Collins Judith: Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Collins Judith: Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 12 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7756. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill be now read a second time 
. The aim of this bill is to facilitate Better Public Services and improve the way personal information is collected stored and used to help people. The bill adequately balances the need for better information-sharing with the need to protect privacy. Medical professionals social workers police civil defence and many other key service providers will be assisted to share information to help protect the lives and well-being of vulnerable people. The bill adds to the existing methods that public service providers have to provide information. Agencies will be able to decide what information they need and enter into information-sharing agreements to get it. This will address existing barriers to information flow for the delivery of public services and clarify information-sharing rules. 
The bill does two things. Firstly it removes the need for a threat to public health or safety or to the life or health of an individual to be imminent. The privacy principles will be amended to allow agencies to share information at an earlier stage in cases where there is a serious threat to public health or safety or to the life or health of an individual. That difference between a serious threat and an imminent threat can be crucial particularly when we are dealing with vulnerable people. It makes no sense for an agency to keep information about a serious threat secret simply because that threat is not imminent. Secondly the bill sets out a process for drawing up information-sharing agreements to be approved by Orders in Council. The Orders in Council will enable information to be shared in information-sharing agreements outside of the information privacy principles for specified public purposes. Private sector agencies can become parties to information-sharing agreements and share information in the course of delivering public services. This will ensure the existing barriers to information flow can be easily removed and unclear information rules can be swiftly clarified. 
The Justice and Electoral Committee has considered the bill. I thank the committee and officials and commend them for their efforts. The committee has suggested some sensible changes to the bill and the Government has adopted all of these. The committee received 20 written submissions and heard five oral submissions. Almost all submitters supported the bill in whole or in part. Half of the submitters considered that the bill adequately balances the need for better information-sharing with the need to protect privacy. Some submitters were concerned that the bill may erode personal privacy or allow too much information sharing. The committee acted on these concerns and made changes to the bill. 
The first change clarifies that an agency wishing to share information when there may be a serious threat to health or safety must consider the likelihood of the threat occurring its severity and when the threat will occur. The second change clarifies which agencies can use information-sharing agreements to share information. This includes clarifying the provisions that allow agencies to join an information-sharing agreement after it is approved. The third clarifies that a lead agency must make the most up-to-date version of an approved information-sharing agreement publicly available. 
 The bill has also been reordered to make it clearer and easier to navigate. The committee also made technical changes that will better achieve the bill’s policy intent. I would like to acknowledge the input of the Law Commission and the Privacy Commissioner into this bill. The policy foundations that the bill rests upon have proven to be solid. The Law Commission can take much of the credit for this as the concept of the information-sharing agreement came from its briefing paper. The Privacy Commissioner has also played a valuable support role providing expertise and ensuring that privacy is adequately protected. 
At the appropriate time I intend to table a Government Supplementary Order Paper to make three further amendments. The Supplementary Order Paper will build on the changes made by the Justice and Electoral Committee which was previously chaired by my colleague Mr Tim Macindoe. The first amendment allows the New Zealand Transport Agency to be a lead agency. The New Zealand Transport Agency holds a significant amount of information and should be able to lead the development of information-sharing agreements. The second amendment will allow the Department of Internal Affairs to use information-sharing agreements to share births deaths marriage and relationship information. This amendment enables a recommendation of the “Person A” ministerial inquiry to be implemented. Teachers whose history of offending has been hidden or who have changed their names will be able to be picked up. The final amendment will remove any doubt that improved information-sharing agreements can be used to deliver public services whether those services are established by Government policy or by law. 
It is intended that the bill will be divided at the Committee of the whole House stage. One bill will amend the Privacy Act. The other bill will amend the Tax Administration Act so that the Inland Revenue Department can share information with other Public Service providers more effectively and efficiently. The bill has the support of the Privacy Commissioner. As the commissioner noted in her submission the bill is a “fine balance between providing … flexibility … and ensuring that privacy considerations are given due weight.” I commend this bill to the House.