Goudie Sandra: Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Goudie Sandra: Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:637;Page:7812] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak on National’s behalf on the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill. I commend some of the very sensible changes being put forward in it but I also have to express some grave concern about the bill. The Minister Rick Barker is quite right; this is a very very serious bill. 
What is happening here among some of the very sensible changes is the fact that the changing of the purpose of the legislation being amended the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act is being glossed over quite considerably. If we look at the original Act we see that there are only three parts to its purpose comprising paragraphs (a) (b) and (c). Paragraph (a) is about the fact that information is recorded—that is fine; that stays the same. Paragraph (b) is about access to information. The current Act allows for the ready access of information by the New Zealand public and that is as it should be. That has been a time-honoured tradition in this country. Paragraph (c) is for the provision and effect of information. So that is a very sensible purpose which is already in the current Act. 
But what is happening in this bill is that the purpose is being modified considerably. The bill now states that access will be regulated and that the provision and effect of information will also be regulated. This has very serious consequences for the public who will be absolutely dismayed by such a consequence. I am surprised that the Minister is now looking at regulating access to information and the provision of that information when the Minister’s own department states that its strategy includes the introduction of new technologies that allow greater access by applicants through the Internet. 
But that is not happening in this bill because if we look at clause 26 we see it substitutes sections 73 74 and 75 of the principal Act. In fact it will preclude all of those thousands of members of the New Zealand public who want access to information from birth death and marriage certificates which are historical records. They will not be able to access readily that historical information. Under clause 26 the changes being made to sections 73 74 and 75 of the Act are such that it will make it virtually impossible for anybody to have that ready access. 
That is the crux of what this bill is about. It is turning on its head the public’s understanding of their access to the information on birth death and marriage certificates. They will no longer have that ready access. The New Zealand public needs to wake up and to make themselves very aware of what is behind the introduction of this amendment bill. That is in spite of the fact that the Minister’s own department stated that the public would have greater access through the Internet as a result of changes being made in his department. 
I can tell members about some excerpts indicating that the New Zealand public reckon that the records are the records of the people and that the Government is merely the custodian of those records. The New Zealand Parliament has its foundation based on the Westminster system. England has a record of its ancestry that is second to none through its careful retention of its historical records and the recordings made and kept by its citizens. England has to make public records available to the people at a reasonable cost so that they have the opportunity to research freely their past and that of others. That access is freely available to them. 
I know there are some outstanding contributions to be made by my colleagues so at this point I will be happy just to declare that National will be opposing this bill on the grounds I have mentioned.