Mallard Trevor: Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mallard Trevor: Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 19 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7934. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) 
: 
 This is a very very important bill and I regret the fact that the Minister in charge of the bill has not seen fit—has not seen fit—to take the chair in this particular debate. She is a Minister— 
Tim Macindoe 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. This senior member knows better than to draw attention to the absence of a member from the Chamber. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Speaking to the point of order— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No the member did not draw attention to the absence of a member. He did not say the member was not here. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I regret the fact that the silly Opposition whip just drew attention to something that we are not allowed to draw attention to. [ 
Interruption 
] Well no he is not. He might be the Government whip. He might be the Government whip but he will be the Opposition whip pretty soon. He will be the Opposition whip pretty soon. 
 The reason I regret that the Minister in charge of the bill is not in the chair is that she is the House’s expert at breaching people’s privacy. She is the Minister who has a lot of expertise at breaching privacy all over the place. Her record is appallingly bad and no one knows that better than Nick Smith who is currently sitting in the chair. It was as a result of her breaches of privacy that he had a spell on the reserves bench. It was as a result of Judith Collins’ breaches of privacy that he had a spell on that reserves bench. 
Labour does believe in an effective and efficient public sector. We do need to share information properly but we have also got to make sure that we trust the people who are sharing that information. At the moment I see no indication whatsoever that the people of New Zealand trust Paula Bennett who breaches beneficiaries’ privacy deliberately and repeatedly. They do not trust Steven Joyce they do not trust the Prime Minister Hekia Parata breaches people’s privacy all of the time but Judith Collins is probably the worst of the lot. 
It is fair to say that this bill takes a very piecemeal approach to this issue. It may not stand the claims that have been made about the need for it. In particular there is no sign whatsoever that it will do much to enhance the protection of vulnerable children. That is one of the very first questions that should be asked when people are considering this sort of legislation: as doctors are meant to do first do no harm. And there is no evidence yet that this bill does no harm. 
The Government has a habit of doing very low-quality cherry-picking in this sort of area. It is an area that does need comprehensive reforms. One needs only to look at the Official Information Act and the Government’s response to the reports on the Official Information Act and its prioritisation of issues here to indicate to the House to everyone that it places a very low priority on the privacy of individuals’ information. The Government cites the current fiscal environment as a reason not to do wholesale and proper reform but it cherry-picks it picks the bits that it wants. It actually picks the bits that will lead to less sharing of information and not more and that is just not good enough. 
The Government is in particular trying to hide a lot of information around how badly the economy is doing. What we need to do is to have a comprehensive piece of legislation. In March last year it was revealed that ACC had sent the private information of 6748 people to Bronwyn Pullar. That is but one incident.