Barker Rick: Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Barker Rick: Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:647;Page:16117] 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 I want to respond to a couple of things. Firstly National Party members have said there is no problem with identity theft. Let me give them but four quick brief examples. 
Sandra Goudie 
: Directly related to information from—accessed from—births deaths and marriages registers. 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: Well let us start with the member who is sitting just along the bench from that member the member for Hamilton East David Bennett. He wrote to me on 15 October 2007: “Dear Sir We have been approached by a constituent Andrew Hansford. Please find enclosed a copy of his authorisation form. Recently Andrew’s brother was able to obtain a copy of Andrew’s birth certificate by filling in a form and paying a $26 fee. He was then able to obtain a driver’s licence from the birth certificate. Could you please advise if there are any plans to make requirements more stringent when obtaining a birth certificate in order to reduce the opportunity for identity theft?”. That letter was from David Bennett who is in the same caucus as Sandra Goudie. 
Now let us look at question for written answer No. 1503 in 2008 in the name of Sandra Goudie to the Minister of Internal Affairs: “How was the birth certificate of a dead New Zealand girl obtained by Laurelyn Smith?”. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: Who was this from? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: This was from Sandra Goudie who said this was a complete surprise. This was in February 2008. Although the member has condemned the bill because she says there is no issue with stealing identity and identity theft and there is no problem with untrammelled access to the records she wanted to know how a person got that birth certificate. How bright is this? It shows why she is the intellectual genius of the National Party. 
There are just two other examples—very important examples—and they relate to the two Israelis who came here and got false passports. They did so on the basis of ransacking our births deaths and marriages records. They obtained all of the records gained access to all of the information and recreated their own identities in order to steal a New Zealand passport. They stole people’s identities to gain a New Zealand passport fraudulently. 
Now Sandra Goudie says that this is no problem. People can steal records she is still trying to figure out how people get access to the records and beside her is a member of Parliament who said: “… Andrew’s brother was able to obtain a copy of Andrew’s birth certificate by filling in a form and paying a $26 fee. He was then able to obtain a driver’s licence from the birth certificate. Could you please advise if there are plans to make requirements more stringent …”. I say to David Bennett that yes there are. 
We agree with the member that there is an issue with unrestricted access to the births deaths and marriages records. There has to be a balance between access and restrictions I grant him that. What we have at the moment is open access with no record of who has been into the records. In this legislation we are saying that identity theft is important to all New Zealanders. As the Government requires people to put important information forward to the registers the Government is therefore required to have some record of what happens to that information and we have struck a new balance. 
I want to thank those members who made a contribution to this debate to find the best balance this Parliament can get. But I have to say to National Party members that if they are going to continue to deny there ever is a problem then they are never ever going to see that there is a solution. If Sandra Goudie wants to know what the problem is I suggest she moves two seats along to sit next to David Bennett and asks him to tell her about the situation that occurred and that she would like to know because she is struggling to find out what the problem is.