Ardern Jacinda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ardern Jacinda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 06 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6266. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
5. 
JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development 
: Does she stand by her statement in relation to the Work and Income security breach that “I am going to be as upfront and as transparent as possible and I will put as much information out there as I can as we work our way through this process”? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development) 
: 
 Within the statement’s context yes. That is why we said we would respond in 2 weeks. We have released the entire Deloitte report made an extensive proactive release of the information relevant to the report and have been responding to Official Information Act requests as quickly as we possibly can. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Why will her department not contact all of the individuals affected by the Work and Income security breach? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: Because it has been following the Privacy Commissioner’s guidelines which state quite clearly: “If a privacy breach creates a risk of harm to the individual those affected should be notified. … Each incident needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis ...”. It is the ministry’s advice that it has had by working with those guidelines and also with the advice of Crown Law that they should not all be individually contacted. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: How can she or the Ministry of Social Development be sure that only two individuals accessed people’s private and personal information when in response to Keith Ng’s recent post someone noted in the comments section “when I was on one of those kiosks a few months ago I did the same thing ...”? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: The information that we have is that only two people did and that we got all of that information. I am not going to take comments from a blog as I am sure that that member will not. We have got as I said two people who have come forward; no others have. It is to the best of our knowledge that only two people accessed the information. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Did Janet Grossman receive a termination benefit upon departing her role as the head of Work and Income? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am not sure and I am at a loss to know how—if the member could maybe reword the question to make it obviously relate to the primary question. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Did Janet Grossman who was head of Work and Income during the period that the kiosks were rolled out receive a termination benefit upon departing her role? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: Well the chief executive and the State Services Commissioner are responsible for all employment issues. It is not the responsibility of a Minister. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Why was it not an operational matter on 14 June 2012 when in this House she said in relation to Grossman’s departure “her husband has had job opportunities in the UK and she wishes to return back there. That is the reason for it.”? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: I understand that the member might have pre-written her questions but I did not say it was an operational matter—and I am responding to it. I did not say it was an operational matter. What I said was that employment issues around payouts are the responsibility of the State Services Commissioner and the chief executive so she should listen to my answers. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Minister has been inconsistent in what she chooses to answer— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The Minister disputed part of the member’s question and said that what the member had included in her question was wrong. I was about to get to my feet and interrupt the Minister because I thought she was not answering appropriately but she actually made it very clear that she was disputing part of the question and she is entitled to do that. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Will an employment investigation into four individuals restore the public’s confidence in her department’s approach to privacy? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: I think it goes well beyond that. I have absolutely no doubt that public confidence in our ability to hold information has been shaken. We stand up and take responsibility for that. We need to fix it. It is going to be evident in the work that we do to restore that faith in us which needs to be done. It is not just about four individuals.