Borrows Chester: Privacy (Cross-border Information) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Borrows Chester: Privacy (Cross-border Information) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:653;Page:2340] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 It is great to be in the House on a day when we all seem to be agreeing on so much. As has been articulated by previous speakers it is interesting to see the Privacy (Cross-border Information) Amendment Bill finally come before the House after such a long preamble. It is good to see it here. It is anticipated that it will facilitate trade and give security to people who travel to New Zealand that their travel arrangements will remain private. That is a good thing. It is something that is expected when we live in such a global community and when people travel between countries with such frequency. The amendments are intended to assure our international business partners that their customers’ personal information will be protected when they deal with businesses in New Zealand. They are designed to ensure that personal data that originates overseas and is sent to New Zealand is subject to New Zealand’s privacy protection. 
It has always amazed me that New Zealanders are so besotted with privacy and at the same time so besotted with obtaining information. It is interesting to think for a moment about the debate we had on the Maori Trustee Amendment Bill when we heard that over 183000 people are unidentified while money sits waiting for them in the account of the Maori Trustee. Funnily enough information that would identify well over half of those people if not damn near all of them actually lies on Government records at the moment. If we had half a dozen police officers checking in their down time for instance the National Intelligence Application database that is held within the New Zealand Police we would find that most of those 183000 people have a firearms licence own a motor vehicle or have an interest in one have been a witness for the police or have had their name recorded or have been issued with a traffic ticket or a notice for some other infringement within the last 10 years. Their names addresses ages occupations and dates of birth would all be sitting there on the database. It would be a relatively easy matter for someone to find out just where those 183000 people are but we will never know that because we are not allowed to look. Our privacy laws prevent us from doing that. So it seems to me that on many occasions our privacy laws act against us but on this particular occasion the privacy legislation will act for us. 
I note that the Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff said on 2 July 2008 that she welcomed the introduction of the Privacy (Cross-border Information) Amendment Bill saying it would have benefits for New Zealand’s trading opportunities and would enhance personal rights. She said: “The bill will have two main impacts: first it will help ensure New Zealand law meets the expectations of our trading partners and second it will remove an anomaly so that people living overseas can access their personal information held in New Zealand. New Zealand business is operating in a global data processing economy and our data protection law needs to be recognised as stacking up internationally.” She also said: “It is important that our privacy law keeps pace in order to facilitate international trading opportunities. These changes should help to secure a finding from the European Union that New Zealand law offers an adequate standard of data protection.” 
It is important that we as a smaller country and especially in fairly tight times are able to punch above our weight as we continue to do on the international stage. That means that our systems and protections must have the integrity of those overseas and of our larger trading partners. It is important to note that the amendments dealing with cross-border data transfers aim to substantially reduce the likelihood of New Zealand being used as an intermediary for the avoidance of the privacy laws of other countries. I am sure that members can relate to the information that we have had over recent times about the lengths that people will go to in order to infringe the law in other countries by using New Zealand as a safe haven or conduit for either sending goods on to another country because New Zealand is seen as a fairly benign country— 
Sandra Goudie 
: A soft touch. 
CHESTER BORROWS 
: Or as a soft touch as my friend and colleague Sandra Goudie says. Other countries that see goods coming in from New Zealand and that see information coming from New Zealand into other countries do not take quite as much notice as maybe they should. 
The amendments also aim to increase the competitive advantage for trade between New Zealand and the European Union and other current developing trade partners. The Law Commission and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner agreed that the bill should go ahead at this time. It is good to be part of a Government that has recognised the need for this bill and that is kicking on with legislation that is not contentious at least among the bigger parties in the House. It will be interesting to see for instance just where the Green Party will go on this bill bearing in mind the stance it has sometimes taken in the past in relation to data collection and privacy information. Largely the bill seeks to enhance New Zealand’s opportunities as a trading nation. It seeks to prevent the malicious acquisition of private information and the use of that information against those whom it would identify. The Privacy Act also makes it clear that there are important trans-border dimensions to the application of privacy legislation. This bill is a useful addition to the Act. The Law Commission’s view on the bill was sought and it has indicated that it supports the bill as well. 
It is my pleasure to be able to endorse the process of this legislation which acts in New Zealand’s best trade interests and uses all opportunities it can to enhance our position as a global trader.