O'Connor Simon: Electronic Data Safety Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Simon: Electronic Data Safety Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 18 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2394. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SIMON O’CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): National does not support this bill the Electronic Data Safety Bill and neither do I. To pick up on one of the points that Tracey Martin raised she said that doing this $4.5 million inquiry would save money. Well I have seen enough inquiries over the years in different contexts. The inquiry itself I am afraid Ms Martin will eventually say: “Actually what we need to do is bring in a whole range of other experts to continue engaging with the Government.” so I do not think this is a cost saver. I think it is really good to bring you into it really—Tracey Martin: Why do you hate talking to people Mr O’Connor?SIMON O’CONNOR: What do you mean? I love it. I have spent most of my life talking to people and it is a fantastic thing.You know the people of Tāmaki are not clamouring for this bill. It would be remiss of me as a constituent MP—Tracey Martin: How do you know?SIMON O’CONNOR: Because actually I spend an inordinate amount of time with the good people of Tāmaki which is perhaps one of the reasons it has one of the highest majorities in the country. When I look across the House you do have to wonder—Jami-Lee Ross: What’s Tracey Martin’s majority?SIMON O’CONNOR: Exactly—you have to look at the number of National MPs here. The good thing is that none of that has to be leaked or broken.I do want to acknowledge Clare Curran—[Interruption]The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order!SIMON O’CONNOR: We clearly have got a data safety issue carrying on here between two members. I do want to acknowledge Clare Curran in responding to this. A member’s bill is an important thing in identifying what is an important issue. I think we on this side do see the importance of privacy which we see as wanting to protect New Zealand’s data and I think we as a Government and through the various departments take data safety very very seriously. I know that in my time working in various Government departments I was very cognisant that this is people’s lives expressed in information and this Government as I say is taking it very seriously. It was noted by an earlier speaker that there has been an increase in reported breaches. In fact that shows the increased vigilance of the Government. We are working jolly hard.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.SIMON O’CONNOR: It would be remiss of me I know—Tracey Martin: Oh no.SIMON O’CONNOR: And Tracey Martin in particular is looking forward to this continued contribution of convivial elegance I am sure.As we were finishing before the dinner break I was stressing that the National Party is very keen on privacy. I think there is actually a very good story to tell here first and foremost over vigilance. I think that is indicated by the Government noting where there are breaches. I think one of the things about privacy is that we do not live in a utopian world. There are always going to be for better or worse privacy breaches in the public or private sector. It is not something we want. It is not something that is desired. If you were the particular person who has been affected you would not be terribly pleased but the nature of communications is that you have always got to leave a door open in order to allow that information to flow. We have heard from other colleagues such as the Hon Judith Collins earlier and I know that the other side know of their own situations where they have sent emails to the wrong people. But if you are going to have communication then a door as I say has to be open and there is always the chance for problems so it is about mitigating that.I think ultimately at the heart of why this side of the House is not keen to progress this particular bill is that an inquiry a discussion a committee or a looking into things is actually not going to cut the mustard. A big chunk of that is because the Government already is working in this space. We have a cyber-security plan for Government information and assets. We know that Government agencies are always already working together. We have appointed a Government Chief Information Officer. I think that is something we have learnt from other countries and have very happily appointed. This person is strongly identifying the issues and making the changes that are needed. I know that one colleague across the House talked about this whole-of-Government approach and how strange this is. Well actually the National Government knows there is strength in pulling together and by having all the departments talking in relation to the Government Chief Information Officer—Tracey Martin: That’s not what I said. I said the exact opposite.SIMON O’CONNOR: I hear someone across the House has presumed that I might have been referring to her. We are working in this space. No breach is acceptable but we also understand that breaches will happen. They are opportunities for this Government the Government Chief Information Officer and the agencies to make their systems more robust. I am very confident as I have thought about this bill and the speech tonight that we are putting the right systems in place and we continue to put the right systems in place. We are a Government that reacts accordingly and to the needs of what we hear. And if I may finish on that—oh no I have been given the signal. On that I shall finish and I am very grateful that my speech was not electronically leaked beforehand.