Faafoi Kris: Identity Information Confirmation Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Faafoi Kris: Identity Information Confirmation Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 13 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6553. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Thank you for the chance to speak to Part 1 of the Identity Information Confirmation Bill. It is a bill that has a similar title to the previous bill discussed in the Committee the Electronic Identity Verification Bill but it sets out to do something vastly different. It sets out to combat identity theft. The crime of identity theft is not a new one but I guess that in the digital age when we have much easier access and faster access to information the prevalence of identity theft is increasing. 
Some research said that there is an average of around 2000 New Zealanders affected by online scams identity theft credit card fraud and viruses each day. We have already heard from one member from across the Chamber Mr Chris Auchinvole about his personal experience when his bankcards were swiped. Unfortunately for him being a victim of crime the perpetrators sought to max out his credit card. He said on the record that he was the recipient of many final demands for the fun that the criminals had with his credit card. But it is a serious issue. In 2008-09 there were some statistics to show that there were more than 7000 incidents of fraud and false pretences using bankcards. In 2009 the police identified 900 cases of identity fraud here in New Zealand but they thought that that was just a fraction of what was going on but not being detected. That was some 3 years ago. 
I think it was my colleague the Hon Ruth Dyson the able chair of the Government Administration Committee who said that these people are trying to use common situations to steal identities. That is what this is really all about. It is about the use of things like passports or other documentation that contains the basic details of an individual to steal an identity and make use of that person’s assets or their potential. 
I think for the confidence of the New Zealand public which my colleague Clare Curran has mentioned earlier— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I apologise to my colleague but I think this bill was in the name of Nathan Guy. 
Hon Members 
: No. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Well the copy that is on the Table of the House is in his name. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: No it is in the name of Chris Tremain. That is on your Order Paper. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: Trying to pick up where I left it is inherent for the confidence of the people of New Zealand around documents like passports like birth certificates like death certificates and like marriage certificates that we do have a credible database around them and confidence in that information. I guess this bill which we have just learnt is in the name of the Hon Chris Tremain is before this Committee because the validation of that information is very important. I guess this bill opens up for private organisations such as banks if someone were to come in—if say Trevor Mallard came in to open up a new bank account and used a passport as his identifying documentation then the bank could ask Mr Mallard whether it was OK to check with the Department of Internal Affairs as to the validity of his documentation. If he said yes and it all checked out then I am sure the bank would quite obligingly help Mr Mallard open up a bank account. But if it did and it found that there was some irregularities then it could pick up an instance potentially of identity fraud where someone was trying to steal the identity of Trevor Mallard—as strange as that may seem. But it has been pointed out by Mr Auchinvole I think also that the individual has to consent for the validation of this information and I guess you would not rate your chances if your bank said “Well can we check this information.” and the individual said no. I think the bank would pretty much turn round and say “Well you can try somebody else son.” 
In terms of passports I think the confidence in those documents is very important and if people do turn up to—as an example—a bank with a passport we need to make sure that they are 100 percent secure and that we have confidence around that document. We have had in my memory in the last maybe 6 or 7 years a couple of instances where a few foreign nationals—I should say—actually got hold of New Zealand passports in a scurrilous manner. So in order to try to combat identity theft and fraud this bill seeks to allow agencies and private organisations such as banks to be able to verify the particulars that are offered up by individuals. 
Just going back to Part 1 and clause 4 which is the purpose clause—if you will just allow me to read that—it states: “The purpose of this Act is to facilitate the use of an electronic service that allows agencies to confirm identity information about individuals so as to—(a) contribute to the prevention of crime …”—we have talked about that—“and (b) ensure that agencies can use and if necessary record confirmed identity information.” I think that maybe we should potentially look at making an amendment here to clause 4(b) and make it read “ensure that agencies can use and if necessary securely record confirmed identity information.” because we have seen in recent months some concern amongst the public about the security of information that a number of Government agencies have. Again to list the number of the instances we have got the Work and Income kiosks where one individual citizen journalist Keith Ng was able to access some very delicate information—7000 files of the likes of medical records— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He could have used it for identity. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: —yes he could have it for identity—information around the fostering of children and invoices for contractors. Some pretty serious information was available to a private citizen publicly in the reception of a Work and Income office. We have also heard of the email that went to Bronwyn Pullar which contained information—[ 
Interruption 
] I am sorry. I will carry on. That information pertained to 6478 individuals and that is a lot of individuals to be contained in one email and was a serious breach of privacy. We have also heard recently in the last week around some irregularities with the privacy information around Novopay. Again this is a secondary issue for Novopay. The primary issue was the fact that people were not getting paid and then the secondary issue comes through with the fact that some staff members’ information was being given to schools where they were not working. Obviously that is a serious concern and hopefully we can get some information around that. Then Dr David Clark has pointed out on a number of occasions that the private information of around 6300 individuals was incorrectly released by the Inland Revenue Department. So I did just want to point back to clause 4 to say that maybe we should have a look at changing clause 4(b) to “ensure that agencies can use and if necessary securely record confirmed identity information.” 
But we do support this bill. We support the effort to try to combat identity fraud. As I say 2000 people a day in New Zealand are the victims of some kind of scam or identity theft and in this day and age the digital age where information is much more freely available the prospect of identity theft is much much higher. It has happened in the past. We have had one recent example in the last 2 or 3 years where someone who sat not too far away from us took the identity of a dead baby— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Is it David Garrett? 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: David Garrett. So that goes to show that although identity theft is not a new crime it is much more prevalent now because of the ease with which the information is transferred via the internet so that identity theft is much more of an issue. 
I do just want to point again to Mr Chris Auchinvole our own victim of identity theft as someone who had his credit card stolen. Was it recently Mr Auchinvole? 
Chris Auchinvole 
: No. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: It was some time ago so I am sure things may have got worse. We have within this Chamber a prime example of what can happen if people get hold of your private information and things go haywire. 
We do support this bill. We believe that it does take some good measures but again we do have some concerns around the security of information.