Faafoi Kris: Electronic Identity Verification Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Faafoi Kris: Electronic Identity Verification Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 13 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6537. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Mr Chairman I know you had a lot of choices to make. Thank you for giving me the chance to speak on Part 2 of the Electronic Identity Verification Bill. As I said in my contribution on Part 1 the public need absolute confidence in the security of the information for the igovt system to be expanded out beyond what it has operated under since 2009. As a number of speakers have said already in the debate on Part 2 there is a certain amount of unease with the public—and I think that is probably being a bit kind actually—about the ability of a number of Government departments to securely hold private information given the recent events. At the risk of mentioning these ad nauseam we have already spoken about the privacy breach in Work and Income— 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Ad nauseam. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: —thank you Mr Auchinvole—with the kiosks there. We have talked about the privacy breaches with Bronwyn Pullar with the Accident Compensation Corporation. We have spoken about the thousands of people who were affected by the Inland Revenue Department breaches. We have talked about the Novopay transgressions with some of the personal details of teachers from schools— 
Louise Upston 
: Are you talking about the specific part? Because that would be kind of useful. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: I will get to it—I will get to it. Just hold on. Taihoa—taihoa. Patience—patience. What I would like to talk about in terms of Part 2 is clauses 20A through to 21B and they are about access—access—and who is allowed to access the information that we are going to be talking about expanding within the realms of the Department of Internal Affairs and the likes of Births Deaths and Marriages and Passports. Clause 20A in relation to access says “Access to core identity information and status information. An individual may access—(a) the core identity information contained in the individual’s electronic identity credential: (b) information about the status of the individual’s electronic identity credential.” That sets out in clause 20A in terms of one aspect access to this information. 
But who is going to monitor that? That is one question I would like to have answered from the Minister in the chair the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector. Also who is responsible in the Government about giving assurances given the context of what has happened recently about the security of that information and exactly who can access that information? As I have said before we have had a number of instances and they have really rocked the confidence of the public in the ability of this Government to hold private information. In Part 2 clauses 20A through to 21B do talk about who can access this information. I want to hear from the Minister in the chair about who is going to give the assurances that this is going to be monitored and who is going to give the assurances as to how there will be any punishment if the provisions within clause 20A to clause 21B are not adhered to. 
There is a massive amount of public concern about you know the likes of Work and Income the likes of ACC and the likes of the Ministry of Education around their ability to hold private information. So we think it is only fair that we are asking these questions of the Minister in the chair in respect of access—who can access this information—and about the assurances this Government can give in the context of recent times because there is a serious lack of confidence and that lack of confidence is probably well founded given what has happened in the last 3 or 4 months. 
In terms of Novopay—that is a new one that has come out. There are a number of teachers whose personal information has been sent to an incorrect school and the media reports suggest that that gave administrators at one school the ability to access or to manipulate the finances or the pay of that particular individual. That is quite shocking given that this is a secondary issue with Novopay; it is not the primary issue with Novopay. The primary issue with Novopay as we know was the complete inability for it to meet its purpose of paying teachers on time and correctly. So that latest issue with the Novopay system is just another instance of where a Government department has really not met the mark and you have got to ask the question around governance and whether there is enough monitoring being done. 
I know there has been an inquiry into the leaks of information at Work and Income. We on this side of the Chamber hope that it is actually acted on because it is a very serious case when you have one individual who can access 7000 files of information of the likes of invoices medical records and information about children and where they are staying under protection orders. That kind of information being publicly available to any Joe Bloggs who can walk into the reception of Work and Income would shock most people and has shocked most people. Therefore there is subsequent concern around the ability of the Government to assure New Zealanders that it can be trusted with private information. 
We have had instances of Ministers quite liberally throwing around private information and that is shocking in itself in a political way but when you get instances of the average Kiwi who has done nothing and is in a very—what is the word I am looking for—vulnerable position and they have had their information— 
David Bennett 
: It’s called David Shearer—vulnerable position. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: Oh I am glad you find it funny Mr Bennett. Kiwis who are in a vulnerable position who have had family members who have committed suicide or are in protection situations—for their information to be freely available on those kiosks is a concern. That is why we are asking some serious questions and I hope that the Minister in the chair does take the opportunity to answer these questions. Who is going to access this information? Who is going to monitor the access to this information? And what is going to be done if this information is either incorrectly accessed or dispersed to people who should not have that information? That is I think given the bipartisan way in which the Government Administration Committee worked on this bill a fair enough question to ask given the times. 
Also I have just one more point on the access. There will also be provisions in clause 20B about access to photos which is in this digital age very important because if you have a legitimate or seemingly legitimate image of someone or something it lends legitimacy to someone on a social media site. So there are very tight restrictions about who can access photos that are held within this realm. Obviously if we are dealing with the likes of Passports you do not want those photos floating around too widely or to be accessed by the incorrect people because then it makes much easier the work of people who target the security of passports and we know that in recent years there have been a number of instances where that has certainly happened. So to have some clarity around that within clause 20B “Access to photograph” in Part 2 is very good and we hope that maybe the Minister in the chair could also clarify for us what the provisions might be in terms of assurances for the security of photos as well— 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: I think a new provision. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: It is a new provision? Was it inserted by the select committee? It looks like it and Ruth Dyson the chair of the select committee would know. But maybe just to reiterate the Minister in the chair could assure us around the security of those images because as I say images in this digital era are very very important. They lend legitimacy especially to official transactions and when we are talking as I have mentioned before about the likes of transactions with Passports or with Births Deaths and Marriages—I think it would probably be only in the case of Passports though—the security and the good reputation of the New Zealand passport could be seriously at risk if we do not have tight controls over who can access the images that are held within the system that the Department of Internal Affairs has. 
I want to just reiterate that we are supporting this bill but I have asked a number of questions of the Minister in the chair and I hope that at some stage during the debate on Part 2 of this bill the Minister in the chair will be able to elaborate on some of the questions that I have put to her concerning access to this information under Part 2. 
Part 2 agreed to. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.