Applies to Indigenous tourism operators ("Operator", "you") who list and sell experiences through indigenoustourism.com.au, operated by Songlines Digital ("Platform", "we", "us"). You accept these terms when you submit your application to list.
1. Definitions
- Platform fee: the fee the Platform deducts from each booking under clause 5.
- Connected account: your own Stripe account, which you connect to the Platform so that guest payments settle to you.
- ICIP: Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property.
- Listing: the description, photos, prices and policies you publish about an experience on the Platform.
2. Applying and verification
2.1 You apply through our application form, giving your business details, your ABN, and information supporting your status as an Indigenous owned tourism business, including cultural authority for the experiences you offer.
2.2 Holding an ABN does not by itself establish Indigenous ownership or cultural authority. We verify these separately by human review against evidence such as membership of the Indigenous Independent Tourism Operators of Queensland, Supply Nation registration, or other community recognised verification.
2.3 We may decline, delay or suspend an application pending verification, and may ask for further evidence at any time, including after a Listing is live.
2.4 Misrepresenting Indigenous ownership or cultural authority is a material breach of these terms. It is grounds for immediate removal of your Listings and termination of your access, and for withholding any amount still owed to you, to the extent the law and our agreement with Stripe allow.
3. Your Listing and content
3.1 You are responsible for the accuracy of everything in your Listing: prices, inclusions, safety requirements, cancellation policy and photos.
3.2 We publish your Listing content as you submit it, subject only to formatting and to moderation of unlawful content. We do not rewrite your description of your culture, your business or your experience, and nothing cultural on the Platform is generated by artificial intelligence.
3.3 You warrant that you hold the rights and consents needed for every photo and piece of media you supply, including the consent of identifiable people shown, and a licence from the photographer or rights holder that permits the use described in clause 3.4. The application form records your confirmation of this for each photo, and records the artist's consent where artwork is attributed.
3.4 By submitting media you grant us a non exclusive licence to display it on the Platform and on the sister websites we build for you, and, where you opt in, in Platform marketing. The licence ends when the Listing is removed. It is a licence to display, not a transfer of ownership.
3.5 Your Listing content is made available to search engines and AI assistants in machine readable form so that travellers can find it. This is part of displaying the Listing under clause 3.4.
4. Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property
4.1 Ownership and custodianship of ICIP in your Listing, including cultural knowledge, stories, designs, language and practices you choose to share, stays with you and the relevant community custodians. We claim no ownership of it.
4.2 The licence in clause 3.4 lets us display your Listing as submitted. It does not let us alter, recontextualise or sublicense ICIP content beyond that display and any marketing use you separately opt into.
4.3 If ICIP in your Listing needs correction, restriction or removal, including at the direction of custodians, tell us and we will act promptly.
5. Payments and fees
5.1 Guest payments are collected by Stripe and settle to your connected account. You connect your account by approving the Platform's request in your own Stripe dashboard. You never give us your bank details, and we never hold your money in our own account.
5.2 The Platform fee is currently 7% of the booking price before any Stripe processing fee, deducted as the payment settles. We may agree a different percentage with you in writing. We give at least 30 days' notice of any change to the standard fee, and the fee will not exceed 10% without your written agreement.
5.3 Stripe's own processing fee on each payment is paid by the Platform out of the Platform fee. It is not deducted from your connected account.
5.4 By connecting your Stripe account you also agree to Stripe's terms for connected accounts, which apply directly between you and Stripe and cover payouts, identity checks and Stripe's compliance requirements.
5.5 You are responsible for your own GST registration and remittance on the experiences you supply, and for any tax invoice the law requires you to issue. Prices you enter are the total price to the guest, including GST where it applies.
5.6 Onboarding fee. Unless you are a current member of IITOQ at the time you apply, you pay a one off onboarding fee of $250 plus GST ($275 including GST) when you submit your application. The fee covers setting up and verifying your listing, listing your experiences, adding your images and videos, building the search and AI readable pages for each experience, connecting your Stripe account and the ticketing and notification services for your bookings. We issue a tax invoice for the fee. If we do not approve your application, we refund the fee in full. Once your listing has been set up, the fee is not refundable. If you tell us you are an IITOQ member and we cannot confirm that membership, we will ask you to pay the fee before your listing goes live.
6. Refunds, cancellations and disputes
6.1 Where a guest is entitled to a refund, under your cancellation policy or under the Australian Consumer Law, the refund is issued through the Platform from your connected account to the guest's card.
6.2 When a booking is refunded, the Platform fee is returned to you in the same proportion. You are not out of pocket for our fee on a booking that did not proceed. Stripe's processing fee on the original payment is not returned by Stripe and is borne by the Platform.
6.3 You must set a cancellation policy for each Listing before it goes live: the number of hours before the start time within which a guest may cancel for a full refund, and any later window with a partial refund. Your policy cannot exclude or reduce a guest's consumer guarantee rights under the Australian Consumer Law, in particular the right to a refund when you cancel, substantially change or fail to deliver an experience. Any wording that attempts to do so will not be enforced and may be removed.
6.4 Refunds are issued by Platform staff on your instruction or on a guest's request that you have approved, or where the law requires it. Guests cannot refund themselves.
6.5 If a guest disputes a payment with their bank, the amount in dispute is debited by Stripe.
7. Your responsibilities
7.1 You are solely responsible for safely and lawfully delivering the experience described in your Listing; for holding every licence, permit and permission required, including land access, environmental and cultural permissions; for public liability insurance at the level we require; for your staff, guides, tax and superannuation obligations; and for your own risk assessments, safety briefings and emergency procedures.
7.2 You are an independent business. Nothing in these terms creates an employment, agency, partnership or joint venture between you and the Platform. Neither of us can bind the other.
8. Guest data and relationships
8.1 You own the relationship with your guests and the data about bookings of your experiences. We process that data to run the booking service and under the Privacy Policy.
8.2 We do not share your guest data with other Operators or use it to build cross Operator marketing lists.
8.3 You may use guest details for the booking and for service messages about it. You may send marketing to a guest only where the guest ticked the marketing box at checkout, and every such message must include an unsubscribe option.
8.4 If you leave the Platform you may ask for an export of the booking data for your experiences, subject to our retention obligations and guests' privacy rights.
9. Reviews
9.1 Guests may be invited to review your experience after their booking. We moderate reviews before publication. You may respond publicly. You may not offer inducements for reviews or ask for a genuine negative review to be removed unless it breaches our moderation standards.
10. Suspension and termination
10.1 We may suspend or remove a Listing, or end your access, where you materially breach these terms; where your insurance or a required permit lapses and is not restored within a reasonable time; where we receive credible safety complaints and reasonably believe continued listing puts guests at risk; or where the law or Stripe's own account decisions require it.
10.2 You may remove your Listings or leave at any time, provided you honour bookings already confirmed or refund them.
10.3 Clauses 4, 6 and 8.4 survive termination.
11. Use of names and marks
11.1 You may describe your business as listed on Indigenous Tourism and use the badge we supply. You may not imply endorsement, partnership or ownership beyond that.
11.2 We may use your business name, logo and Listing photos under the clause 3.4 licence to promote the Platform, unless you opt out in writing.
12. Liability
12.1 To the extent the law permits, our liability to you under these terms is limited to the Platform fees you paid in the 12 months before the claim.
12.2 Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including under the Australian Consumer Law.
13. Governing law
13.1 These terms are governed by the law of Queensland, Australia.
Last updated: 31 October 2026. Version 0.3.