Hughes Gareth: Privacy Amendment Bill Tax Administration Amendment Bill Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hughes Gareth: Privacy Amendment Bill Tax Administration Amendment Bill Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Sitting date: 21 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:8122. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
GARETH HUGHES (Green) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Speaker. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. I rise to speak on the privacy legislation arising from the Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill. It is an important issue and one that it is urgent our Parliament address. It is a good example of how modern technology and the way our country our Government and our politics have changed and it is important we deal with this privacy issue. It is clear that this country this Government has a systemic problem when it comes to dealing with privacy. It is a problem that has been growing year after year and it is a problem where we do not see the solutions that are going to be effective at protecting Kiwis’ privacy and protecting their interests. It is important we get this right and that is why the Greens are opposing this piecemeal piece of legislation. 
I am going to take just a short call after our primary speaker Jan Logie to explain why we are opposing this legislation. It is important we get it right and the Green Party fears we are not getting it right with this legislation. In fact we fear we are going about it in entirely the wrong way. We are putting the cart before the horse. The stated intention of this legislation is to try to undertake to accomplish the goals of the Government’s Better Public Services. The Government is wanting to cut money from public services and this is why we are seeing this law. 
We are not seeing a law to protect our privacy. We are not seeing a law to strengthen our privacy legislation. We are seeing a law where the Government wants to save a bit of money in the Public Service and it needs to make this consequential change. So we are doing it the wrong way. We should be listening to and heeding the call of the Law Commission. We had what was considered a landmark report from the Law Commission. It put a great deal of effort into it because what we know is that respected bodies like the Privacy Commissioner have said we have a problem. 
The Privacy Commissioner has described this year as the year of the privacy breach. So it was good that the Law Commission did a great deal of work on it. But it is ridiculous that in passing information-sharing legislation we are not undertaking the recommendations from that Law Commission report. The Law Commission in its report wanted to see a strengthened enhanced and more powerful role for the Privacy Commissioner. 
I acknowledge that in this piece of legislation we have in front of us there is a consultative role for the Privacy Commissioner but let us strengthen that role. It is a valuable office an important one and we should be empowering it. The Law Commission in its recommendations recommended that the Privacy Commissioner and the office should be able to issue compliance notices and undertake an audit of an agency’s practices and systems. Those are two very good recommendations. 
I heard the member Maryan Street say that what we should be doing is undertaking a review of the Privacy Act in its totality. We agree entirely because it is important we get this right. It is important we take a substantive comprehensive overview so we can look at that Law Commission report and discuss an enhanced role for the Privacy Commissioner. But here we are passing piecemeal legislation. There are some positive aspects in it. Others we do not agree with such as the limited role for the Privacy Commissioner in overseeing it. 
The Green Party supports having better public services. We support efficiencies where they are not limiting public services. We support information sharing and that is why we are supporting common-sense initiatives like the Electronic Identity Verification Act and the igovt system so we can have easier and more effective engagement with Government departments. But this is not the way to go about it. 
I think it is symptomatic that when it comes to privacy Kiwis just cannot trust the Government. They just cannot take it seriously. When you look at the list of the privacy breaches we have seen in our country over the term of the 4 years of the National Government you see confidential police documents going to other businesses. We see a whole range of breaches from the Inland Revenue Department to the Ministry of Education’s Novopay. We see Ministers like Hekia Parata breaching privacy in letters. 
And then we see the Minister with what has to be the most enviable track record of privacy breaches possibly in our modern democracy the Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett. Here we see a Minister who is flaunting and breaching privacy. It is not that she is not apologising; it is that she says she will do it again if she feels it is within her political interest and that is absolutely outrageous. That is why Kiwis do not trust this Government on privacy. That is why we cannot take it seriously. That is why we need to go back and review the Privacy Act and do it right the first time. That is why the Greens are opposing this legislation today.