Code of Conduct

This code of conduct applies to all members of Friends of Native Wildlife Inc. as well as all who attend our events or participate in any other capacity.

Summary

Be excellent to each other.

Friends of Native Wildlife Inc. aims to provide a fun and welcoming environment so that diverse groups of people - regardless of age, race, gender identity or expression, background, disability, appearance, sexuality, walk of life, or religion - can get together to learn about, enjoy and help conserve our local native wildlife.

Friends of Native Wildlife Inc. are a diverse community. Sometimes this means we need to work harder to ensure we're creating an environment of trust and respect where all who come to participate feel comfortable and included.

We value your participation and appreciate your help in realising this goal.

Be respectful

Respect yourself, and respect others. Be courteous to those around you. If someone indicates they don't wish to be photographed, respect that wish. If someone indicates they would like to be left alone, let them be. Our event venues may be shared with members of the public; please be considerate to all patrons of these locations.

Be inclusive

All presentation material should be suitable for people aged 12 and above. At events advertised as suitable for those under 12, presentation material should be suitable for younger people as well.

Any public presentation which is part of any event, including but not limited to presentations, mailing list posts and forums, is subject to this code of conduct and thus may not contain:

  • sexual or violent imagery;
  • exclusionary language;
  • insults or ad-hominem attacks.

Presenters are asked to avoid language which is not appropriate for an all-ages audience.

If presenters are unsure whether their material is suitable, they are encouraged to show it to committee members before sharing with others.

Be aware

We ask everyone to be aware that we will not tolerate intimidation, harassment, or any abusive, discriminatory or derogatory behaviour by anyone at any event, meeting or online.

Complaints can be made to the committee by contacting any committee member directly, or by emailing info@bayfonw.org.au. All complaints made to the committee will remain confidential and be taken seriously. The complaint will be treated appropriately with discretion. Should the committee consider it appropriate, measures they may take include:

  • the individuals may be told to apologise
  • the individuals may be told to stop/modify their behaviour appropriately
  • the individuals may be warned that enforcement action may be taken if the behaviour continues
  • the individuals may be asked to immediately leave the venue and/or will be prohibited from continuing to attend the event, and perhaps all future events
  • the incident may be reported to the appropriate authorities

What does that mean for me?

All participants, including event attendees and presenters must not engage in any intimidation, harassment, or abusive or discriminatory behaviour.

Here are some examples of behaviours that are not appropriate:

  • offensive verbal or written remarks related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race or religion;
  • sexual or violent images in public spaces (including presentation slides);
  • deliberate intimidation;
  • stalking or following;
  • unwanted photography or recording;
  • sustained disruption of talks or other events;
  • intoxication at an event venue;
  • inappropriate physical contact;
  • unwelcome sexual attention;
  • sexist, racist, or other exclusionary jokes;
  • unwarranted exclusion from events based on age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion;

We want everyone to feel safe and have a good time at our events.

Questions?

If you’re not sure about anything you’ve just read, please contact the committee at info@bayfonw.org.au.

This document is based on a similar document by Linux Australia, available at https://github.com/linuxaustralia/constitution_and_policies/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md and used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia licence, available from https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/au/.