Cookies and what this website does
This page covers one thing: what happens in your browser while you are on this site. It is separate from our Privacy Policy, which is the formal document required by Australian Privacy Principle 1 and covers everything else — what we collect when you become a client, who else sees it, how long we keep it, and how to get a copy or complain. Where this page and that policy differ, the policy governs.
Looking for the formal policy? Read the Guideway Privacy Policy (PDF). Looking for the setting that controls analytics on this site? It is immediately below.
Your choices
These control what this website does. They live in your browser, so they apply to this browser on this device.
Current setting on this browser
With JavaScript switched off, no analytics can run at all — the tag that would collect it is never loaded.
Beyond the website, you can ask us at any time to stop sending you marketing, to give you a copy of what we hold, or to correct something that is wrong. Those are rights under the Privacy Act, not favours, and they are covered below.
What this website does
Worth saying plainly: Australia has no cookie-consent law. There is no local equivalent of the European rule requiring consent before a cookie is set. The Privacy Act applies here only where the information is personal information about you — which an IP address can be.
We ask anyway. Partly for that reason, partly because our insurer’s risk review asks for it, and mostly because loading a tracker on somebody before giving them the choice is not how we would want to be treated.
Cookies and storage
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Needs consent |
|---|---|---|---|
| gw_consent | Guideway | Records the choice you made here, so the site does not ask again on every page. Twelve months. First-party, and mirrored in your browser’s local storage. | No — strictly necessary |
| _ga, _ga_… | Google Analytics 4, through Google Tag Manager | Counts page views and link clicks so we can see which pages people actually read. Assigns a random identifier to a browser. Not used for advertising. | Yes |
| gw_sid | Guideway | A random identifier tying the pages of one visit together, so two page views half a minute apart count as one visit rather than two visitors. Gone when you close the tab. | Yes |
| gw_seen | Guideway | A single flag recording that this browser has been here before, so we can tell a first visit from a return. No date, no history. | Yes |
If you do nothing
Google Tag Manager is not written into these pages. It is fetched by a small script that first checks whether you have consented. Until you do, the container is never requested, no Google Analytics cookie is created, and no measurement request leaves your browser.
The log our own server keeps
Separately from cookies, our web server records the requests it receives. Every website has such a log. Because it includes your IP address, which can be personal information, here is exactly what is in it.
For every visit, whatever you choose: the date and time, the IP address the request came from, the page requested, the referring site if there was one, and the browser and operating system your browser reports. If you arrived from a tagged advertisement or email link, the campaign tag comes too.
Only if you have accepted analytics: a random session identifier, whether this browser has visited before, the page title, your screen and window size, browser language and time zone, roughly how long you spent reading, and how far you scrolled.
We use the first set for security, for finding faults, and for basic questions like which pages people open. We use the second to understand how the site is used well enough to improve it. This log stays on our own server and is not sent to Google, to an analytics vendor, or to anyone else. It is deleted automatically after 90 days.
Chat, dialogs and forms
There is no live chat or chatbot on this website, and no third-party chat provider is embedded on any page. The “get in touch” button opens a dialog built into the page itself, offering phone, email or a booking link. There is no message box in it, and nothing you type on a Guideway page is captured or transmitted by us.
Two of the routes it offers do lead somewhere else, and it is worth being exact about them. Choosing email hands the address to your own mail application, or opens a compose window in Gmail or Outlook if you pick one of those — the message is written and sent by you, from your own account, and never passes through this website. Choosing book a time takes you to Calendly, which is a third party: the booking is made on their service, under their terms, and the details you give them are held by them as well as reaching us. Calendly stores and processes data in the United States, and is one of the overseas providers named in the Privacy Policy.
This site publishes no contact forms at all. Nothing you type on a Guideway page is captured, stored or transmitted by us.
A note for fund members: the Virtual Adviser service we build for superannuation funds runs on those funds’ own websites, not on this one. If you use one there, the disclosures on that site apply.
Where this website sends information, and whether it leaves Australia
If you consent to analytics or advertising on this website, information about your visit is disclosed to Google LLC and may be processed in the United States and other countries where Google operates.
Both categories run through the same Google Tag Manager container, so accepting either one is what causes the disclosure. There are no advertising tags configured today, but the switch is real and we would rather describe it accurately than flatter ourselves.
Under Australian Privacy Principle 8 we must take reasonable steps to ensure an overseas recipient handles your information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles, and under section 16C of the Privacy Act we generally remain accountable for what they do with it. We rely on Google’s published data processing terms as part of that, and on how we have configured the service. Whether those steps are sufficient is a judgement we keep under review rather than a box we consider ticked, and you can ask us what we currently rely on. Those countries’ privacy laws are not the same as Australia’s, and you may not be able to enforce Australian law against an overseas recipient.
If you would rather that did not happen, decline both. Nothing on this site stops working, and we are not measuring you.
This is a disclosure the website makes, and it is described here because this is where it happens. Separately, the practice uses software from providers who store or process information overseas — appointment booking, video meetings, transcription and document drafting, and the education platform. Those are named, with their purpose and location, in the Privacy Policy.
Advertising and tracking on this site
There are no advertising pixels, remarketing tags, social media trackers, session recording tools, heatmaps or A/B testing tools on this website. Typefaces are served from our own server rather than from Google Fonts — a deliberate change, because a hosted font stylesheet loads before anyone has made a choice, and would hand Google the IP address of every visitor regardless of what they chose.
Direct marketing is a separate matter and the Privacy Policy covers it, including how to opt out — the unsubscribe link in any message, advice@guideway.com.au, or 1300 138 138.
Signals your browser sends
Some browsers and extensions send a Global Privacy Control signal with every request. It comes from United States privacy law and has no standing under Australian law — no Australian rule obliges us to act on it.
We act on it anyway, because it is an unambiguous statement of what somebody wants, and ignoring it would be a strange thing to do with that knowledge. When the signal is present this site treats it as a refusal of analytics: Google Tag Manager is not loaded, no analytics cookie is set, and the banner is not displayed, because a browser that has already answered the question should not be asked again on arrival. The preference centre still opens from any footer and shows you that the signal was seen.
A deliberate opt-in made in the preference centre overrides the signal, because an explicit choice is a stronger statement of intent than a browser default.
Common questions
Is a cookie banner required in Australia?
No. Australia has no equivalent of the European rule requiring consent before a cookie is set. The Privacy Act applies where the information is personal information about you, which an IP address can be. We ask anyway, because loading a tracker on somebody before giving them the choice is not how we would want to be treated.
Does the Guideway website use cookies?
Yes, but only one is set before you choose. That cookie records your own consent decision so the site does not ask again on every page. Analytics cookies, set by Google Analytics through Google Tag Manager, only appear after you select Accept. If you take no action, or select Reject, Google Tag Manager is never loaded and no analytics cookie is created.
Do you record my IP address?
Yes, in our own server log, along with the page you asked for, the time, the referring site and your browser type. Every web server records this; ours stays on our own hosting and is not sent to Google or any analytics company. It is deleted automatically after 90 days. If you have accepted analytics we also record a session identifier and some device details; if you have not, or if your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we do not.
Is the contact dialog a live chat?
No. It opens a dialog built into the page itself, offering three ways to reach us: phone, email and a booking link. There is no live chat, no chatbot and no third-party chat provider anywhere on this site. Nothing is typed into the dialog and nothing is transmitted from it. Messages reach us only when you send an email or place a call yourself.
The rest of it
Everything beyond this browser — what we collect when you deal with us, who else sees it, how long we keep it, how to get a copy of it and how to complain — is in the Guideway Privacy Policy (PDF), which governs. Before we provide a financial service you should also read our Financial Services Guide.
Last updated 1 September 2026. Guideway Financial Services Pty Ltd, ABN 46 156 498 538, AFSL & ACL 420367.