Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Madam Chair. That's a very important question that David Seymour's asked but there's also another important question which the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa has asked the Minister in a letter that they sent on 25 July to Hon Dr David Clark the Minister of Statistics. They are concerned Minister that this bill dangerously conflates two separate types of Government data: official statistics and the unspecified data gathered as a result of Government agency activity.The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa which we assume includes many many professional people who work in statistics who work in libraries—in fact they represent 195 institutions and 1125 library and information professionals Minister—have asked for the bill to be withdrawn altogether because of its dangerous conflation of two separate types of Government data. What they've said is Look please remove the powers to gather data for research" covered in Part 3 Subpart 3. They said "The bill should provide for updates to the current regime for official statistics and then work on an exposure draft of a bill to govern the access and gathering of data for research purposes." Because there are legitimate reasons why we'd want to research things going on in New Zealand and why Government agencies which collect information—whether it's about the environment transport or agriculture for example—why it may be important to have access to that data.So the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa has legitimately asked Minister with respect to Part 3 Subpart 3 to remove the powers to gather data for research as a proposed amendment to the bill. They do point out Minister and I'd like you to respond to this in 1976 when considering the Wanganui Computer Centre Bill Parliament recognised the danger of intersecting data collections and required there be a policy committee to provide oversight and governance of the computer centre. The committee was to consist of Government agency CEOs as well as external representatives from the New Zealand Law Society and the New Zealand Computer Society.Now the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa believes that New Zealand's gone backwards in understanding and mitigating the risks of access to this kind of data at a time when other Governments have moved forward. So the question that the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa has and that the ACT Party has is would you look at the Australian Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022 for an approach to data oversight? That Australian Act creates a commission and an advisory board to look at applications to use Government data for research. The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa believes that's an appropriate approach to data and research in New Zealand and this organisation represents over 1100 professionals and 195 institutions including many people who work in Government who work in agencies Minister.So could you please respond to that—to remove the powers to gather data for research as suggested and the concerns around the separation of research and statistics data. What provisions were previously made in 1976 under the Wanganui Computer Centre Act; why are those controls those restrictions those safety mechanisms not included in this bill; and what would the Minister say to simply taking on the best aspects of the Australian Data Availability and Transparency Act?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK (Minister of Statistics): Thank you Madam Chair. The burden of the first part of the member's contribution covered Subpart 3 of Part 3 which relates back to the rather lengthy debate we've already have on clause 22 so I won't traverse that again. But the question the member asked toward the end about the Australian framework I think is interesting and has not been canvassed at length here. Certainly I've had a conversation with Sir Geoffrey Palmer who encouraged me to have a look at the Australian Act. My research in that area has come back to the point that actually that Australian Act—the relevant legislation in New Zealand that covers off those same concerns as the Privacy Act. The sharing of data is governed by the Privacy Act here. So the Australians have put that in a different Act but we have the equivalent protections."