Inappropriate customer behaviour
Right to Information (RTI) and Privacy, Department of Justice (DoJ) is committed to fair, accessible, and responsive services. When a person approaches us with a request, application, or enquiry, our team responds as quickly as possible.
However, sometimes customers interact with our staff in an unacceptable way. We understand customers may be stressed, frustrated, or upset, and that people who contact RTI and Privacy have diverse backgrounds and needs.
We will likely confirm your identity at the start of an interaction to protect your privacy.
What we ask of you
Please be courteous
We ask that you communicate respectfully. Like all workers, our team deserves a safe working environment. Abusive, threatening, discriminatory or offensive communication and behaviour will not be tolerated. Our team members are permitted to terminate any unsafe or inappropriate interaction.
Please be clear
We can assist you better if we can understand why you are contacting us and the information you are seeking. We may need to ask you questions to best assist you. We understand engaging with government over matters could be distressing or challenging. Consider whether you can authorise someone to interact with us on your behalf or let us know if we can arrange an interpreter .
Please give us time to respond
Sometimes it can take a little while for us to provide you with the information you need. We value your enquiry and want to provide both a timely and accurate response. It can be confusing when people contact us via several different channels about the same matter. This can slow down our ability to respond to you.
Please be understanding
Information access requests under the Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act) and the Information Privacy Act 2009 (IP Act) are access methods of last resort and sometimes do not result in the full disclosure of documents.
The outcome of an access application decision or a privacy complaint may not be the one you were expecting, and we understand you may not be happy with the result. However, due to privacy and confidentiality there are some things that we cannot discuss.
If you disagree with the outcome of an application or complaint, you may make an internal review or external review application or progress your privacy complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner .
Abusive or aggressive behaviour will not be tolerated
We do not tolerate behaviour that is offensive, abusive, or threatening. Abusive or aggressive behaviour may include:
- rude or otherwise vulgar expressions, noises, or gestures;
- verbal abuse of a personal nature, or against a particular subset of society;
- threatening or offensive behaviour;
- threats of physical violence against a person or property.
Where this is the case, we may take steps to reduce any detrimental impact of such behaviour on our team, and RTI and Privacy’s productivity and resources.
These steps may include:
- clearly warning the customer that if the unacceptable behaviour continues, the interaction may be terminated
- terminating the interaction if the unreasonable behaviour continues after a clear warning has been given.