McClay Todd: Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McClay Todd: Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 08 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:246. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 Kia ora. Can I start by saying it is a pleasure to stand and speak on such an important bill the Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill. I think it is a very important bill for this House. The implications of it as and when it enters into law will be important for many of the vulnerable children in New Zealand who until now we read about in our newspapers and who become statistics—and very sad statistics they are.  
Can I start though by recognising the New Zealand First members who gave their maiden speeches today and saying that I enjoyed all of them. In particular I remember 3 years ago when I and some of my colleagues were here making our maiden speeches. Interestingly not everybody on our side of the House was able to make their maiden speeches then. I note it is the same with New Zealand First; some made theirs 40 or 50 years ago. But it is good to see the new members who are coming here and I look forward to working closely and productively with them in the coming 3 years. [ 
Interruption 
] Yes I will be in trouble for that one.  
Can I say that the debate so far in this House has been a very worthwhile one because it has not focused just on the issue of privacy or on the concern people have about their private information; it has been about how we protect vulnerable New Zealanders and vulnerable children. Actually for me that is really what the important part of this bill is about. Now we have legislation in place but we need to reform the current information-sharing regime. We need to do that because importantly Government departments and Government agencies need to share this important information more efficiently and in turn need to provide a better service to those whom they serve to make people safer. We need these agencies to focus on vulnerable people and vulnerable children and to make sure that those who can be provided with greater protection and assistance are provided with that assistance.  
Our hard-working Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett is in other parts of the country talking about the green paper on vulnerable children. She is in Dunedin today is she? Good for her but can I say she was— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member should not refer to the absence of members from the House. All of us at one time or another are away. 
TODD McCLAY 
: Good Mr Assistant Speaker. So before the House came back into session the honourable Minister was in Rotorua. We held a meeting in the Plunket tearooms there where actors from the community involved with helping vulnerable children came together and with almost a single voice they asked for greater information-sharing. They said that the more information that is shared the better they can do their job and the more young people they will protect. Now although this bill maybe does not go to the length that they were asking for—and I know that the Minister has taken their requests as part of that consultation seriously—what this bill will do is allow important agencies to share information when they believe it is critical and will protect our children.  
I want to conclude here just by saying this is a balance and I recognise the position of the Greens. This is a balance between the right to privacy of personal information against the need to protect vulnerable people. Now I am personally probably willing to give up some of my privacy or protection of private information if it saves even one young person’s life. But the very good news in this legislation is that there are safeguards built in. I do not believe that people will be giving up information that they would not want to otherwise and the focus—as other members have spoken of earlier in the debate—is about how we can better use information that is available to protect these New Zealanders so our agencies can do a better job so we can protect our vulnerable children. I look forward to the committee working diligently through this process. Thank you.