OFFICE OF THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER Northern Territory

• Publications & Decisions
  • Decisions and case notes
  • Guidelines
  • Information Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Annual Reports
• Correcting Information
  • Making an application
  • What will the organisation do?
• Privacy
  • Collection of information
  • Use and disclosure
  • Management of information
  • Openness
  • Making a complaint or inquiry
  • Text of the Information Privacy Principles (IPPs)
• Complaints & Appeals
  • Complaints to the Information Commissioner
  • Information Commissioner's approach
  • Appeal to Supreme Court
  • Internal Review
• Freedom of Information
  • Making an access application
  • What does it cost?
  • What will the organisation do?
  • Exemptions from disclosure
  • Public interest test in exemptions
  • Alternatives to FOI

Special rules for some information and organisations

Codes of Practice

An organisation can apply to establish a Code of Practice that may supplement, vary, or act in place of, the Information Privacy Principles.

Grants of authorisation

An organisation can apply to the Information Commissioner to authorise collection, use or disclosure that would otherwise be in breach of the Information Privacy Principles 1, 2 or 10.

Exceptions in the Information Act

Courts and tribunals
Government Owned Corporations and Government Business Divisions
Law enforcement agencies
Research
Public documents

Courts and tribunals

The Information Act does not apply to:

• a court in relation to its judicial functions
• a tribunal in relation to its decision-making functions
• a coroner in relation to an inquest or inquiry
• a magistrate or justice in relation to a preliminary examination (s.5(5)).

The Information Privacy Principles do not apply in relation to a proceeding or other matter before a court or tribunal (s.69).

Government Owned Corporations and Government Business Divisions

The Information Act applies only to personal information held by:

• PowerWater
• the Territory Insurance Office (TIO)
• any other government owned corporation (GOC) or government business division (GBD).

You can apply to these organisations to access or correct personal information about you, or complain that one of them has interfered with your privacy. But you cannot apply to them for access to non-personal information they hold.

PowerWater is currently the only Government Owned Corporation.

NT Government Business Divisions listed by the Treasurer in the Appendix to the 2006-07 Budget Paper No.2 were:

• Construction Division
• Government Printing Office
• Data Centre Services
• NT Fleet
• Territory Discoveries
• Territory Wildlife Parks
• Darwin Bus Service
• Darwin Port Corporation
• Northern Territory Treasury Corporation.

Law enforcement agencies

A law enforcement agency is not required to comply with an IPP if the agency believes on reasonable grounds that non-compliance is necessary for the purposes of one or more of its or another law enforcement agency's functions, including the following:

1. to prevent, detect, investigate, prosecute or punish the commission of an offence against a law of the Territory or any other offence or breach of a law imposing a penalty or sanction for a breach;
2. to manage property seized or restrained under laws relating to the confiscation of the proceeds of crime or the enforcement of those laws or orders under those laws;
3. to execute or implement an order or decision of a court or tribunal, including to execute warrants, to provide correctional services and to make decisions relating to the release of a person from lawful custody;
4. to locate missing persons and next of kin;
5. to provide services in emergency and disaster situations;
6. if the agency is the Police Force of the Northern Territory - its community policing function. (s.70)

Also, there are a number of exceptions to IPP 2 which allow use or disclosure of personal information for law enforcement purposes.

Research

IPP 2 (Use and Disclosure) does not apply to the use or disclosure of personal information:

• by a public sector organisation
• in connection with a function or activity
• of the organisation
• that involves compiling statistics or conducting research; and
• the statistics or research is not published in a form that identifies a person (s.71).

It is important to note that any other relevant Privacy Principles continue to apply.

Local authorities

The Information Act does not apply to local authorities until 1 July 2005.

Public documents

The FOI and Privacy provisions will not usually apply to information that has been published or that is otherwise publicly available (s.12, s.68).

Last Updated on
1 June, 2010