TEWLS recognises the importance of, and is committed to, protecting and upholding the privacy and rights of individuals TEWLS deals with in relation to their personal information.
Women who come to TEWLS for help are entitled to the highest standards of confidentiality and privacy in relation to the information provided to us.
Private or personal information is any information that can be used to personally identify a client or somebody using this service and seeking legal advice or assistance.
When collecting, using, disclosing, storing, securing and disposing your personal information, TEWLS adheres to the requirements of the Information Act 2002 (NT) and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), which includes the Australian Privacy Principles. The Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.aoic.gov.au.
TEWLS operates to ensure privacy for clients when we receive sensitive or personal information. TEWLS has an internal Privacy Policy to this effect. TEWLS collects personal information, like your name, address, date of birth, email address, phone and fax numbers, that you consent to giving and stores this information either electronically and/or by paper file. We collect information relevant to providing our services to you, your legal matter and statistical de-identified information for reporting and funding purposes.
TEWLS will always seek your authority ( permission or consent) before releasing and discussing any personal information you have shared, unless a Court order and/or legal professional practice laws require otherwise. When we collect personal information, we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it.
TEWLS staff and volunteers are legally required not to disclose information you give to any other person, except to other TEWLS employees and solely for the purpose of providing legal services.
TEWLS also takes reasonable steps to ensure personal information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
TEWLS takes reasonable steps to ensure that personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, up-to-date and complete and relevant. If you know that the information we have is not up to date or is inaccurate, please advise us as soon as practicable so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you.
TEWLS staff and volunteers are subject to mandatory reporting of both domestic and family violence and child abuse under Northern Territory law.
Personal information, whether stored electronically or on paper, is kept securely, archived and destroyed after six (6) years by TEWLS. TEWLS will not keep any of your original documents. A client may request access to their own personal information held by TEWLS. This would generally be accommodated, providing release of the information would not infringe on the privacy of another.