--- title: Terms of use resource: https://publicdata.au/terms/ --- # Terms of use These terms cover publicdata.au: its pages, the data files, the query API and the MCP server at `/mcp`. The site is run by [National Digital](https://nationaldigital.com.au/). They apply to anyone who uses the site, including through a program or an AI agent, and if a program uses the site for you, you are responsible for how it uses it. If you do not accept these terms, do not use the site. ## The data Each dataset belongs to its publisher and is republished under the licence the publisher chose, which is named on the dataset page and inside every file. That licence governs what you may do with the data, and these terms do not narrow it. Most datasets are under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. When you share the data, or something made from it, the licence requires you to credit the publisher in a reasonable way, and the attribution string in every file does this in the publisher's words. We also ask you to say the data came from publicdata.au and link to the version you used. The licence does not require this, and you are free to decline. The `cite` string in every file does both. The site's own text, design and code belong to National Digital. ## No endorsement publicdata.au is a private website with no connection to any government agency. No publisher has endorsed it, and nothing on it speaks for a publisher. ## Accuracy The site republishes each publisher's file in other formats. We type each cell and rename headers, and a cell the publisher suppressed, such as "<5", becomes null with a flag, as the [about page](https://publicdata.au/about/) sets out. A value that is wrong in the publisher's file is wrong here too. Before a version is published, an automated check confirms that every format was written and that each file carries the licence and the publisher's attribution. Nothing compares each value with the publisher's file. Counts, sums and averages from the query API and the MCP server leave out null cells, so a total can be lower than the publisher's own. We give no warranty that the data, or an answer a program or an AI agent draws from it, is complete or accurate, or that it is current or suits your purpose. The publisher's original file is kept beside every version with its SHA-256. Check anything that matters against that file or the publisher's current release. This does not affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, as the liability section sets out. ## Using the query API and the MCP server Programs, scripts and AI agents may use the site, the files, the query API and the MCP server. The query API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. The MCP server counts each row tool call as two requests, against its own limit of 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Files have no rate limit. Do not try to get around a limit, for example by spreading requests across many addresses, and do not use the site in a way that slows it for other people. We may slow or block traffic that does. These limits apply to our servers. What you may do with data you already hold is governed by the dataset's licence. [`/robots.txt`](https://publicdata.au/robots.txt) asks crawlers not to index `/api/`, and it does not stop a program from using the API. ## Votes and dataset requests A vote is stored under a salted hash of your address and browser, and no name or account is attached to it. The [privacy page](https://publicdata.au/privacy/) sets out how this works. A vote asks for a dataset to be built sooner and does not oblige us to build it. ## Versions and changes A dated version keeps the same content once it is published. We change the files at a version URL only to correct a fault in our conversion, to comply with the law, or when a publisher asks us to remove its dataset, and we record the change in that version's notes. The site is free and may be unavailable at times. Paths other than dated versions may change, and so may the tools. We may change these terms. A change applies only to use after the date it was made, and these terms were last changed on 29 September 2026. ## Liability To the extent the law allows, National Digital is not liable for any loss or damage that arises from using the site, the data, the query API or the MCP server. This includes loss caused by our negligence and loss from an answer a program or an AI agent gives from the data. You may have rights under the Australian Consumer Law that these terms cannot exclude, restrict or modify, and these terms do not affect them. Where the law lets us limit our liability for a breach of a consumer guarantee, our liability is limited to supplying the service again. ## Governing law These terms are governed by the law of Queensland. The courts of Queensland, and federal courts sitting in Queensland, may hear any dispute about them. This does not stop you from relying on the Australian Consumer Law. If part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. ## Concerns and contact To raise a copyright or privacy concern about a dataset, or to ask us to remove one, write to [National Digital](https://nationaldigital.com.au/contact/). Errors in the serialisation go through [corrections](https://publicdata.au/about/#corrections).