Privacy Policy
Version 1.2 — Effective 23 March 2026 — Internest Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 36 637 557 067)
1. Who We Are
Internest Australia Pty Ltd ("Internest", "we", "us") operates internest.com.au and its subdomains. We help Australian households optimise recurring expenses across energy, insurance, banking, medicine, superannuation, telecommunications, and subscriptions.
We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), as amended.
2. Information We Collect
2.1 Information you provide
Account details (email, password or Google SSO token), household usage data (e.g. electricity consumption, postcode, household size), bill uploads, and information provided during the Switch for Me process (name, date of birth, NMI, service address).
2.2 Information collected automatically
Device and browser information, pages visited, interaction patterns, and session recordings. See Section 10 for details on our analytics tools.
2.3 Information we infer
Based on your interactions, we may infer preferences such as price sensitivity, preferred plan type, or household composition to improve our recommendations. See Section 8 for full details on automated decisions and profiling.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use your information to provide comparison and recommendation services, process Switch for Me requests, improve our algorithms, communicate with you about your account and savings opportunities, and comply with legal obligations (including ASIC, ACCC, and AER requirements).
4. Disclosure of Your Information
We do not sell your personal information. We may share information with energy retailers (only when you authorise a switch), payment processors (Stripe), email service providers (Postmark), and analytics providers (see Section 10). All third parties are bound by contractual privacy obligations.
5. Data Retention
We retain your data for the minimum period necessary to provide our services and comply with legal requirements:
| Data Type | Retention Period | After Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Account information | Until you delete your account | Deleted |
| Switch requests (financial records) | 7 years | Personal details anonymised, financial record retained |
| AI conversation history | 12 months (linked to you) | Anonymised, content retained 7 years (ASIC) |
| Recommendation history | 13 months (linked to you) | Anonymised, aggregate data retained 7 years |
| Behavioural data and inferred profile | 13 months | Anonymised |
| Email subscription | Until unsubscribed + 90 days | Deleted |
| Session recordings (Clarity) | 90 days | Automatically deleted by provider |
| Compliance audit logs | 7 years | Retained (no personal information) |
6. Your Rights (APP 12 and APP 13)
You have the right to:
Access your data — Request a copy of all personal information we hold about you. Use the "Export my data" option in your account settings, or contact us. We will respond within 30 days.
Correct your data — Request correction of inaccurate personal information through your account settings or by contacting us.
Delete your data — Delete your account through account settings. We will remove or anonymise your personal information within 30 days, subject to legal retention requirements described in Section 5.
Opt out of analytics — See Section 10 for opt-out controls.
7. Security
We protect your information with HTTPS encryption, HttpOnly secure cookies, hashed passwords (bcrypt), and access controls. Payment information is processed by Stripe and never stored on our servers.
8. Automated Decision-Making and Profiling
Internest uses automated processes to help you find better deals and manage your household expenses. Below is a complete list of automated decisions, what information they use, and how they affect you.
| Decision | Personal Information Used | What It Decides | Impact on You | Where Disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan comparison and ranking | Your usage data (consumption, postcode, tariff type, solar status) | The order in which plans are displayed in your results | Low. You see all plans; ordering helps you find the best match faster. You can re-sort results manually. | Results page ("View calculation method" link) |
| Switch fee calculation | Estimated annual savings from the comparison | Whether the Switch for Me fee is $29 or $49 | Medium. Affects the price you pay. The fee tier is shown before payment and is based on a transparent threshold (savings under or over $500/year). | Switch form (Step 3, before payment) |
| Refund guarantee evaluation | Your usage applied to old and new plan rates (counterfactual comparison) | Whether you qualify for a refund after switching | Medium. Determines refund eligibility. Exclusions (usage increase over 30%, one-off fees, supplier rate changes) are disclosed in advance. | Switch Terms |
| AI assistant responses | Your question, retrieved knowledge base articles, conversation history | The information and guidance provided to you | Low. Provides information only, not binding decisions. All AI responses include a disclaimer that content is informational and should not be treated as financial or legal advice. | AI chat interface (disclaimer text) |
| User profile inference | Your conversations, browsing behaviour, and comparison activity | Inferred preferences (e.g. price sensitivity, plan type preference, household composition) | Low. Used to personalise recommendation ordering. You can view and request correction of your inferred profile in account settings. | Account settings (/account/profile) |
| Nudge and prompt triggers | Behavioural signals (e.g. time on page, repeated comparisons without action) | Whether to display a helpful prompt or reminder | Low. Prompts are informational only and do not restrict your choices. You can dismiss any prompt. | This Privacy Policy |
| Email sequence triggers | Account activity, comparison history, email engagement | Whether and when to send you an email about savings opportunities | Low. You can unsubscribe from any email at any time via the unsubscribe link in every message. | Email unsubscribe link |
8.1 Your rights regarding automated decisions
You may request an explanation of any automated decision that affects you, request human review of an automated decision, object to profiling used for personalisation, and request deletion of your inferred profile. Contact us at privacy@internest.com.au or use the controls in your account settings.
9. Cookies
We use essential cookies for authentication (HttpOnly secure session cookies) and functional cookies for your preferences. We do not use third-party advertising cookies.
10. Analytics Tools
We use the following analytics tools to understand how our platform is used and to improve our services:
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — Collects anonymised usage data including pages visited, session duration, and referral source. Data is processed by Google. You can opt out using the Google Analytics opt-out browser extension.
PostHog — Self-hosted product analytics. Collects interaction events (e.g. comparison started, plan saved). All input fields are masked (maskAllInputs enabled). You can opt out below.
Microsoft Clarity — Session recording and heatmaps for UX improvement. All input fields are masked (mask-all-inputs enabled). Recordings are retained for 90 days. You can opt out below.
11. Children
Our services are not directed at individuals under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
12. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be notified via email or a prominent notice on our platform. The "Effective" date at the top indicates the latest revision.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal information, or any automated decision, contact us at:
Internest Australia Pty Ltd
Email: privacy@internest.com.au
ABN: 36 637 557 067
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.
Version history: v1.0 (March 2026) — Initial release. v1.1 (March 2026) — Added GA4, PostHog, Clarity disclosure (Section 10), analytics opt-out. v1.2 (March 2026) — Added Automated Decision-Making disclosure (Section 8), Data Retention schedule (Section 5), enhanced Your Rights (Section 6).