Andersen VirginiaVIRGINIA ANDERSEN (Labour): I take great pleasure in standing to speak in the first reading of the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill . In terms of looking at the important work that this Government continues to do it is making sure that it moves with the times and this is one of the pieces of legislation that is part of a movement towards a more user-friendly Government—a user-friendly Government that makes its information as accessible as possible to the people it serves. So this movement to make information that is recorded by the State able to be accessed is very important. It is the responsibility of the Government to make that information available. And as quite correctly pointed out by Chris Finlayson this is not a piece of legislation that could easily be described as being sexy or that fascinating but it is quite practical and is needed.Hon Christopher Finlayson: Oh the bigamy provisions are interesting.VIRGINIA ANDERSEN: Ha ha! This bill does four main things—and the fifth is not being sexy unfortunately. It re-enacts the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Act which has lapsed. It gives effect to the recommendations arising from the Minister of Internal Affairs and it is appropriate to acknowledge the work done by Peter Dunne in this area when he was the Minister responsible. It also updates and amends some of the operational provisions in the existing law. Fourthly it responds to three discrete issues raised in the Law Commission's review of the burial and cremation law.This area is interesting for the fact that it makes it more timely and accurate in terms of recording the cause of death information. It is incredibly important in the sensitive area of people trying to do research in terms of their family history whether that be whakapapa or through other interests that we know that those dates of someone's passing away are accurate. So having a change that enables those areas to be able to be relied upon whether it be for personal research or for other work for the family is very important.It's also important—to know where you come from in New Zealand if you're wanting to do research into your family—that we have a reliable source of information that people can easily access. It is for this reason that I see this legislative change under Part 4 as being a good one for New Zealanders.There are some wider areas in terms of policy objectives that are important as well—the key one being to futureproof what we are doing so that the registration of life events whether they are births deaths or marriages. Those are futureproofed so that as we change as a society the technology that supports us is moving with the times. It is good to see a Government that continues to make those changes and put them in place.It also regulates third-party access to births deaths and marriages information for authorised purposes. It is for this reason that it's good to see that privacy is also being protected. It's important when we are talking about people's personal information that we can be reassured that it is appropriately protected and being accessed by the right people and this is even more important as we move into a far more digital age.It's important to balance the public interest in access to births deaths and marriages information for legitimate purposes with the protection—at risk—of individuals and individuals' privacy interests. This is one of the ongoing tensions that we need to consider when passing such legislation: to balance the need of accessing information with protecting the rights of citizens and their private information.One of the objectives is to implement the Law Commission's recommendation for a new statutory system for notifying deaths which will improve the timeliness and the accuracy of registrations including the cause of death. It is good to see that what we are moving towards is a far more accessible time. The ability to make sure that people know where to go know how to get that information and can rely upon that information is incredibly important. Part of this work has been looking at the main changes in the bills and the definitions of birth and death information or marriage or civil union for that fact. A name change can be important when retracing information or accessing people to identify those in your family when you are going back. So making sure that we have those definitions correct is important.The bill also provides for a person who may provide a certificate issued outside of New Zealand in respect of a divorce or a marriage being dissolved outside New Zealand that the certificate relates to a New Zealand citizen or a person who is already resident in New Zealand and those changes are also important.There is a really strong aim in the bill to make sure that we are moving with the times. I am pleased to see not only the Labour Government but National supporting a move into a digital age where it is important for citizens to access information but also to protect those rights of personal information. For that reason I am pleased to say that I commend this bill to the House.