The confidential files of Northern Territory families department clients and staff were accidentally sent to the Alice Springs recycling shop during an office relocation, where they were found by a member of the public, the government has revealed.
The documents included domestic violence orders, child protection cases, court orders, a child death file, the bank details of an employee, and other files containing the names of protected children, carers, and prospective adoptive parents.
An internal inquiry discovered not all files were recovered during the initial effort, and the government could not guarantee that no third parties had obtained the information because it was accessible to the public for up to 48 hours. It is still not sure all records have been recovered.
A media release from the state Department of Children and Families on Tuesday noted the internal inquiry and a subsequent external review had determined the incident was “accidental”.
However, those reports also identified numerous failings in the process and handling of the information itself and the response to the dumping, as well as potential breaches of information and privacy legislation.
According to the redacted inquiry reports, in April a contractor mistakenly took at least three filing cabinets along with other furniture to the Alice Springs waste management centre for disposal.
Interviews with staff said the three metal cabinets were marked and in a locked room, but the inquiry also heard “consistent” evidence of chaotic organisation during the moving and refurbishment process.
Those cabinets contained information and documents from the offices of the out-of-home care team, the professional practise team, and the courts team, dating back to 2009. The records of 46 client and/or staff members were retrieved but more people could be affected if named as third parties in the documents.
The loss of the cabinets went unnoticed for three to five days until a couple inspected them at the tip’s recycling shop on 23 April and recognised the nature of the documents.
They alerted shop staff, who removed documents and placed them in boxes. They also alerted Territory Families and the office of the treasurer. Departmental staff attended the following day.
Staff removed 12 files on clients or staff on the Monday, but a subsequent visit by a manager found at least one – containing court records for a client – had been left behind inside a drawer.
In coming days further client files from different storage cabinets were found in a wood pile at the back of the dump.
Investigations were also unable to confidently identify how many cabinets had been accidentally taken from the office or how many had been publicly accessible because no inventory was prepared before the move and contractors didn’t keep sufficient records of their trips to the tip.
A retrospective inventory by the contractor estimated 10 filing cabinets were in the office before the relocation. “Not all of the items were retrieved to ensure no further client information remained in them,” the inquiry found.
The inquiry also criticised the fact some of the documents were up to eight years old and should have been archived in secure storage “long ago”. An external review found the internal inquiry to be “thorough” and any gaps in its findings were due to the disorganised nature of the office relocation.
“In my opinion further investigations may obtain some additional information,” the report said. “However, they will not provide certainty that all records disposed of at the [waste management centre] have been recovered. At best those investigations will allow [Territory Families] to advise that it has done everything possible to investigate the information loss.”
The department’s chief executive, Ken Davies, is in the process of contacting every individual affected by the breach “to apologise and provide information regarding this incident and their right to complain to the NT information commissioner”, and seven of the eight recommendations made have already been completed.
“Territory Families apologises for any concern this may have caused,” the department said.
