Dyson Ruth: Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Dyson Ruth: Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:639;Page:9142] 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Minister for Senior Citizens) 
: 
 There are two ways of going about things in the House of Representatives. One is to deliberately misunderstand and misrepresent proposals to scaremonger up and down the country then to vote against them. That has been the National-ACT position in relation to this legislation. There is another way of doing it and that is to recognise that there are some genuine concerns about proposals that the House is considering to look at them and to see whether they can be fixed. That is exactly what Taito Phillip Field is alluding to in his amendment. 
He said that he supports the SuperGold card initiative proposed by New Zealand First and supported by the Labour-Progressive Government as part of our confidence and supply agreement and that he wants it progressed but that some people have concerns about future-proofing access to information in a microchip. People are worried about new technology; in particular people who have not read the legislation are worried about the new technology. So to make it beyond doubt Taito Phillip Field’s amendment proposes what was basically outlined in the original Cabinet paper submitted by the Rt Hon Winston Peters. As recently referred to by Phillip Field I think that was a sensible way of putting in the law measures to address the concerns that have been raised about people’s privacy. 
But I say that those concerns have been misunderstand and misrepresented for political point-scoring only and the senior citizens of New Zealand will know that is the case because the legislation makes it very clear what information can be stored. It does not allow anything in addition to what can already be stored on a magnetic strip. Let me outline to the Committee exactly what can be stored. 
First is the cardholder’s name. Well I do not think there is a lot of risk of that being lost or identified by someone else. If a photograph is included—which is voluntary as the Rt Hon Winston Peters outlined—that provides additional security. The strip can include an identifying number assigned by the department to the cardholder—the superannuation number. It can have a number or code indicating the cardholder’s class of eligibility for the card. That does not seem a big threat. It can have an identifying number assigned to the card and—wait for it this could be the real threat to a person’s security and privacy—the commencement and expiry dates of the card and a code number for mailing purposes. 
If members read section 132A(2) of the Social Security Act they would see in the law that that is the limit of the information that can be stored without any further legislative amendment. There is no issue about breach of privacy. The legislation ensures that as future opportunities for discounts and concessions for senior citizens become available and become available only through use of a microchip we do not have to spend hours of time in this Parliament using up legislative opportunity to do something that the law already allows us to do. 
This concern is just political point-scoring by National and ACT to the detriment of over 550000 New Zealanders who are interested in seeing the outcome of this legislation rather than being scared by misunderstanding and misrepresentation. I think the progress of this bill through the House will be welcome news to all those senior citizens throughout the country. I know that having heard the entire debate they will understand that their private information is not under threat. The sole intention of this measure is to ensure that as smart technology advances they are able to access it at the earliest possible opportunity so that more concessions and more discounts can be added to the SuperGold card. 
I am delighted to be participating in this debate as the Minister for Senior Citizens and before I conclude this contribution I want to commend the determination of my colleague the Associate Minister for Senior Citizens the Rt Hon Winston Peters. This measure was one of his key pledges to the electorate prior to the last election. On day one after the confidence and supply agreement it was on our agenda for implementation. A lot of work has gone on and I acknowledge our officials in that regard as well as the select committee.