Little AndrewParts 1 and 2 schedules 1 to 3 and clauses 1 and 2ANDREW LITTLE (Labour): Thank you for the opportunity to make some comments in this stage of the Enhancing Identity Verification and Border Processes Legislation Bill. As this House has heard many times this bill has its background in the unfortunate events of the prisoner Phillip Traynor as he was originally known as a young child. He later became known as Phillip Smith and he absconded from New Zealand. A review of that incident led to the conclusion that although there were some simple preventative steps that could have been taken—such as a phone call to the person who was sponsoring his weekend release which might have prevented that absconding event—there is some benefit in changing the laws so that the authorities that are there managing prisoners or for that matter other people who are detained by the State in other circumstances have better access to information so as to better manage either their detention their temporary release or their post-release conditions. So for that reason we have long supported this bill. So hopefully this stage of the legislative procedure need not detain this Committee for too long.I did however want to draw attention to just one or two aspects of it. Part 1 of the bill makes changes to the Privacy Act. It is a very important piece of legislation. It is a fundamental right that every citizen has—that information collected and gathered by the State and other authorities is used for the purpose for which it is collected and that it is properly protected. But getting the balance between the safety and security of the community particularly when it comes to prisoners and the fundamental right to privacy is important. When it comes to the safety and security of the community and the management of prisoners and those who are at risk of absconding then it is right that the threshold against which we typically regard good privacy measures is somewhat lowered or somewhat relaxed.These changes allow the collection of information that presently is not mandated or authorised and also allow access to that information by agencies that presently do not have access to it. It is important when we are looking at lowering the threshold and the protections of fundamental rights like privacy that there are appropriate safeguards. It is important to see that in this case the access to information this new extra information must be tied to a specified purpose and that agencies that have access to information and do get access to that information then report on it in their annual reporting to this House.I do query new section 109F in clause 6 which allows through an Order in Council the change to an entire schedule to the Privacy Act which seems to me to be going beyond a desirable exercise of that power by the executive. If Parliament approved the schedule then Parliament should be the one that amends it or repeals it or otherwise changes it. I simply draw the Committee's attention to that. In Part 2 there are amendments to a whole slew of pieces of legislation largely dealing with either the collection of information—and therefore the access to it—or dealing with the agencies that will have access to the new types of information the biometric information to be gathered under this legislation. It is right that those agencies should have access to it that their power should be clearly spelt out and that there should be appropriate safeguards to it.And then finally there is the change in Part 2 to the Victims' Rights Act which creates an expediency for victims of crime who have registered a representative to take information about the perpetrator of crimes against that victim in that there may be circumstances where it is not expedient for the authorities to go to the representative and where it is important for the safety and security of that victim for the authorities to go directly to the victim to let them know there has been an escape or that there is a person who has been released to the community or has absconded and therefore poses a risk to that victim.So that is all agreed. That is understood and it is for that reason that we will continue to support this bill.