Transparency Policy

1. Our Commitment to Transparency

At Ease Their Care, we believe that families navigating the aged care system deserve clear, honest, and open communication about how our Platform works, how we use artificial intelligence, and how we operate as a business.

This Transparency Policy sets out our commitments regarding the use of AI technology on the Platform, our business relationships and funding model, the sources and limitations of our information, and how we handle potential conflicts of interest.

This policy should be read alongside our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

2. About ET: Our AI Assistant

2.1 What ET Is

ET is an artificial intelligence assistant built into the Ease Their Care platform. ET is designed to help Australian families understand and navigate the aged care system by providing personalised information and guidance. ET can help with topics including understanding My Aged Care and the assessment process, the Support at Home program, residential aged care options and funding, Centrelink means testing for aged care, enduring powers of attorney and advance care planning, and financial planning considerations for aged care.

2.2 What ET Is Not

ET is not a human. Every interaction you have with ET is powered by artificial intelligence technology. We will always make this clear in the Platform's interface.

ET is not a licensed professional. ET does not provide legal advice, financial advice, medical advice, or any other form of professional advice. ET's responses are informational and educational only. They should not be relied upon as a substitute for advice from qualified professionals such as aged care specialists, financial advisers, solicitors, or medical practitioners.

ET is not infallible. While we work hard to ensure ET's responses are accurate and up to date, AI technology has inherent limitations. ET may occasionally provide responses that are incomplete, inaccurate, or not fully suited to your specific circumstances.

2.3 How ET Works

ET uses large language model (LLM) technology to generate responses to your questions and provide information tailored to your circumstances. When you interact with ET:

• Your questions and the information you provide are sent to our AI processing infrastructure.
• ET generates a response based on its training data, curated aged care knowledge, and the context of your conversation.

2.4 ET's Knowledge Sources and Updates

ET's knowledge base includes:

• Australian aged care legislation, including the Aged Care Act 2024 and subordinate legislation.
• Government publications, guidelines, and fact sheets from the Department of Health and Aged Care, Services Australia, and My Aged Care.
• Publicly available information about aged care services, financial planning, and legal frameworks.
• Curated content developed by the Ease Their Care team.

We endeavour to review and update ET's knowledge base regularly, particularly following changes to legislation, regulations, or government policies. However, there may be a delay between when changes take effect and when ET's knowledge is updated. We will clearly communicate when ET's knowledge was last reviewed on the Platform.

3. AI Guardrails and Safety Measures

3.1 What ET Will Not Do

We have implemented guardrails to ensure ET operates safely and responsibly. ET is designed to:

• Never provide specific legal, financial, or medical advice tailored to your personal circumstances.
• Never recommend a specific aged care facility, financial product, or legal service without disclosing any commercial relationship.
• Always recommend that you seek independent professional advice for significant decisions.
• Never collect sensitive personal information beyond what is necessary for the conversation.
• Clearly indicate when it is uncertain or when a question falls outside its knowledge base.
• Escalate to human support when a query requires human judgement or empathy beyond ET's capability.

3.2 Human Oversight

We maintain human oversight of ET through regular review of ET's responses and accuracy by aged care subject matter experts, monitoring of user feedback and complaints relating to ET's outputs, periodic auditing of ET's performance and safety, and a human escalation pathway for complex or sensitive enquiries.

4. Information Accuracy and Currency

4.1 Our Approach

We take the following steps to maintain the accuracy of information on the Platform:

• Regular review of content against current legislation, regulations, and government publications.
• Clear date-stamping of content to indicate when it was last reviewed or updated.
• Prompt correction of errors when they are identified or reported.
• Use of authoritative sources for all factual claims.

4.2 Limitations

Despite our efforts, information on the Platform may not always reflect the very latest changes to laws, policies, or services. The aged care sector in Australia is subject to ongoing reform, and changes can occur rapidly.

Where we become aware of a significant change that affects the accuracy of our content, we will take reasonable steps to update the Platform as soon as practicable and, where appropriate, display a notice advising users of the pending update.

5. Business Model and Commercial Relationships

5.1 How Ease Their Care Operates

We believe you should know how we fund our operations and whether any commercial relationships might influence the information we provide. Our revenue may come from the following sources:

• Subscription fees for premium features or services.
• Referral fees from partner organisations when you choose to connect with their services through the Platform.
• Advertising revenue from clearly identified sponsored content.
• Partnership arrangements with aged care service providers, financial advisers, or legal practitioners.

5.2 Conflicts of Interest

Where we have a commercial relationship with a third party that could influence the information or recommendations provided on the Platform, we will:

• Clearly disclose the nature of the relationship.
• Label any sponsored or promoted content as such.
• Ensure that ET's general information and guidance is not influenced by commercial considerations.
• Maintain editorial independence in our educational content.

5.3 Referral Practices

If the Platform offers referrals to aged care providers, financial advisers, legal practitioners, or other service providers:

• We will clearly disclose whether we receive a fee or commission for the referral.
• We will provide referrals based on your stated needs and preferences, not solely on commercial arrangements.
• You are never obligated to use a referred service. Referrals are suggestions only.
• We will endeavour to offer a choice of providers where available.

6. Data Transparency

6.1 What We Collect and Why

Full details of how we collect, use, and protect your data are set out in our Privacy Policy. In summary, we collect your personal information to operate and improve the Platform, provide personalised aged care guidance, and communicate with you about our services.

6.2 AI Training Data

We may use aggregated and anonymised interaction data to improve ET's performance. This means:

• Individual conversations are not used to train ET in an identifiable way.
• Aggregated patterns (such as common questions or areas of confusion) may inform improvements to ET's knowledge base and response quality.
• You can request that your conversation data not be used for improvement purposes by contacting us or adjusting your account settings.

6.3 Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. Any sharing of data with third parties is governed by our Privacy Policy and is limited to what is necessary to operate the Platform and provide our services.

7. Accessibility and Inclusion

We are committed to making the Platform accessible to all Australians, including people with disabilities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and people in regional and remote areas.

Our accessibility commitments include:

• Designing the Platform to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards where practicable.
• Providing clear, plain language content that avoids unnecessary jargon.
• Ensuring the Platform is usable on a range of devices and connection speeds.
• Working towards culturally appropriate content and services, including respectful engagement with First Nations communities and their aged care needs.

If you experience any accessibility barriers when using the Platform, please contact us so we can work to resolve them.

8. Regulatory Alignment

The Platform and its operations are aligned with the following Australian legislative and regulatory frameworks:

We monitor regulatory developments, including the Australian Government's approach to AI regulation and the evolving aged care reform agenda, and will update our policies and practices as required.

9. Feedback and Complaints

We welcome feedback on the accuracy of our content, ET's performance, accessibility issues, concerns about conflicts of interest, and suggestions for improvement.

You can provide feedback by contacting us using the details below, using the feedback tools built into the Platform, or lodging a formal complaint through our complaints process.

We will acknowledge all formal complaints within 5 business days and aim to resolve them within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to the relevant external body (such as the OAIC for privacy concerns, or the ACCC for consumer protection concerns).

10. Updates to This Policy

We will update this Transparency Policy as our practices, technology, and regulatory environment evolve. Material changes will be communicated through the Platform and, where practicable, by email notification to registered users.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. The effective date at the top of this document indicates when it was last updated.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Transparency Policy, please contact us at: