Another 'we didn't bother to clear the filing cabinets' inciodent, with the ABC reporting 'confidential documents including child protection information were dumped at a Darwin tip last week when the Northern Territory Families department threw out old filing cabinets'.
The documents were inside old filing cabinets discarded by Territory Families during an office clean-out Members of the public who find any of the documents are urged to come forward It is possible some of those documents are now out in the community after some cabinets were sold from the tip's on-site shop over the weekend.
Territory Families, Housing and Communities has since launched an investigation into how the sensitive information ended up at Darwin's Shoal Bay Waste Management facility. Nicole Hurwood, acting chief executive of Territory Families, said the agency believed the documents were thrown out on October 7 during an office clean-up when leftover or broken office cabinets were dumped at the tip.
She said it became aware of the mistake on Monday and arranged to have the office cabinets immediately secured and then searched to retrieve any documents. Territory Families was now working to identify and contact anyone whose private information may have been dumped at the tip by accident ...
"Agency officers have discovered a range of different documents [at the tip], including corporate documents and some child protection documents," Ms Hurwood said on Friday. "What we do know at this stage is there [was] information relating to about six families and some lists with child protection information on them."
She said the agency did not know if any of the the private documents have ended up in public hands, adding "there were cabinets sold from the Shoal Bay Recycling Centre over the weekend". "We will be relying on the public or the people who find those documents to come forward," she said, saying they should contact Territory Families' complaint line.
Hurwood indicates that Territory Families was undertaking an internal investigation to "minimise that risk from occurring again". The efficacy of that review is uncertain, given that Territory Families lost dozens of confidential documents — including a child protection investigation, a child death file and other documents regarding clients and staff dating back to 2009— at the Alice Springs tip i. They were located in filing cabinets and pedestal drawers accidentally sent to the tip during an office relocation.
