Ngaro Alfred: Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ngaro Alfred: Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 19 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7939. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ALFRED NGARO (National) 
: 
 Kia orana Mr Chair. I want to echo the sentiments of my colleague Mr O’Rourke who is on the Justice and Electoral Committee especially when he spoke about the concerns around breaches to privacy. We know that any breach of privacy not only is invasive for a client but also can often leave them vulnerable. So with that concern in mind it has been really important in our select committee to ensure that in the conversations and in listening to submissions we had a balance around the safeguards so that there was a balance of privacy as well as of flexibility. We know that importantly information sharing enables agencies to work together to examine and to understand the customer’s needs as a whole. 
I was honoured to be at the consultations and engagements for the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children. What constantly came out through a number of the providers that were there was the importance of the barrier through which information was not readily shared. Although we have talked about the breaches of information we do not often talk about the benefits that information sharing has. In fact I want to echo some of those benefits in regards to this bill the Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill. 
On the other side there was some scaremongering and David Clark was hearing people on the other side who were talking about the breaches but can I echo the words of some of the submitters. The New Zealand Medical Association Age Concern the Privacy Commissioner and the Nova Institute were clearly supportive of the current safeguards that the bill contains. This is straight from the horse’s mouth—from the people who actually work with the real people not just the people in ivory towers. The Privacy Commissioner noted that the safeguards were mutually supporting and that none of them should be reduced. 
We also consider that the protections in this bill strike a workable balance. The protections are not too onerous for agencies that wish to have information-sharing agreements and ensure strong practical privacy safeguards so that people can be certain that the Government is acting as a trustworthy steward of their information—and stewardship is an important part of that. 
I again want to echo the words from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner which noted in its submission—so just listen to this Mr Prasad—“The framework in the Bill provides a package of safeguards which are practical and mutually supporting. The bill currently represents a fine balance between providing the flexibility agencies are requesting and ensuring that privacy considerations are given due weight.” These are submitters that work in the industry. These are agencies that deal with information and the sharing of information and want to strike that balance. Clearly they are indicating that we have struck the right balance. 
In order to do that there are other safeguards. In regards to drawing up information-sharing agreements agencies must consult with the Privacy Commissioner. The commissioner may provide a report to the relevant Minister on any related privacy issues before agreements are approved. The Minister must take the report into account before agreements are finalised. We have seen many situations where the benefits of sharing information have made a difference to the lives of a number of our children our families and clients who are in need. We support this bill. The bill has had huge support from agencies. We have heard them in the select committee meetings. There is a lot of scaremongering that is going on. There is a lot of talk about ACC breaches and so forth and all we hear about are the things that have gone wrong rather than the things that have gone right. And many things have gone right. 
 So we do support the submissions that have come through. There have been many of them. There are a few of us who were actually there. Many of those on the other side who have spoken so far actually were not there to hear these submissions. So you know it is understandable that they do not have that sense of confidence that was given to us by the submitters as we heard them at our Justice and Electoral Committee hearings. 
Finally I want again to echo the sentiments and the support of New Zealand First in this regard. As we have seen it does strike a balance. Obviously we will be ensuring that there is a safeguard. We will be monitoring this as we do with all our legislation to ensure there are safeguards—to ensure that there will not be breaches but instead benefits to the very clients the children the families the people of our community whom we see in Aotearoa. Thank you.