. Authors must not pay for the publishing house’s editorial, marketing, or publicity services. Books must have an ISBN, be in print, and available to purchase in Australia.
5. Authors and illustrators listed must be interested and available to take part in events (both live and online), and open to approaches and commissions from event organisers.
6. By joining the Directory, you consent to Australia Reads collecting details about you for the purpose of the Directory, and disclosing this information on our website. We will not share this information for any purposes other than those outlined above.
7. While Australia Reads seeks to provide a valuable resource for organisations and individuals looking to book or commission authors and illustrators, we cannot guarantee that the Directory will lead to event opportunities.
8. The Directory is an information resource only and Australia Reads are not responsible for facilitating or brokering event opportunities. Event arrangements, including payments, are between event organisers and the author/illustrator or their representative.
9. Authors and illustrators are not required to have a valid Working with Children Check (WWCC) or Working with Vulnerable People Check (WWVP) to be listed on the Directory, however may be required to obtain one by event organisers.
10. Authors and illustrators listed on the Directory are not endorsed or employed by Australia Reads, and Australia Reads reserves the rights to remove listings from the Directory without notice.
11. By joining the Directory, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to the Australia Reads Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

Introduction

Thank you for being part of the Australia Reads Author and Illustrator Directory. This Directory is intended as a resource to help connect festival and events programmers with Australian authors and illustrators and support live literature opportunities for communities around Australia. 

To ensure that activities associated with Australia Reads are conducted to the highest standards, we request that all members of the Directory agree to the following Code of Conduct. 

This Code of Conduct sets out our general standards (expectations/requirements) on the following points:

• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Child safety and the protection of vulnerable people 
• Social media

More comprehensive information can be found via the links at the bottom of each section where relevant.

This guide is for Australia Reads authors and illustrators on our Author Directory, partners and all others who are affiliated with us through their work and outlines. Please note that our Code of Conduct is relevant to both offline and online behaviour, for example, online bullying and harassment.

Misconduct

What is misconduct?

Misconduct is when the conduct, actions or behaviour of an event organiser, affiliate or author does not meet the expected standards. These can include, but are not exclusive to:

• Causing harm to others or putting other people in danger
• Having a negative effect on the event or program’s success
• Damaging or potentially damaging the reputations of other Australia Reads affiliates, members of the general public, host organisations or Australia Reads.
• Displaying clearly bigoted behaviour (as outlined below)

When this Code of Conduct states behaviours of an expected standard, it also aims to convey not just what people do, but how they do it, while supported by or representing Australia Reads. These standards stress the need to be professional and respectful at all times.

Australia Reads is not an adjudicatory body, but reserves the right to take course of action in line with our Code of Conduct if clear and unambiguous evidence of serious public misconduct is brought to our attention. In these rare instances, Australia Reads may withdraw from association with the individual if in our view that misconduct:  

• Displays a risk of ongoing harm to audiences, partners or other affiliates, staff and pupils of schools, or the general public.
• May affect the reputation of Australia Reads
• Is discriminatory or bigoted, as is defined below.

This applies to serious misconduct even if committed outside of Australia Reads activities. Appendix One at the end of this document lays out our approach to investigating and reporting misconduct.  

Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

Australia Reads is working towards an Australia where everyone has equal opportunities to succeed. We strive to get more Australians reading more books, more often to create a healthier, happier and more connected nation.

Australia Reads is committed to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. These include treating all people with respect and dignity, valuing differences, and ensuring accessibility. 

We work to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion are attributes that are upheld as part of all of our activities.

Australia Reads is against all forms of prejudice and bigotry, including (but not restricted to) ableism, sexism, transphobia, racism, ageism, homophobia, xenophobia, classism, intolerance of people of any faith or religion and language discrimination.

More information about the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion in Australia can be found here.

Expected Standards of Behaviour

Anyone affiliated with Australia Reads and our activities is expected to behave in a way that upholds the standards outlined above. You are expected to conduct yourself with good faith and integrity when communicating with host organisations, audiences and Australia Reads itself.

We expect you to act in a way that is appropriate, respectful and professional. We require the same of representatives from host and partner organisations, as well as from Australia Reads and its employees.

Australia Reads does not tolerate harassment, bullying, bigotry or discrimination of any kind. Our values require everyone to conduct themselves in a manner that is respectful and preserves the dignity of all people. All interactions, whether online or in person, must be conscious of this, regardless of other parties’ behaviour or opinion. 

Our Commitment to Child Safety and the Protection of Vulnerable People

All members of our community have a responsibility to ensure the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable people. Australia Reads is committed to ensuring that all individuals and organisations associated with us are aware of their responsibility to ensure child protection. 

Australia Reads has zero tolerance for child abuse of any kind. All children, young people and vulnerable people participating in Australia Reads programs or affiliated events have the right to be safe, respected, valued and protected, and we are committed to creating and maintaining a child safe environment that adheres to these principles. Child safety includes physical, psychological, and cultural safety.

Australia Reads programs can take place in community settings like libraries and schools, where children, young people and vulnerable people might be in groups and it is important to ensure that they feel safe, supported, and respected.

Expected Standards of Behaviour

The Victorian Government has introduced 11 Child Safety Standards to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. In particular these include:

• Providing a culturally safe environment that values and respects the unique identities and experience of Aboriginal children and young people (Standard 1)
• Empowering children and young people (Standard 3)
• Upholding equity and respecting diverse needs (Standard 5)
• Minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed (Standard 9)

Freelancers or staff members should not be in sole charge or left alone with vulnerable people or children. In these situations, if you feel you need to raise a concern about a child or vulnerable adult’s welfare or safety, you should report to the responsible adult or child safety officer in the community venue, school or library you are working in. The issue should also be reported to your Australia Reads staff contact as soon as possible. If your host organisation informs you of child protection, health and safety or public liability insurance policies and/or procedures that apply at the time of your visit, you must follow them.

You should respect and consider the privacy of participants when discussing or sharing their contributions, unless the content points towards a matter of child safety as outlined above.

More information about the Victorian Child Safety Standards can be found here and information about Child Safety Standards across Australia can be found here.

Social Media

We are grateful for your support in spreading our content, helping people to read more books, more often and encouraging people to read for pleasure in Australia.

As an organisation, we are active on social media, with a community of 40,000 followers and supporters. We have found that social media is a great tool in sharing research, blog posts, programs, news and engaging with our audiences. Our aim is to create an accessible, respectful and professional environment across our social media platforms.

If you reference your affiliation with us on an online platform e.g. Twitter/X biography, Instagram biography, or any content, please follow the standards of behaviour outlined below. 

We look forward to maintaining and developing connections across our social media platforms – a full list of these is provided at the bottom of this document.

Expected Standards of Behaviour

Please spend some time reading and becoming familiar with the guidelines which have been written to allow you to interact with our social media platforms to the fullest capacity and simultaneously avoid situations that could cause harm to your reputation or yourself. 

• You are welcome to reference Australia Reads in any social media bio, such as being listed on our Author Directory. Please simply refer to Australia Reads in this instance, and reserve the use of our handle for our staff members.
• Please include us in any updates and content in relation to your work with us. We are happy for affiliates to include a reference to Australia Reads or any of our programs in your social media posts. If you would like to tag Australia Reads in a post, please be mindful of the content of the post, suitability and relevance for our audiences.
• When social media members link their posts to our organisation, audiences may assume you are an affiliate or representative of our programs and organisation, and that your views then become associated with us. Australia Reads is mindful of this when we share posts that reference individuals or organisations.
• As outlined in this Code of Conduct, Australia Reads does not tolerate harassment, bullying or bigotry of any kind. When posting online, please act in a respectful, professional and considered manner. 
• Australia Reads will not be drawn into or contribute to online debates of any kind. Posts that attempt to do so on our behalf may be deleted.
• Please comply with all laws that relate to libel and defamation of character, or libel and defamation of other organisations. When a statement that is potentially defamatory is made through a social media platform that involves the written (or ‘posted’) word, this is considered libel. If any of your social media platforms are linked to those of Australia Reads, we ask and expect that you respect these laws.

Australia Reads is an active member of several social media platforms:

• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AustraliaReads
• Twitter/X – https://x.com/australiareads
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/australiareads/
• YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/AustraliaReads

Appendix 1: Reporting, Investigating and Addressing Misconduct

Representing misconduct

• If you are reporting a misconduct action by a host organisation’s representative, Australia Reads will discuss this in a way that best supports you, including, but not limited to, in a meeting, by phone or by email.
• Please note that in order to consider any misconduct, the incident or behaviour must be directly reported to us. Australia Reads cannot act on, respond to or make decisions based on information that has been shared or posted online only e.g. website comment, social media, blog entry, or on information indirectly relayed e.g. rumour
• If you have been informed of something that you believe Australia Reads should know, please ask that individual to directly contact us.
• In every case, your correspondence will be taken seriously and will be treated in the strictest confidence, however, depending on the issue’s nature it may be necessary to refer the issue to an external party e.g. an independent investigator, charity regulator etc.
• Making a report of this nature will not in any way affect the level of service that you receive from Australia Reads

Investigating Misconduct

Australia Reads will ask to see evidence e.g. emails or other sources of written communication relating to the possible misconduct. We may request to meet you, or your affiliated organisation in person, or contact you by phone in order to ask further questions about the alleged misconduct. A confidential record will be kept that a complaint has been made and any actions that arise from that complaint.

Please note that Australia Reads cannot act on, respond to, or make any decisions based solely on the information that has been shared or posted online e.g. social media, blog entry, website comment or information indirectly relayed e.g. rumour.

The applicable Head or staff member will submit a report outlining a potential breach of this Code of Conduct to the Australia Reads senior management. The senior management team will review the evidence and will decide if further actions need to be taken.

Addressing misconduct

If misconduct by an individual occurs online or in person, Australia Reads may take some, or all of the following steps, as necessary. 

• We might ask to meet to discuss how further misconduct can be avoided in the future,
• When serious misconduct takes place by an individual, or presents a risk of harm to Australia Reads and audiences, Australia Reads reserves the right to suspend your activities in relation to us, and in the case of authors, remove you from the Author Directory,
• Australia Reads reserves the right to deny or withhold payment for bursaries, services or sessions where serious misconduct has taken place, to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Thank you for adhering to the Australia Reads Code of Conduct. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at he***@au************.au