Data and Statistics Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Data and Statistics Bill.

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

I move, That the Data and Statistics Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Governance and Administration Committee to consider the bill.

It is with great anticipation that I stand here before you all today to begin the debate on the Data and Statistics Bill. Data and statistics have the power to change people’s lives. They can drive innovation; they can contribute to economic, social, cultural progress, environmental progress. Individuals, communities, and businesses use data and statistics to shape our world. I’m excited. Data and statistics can be used for many, many purposes, including to understand what’s going on for Māori, for iwi, for hapū in their particular situations. We know, for example, that Māori need to be more involved in data for our country’s future prosperity and wellbeing. Robust, impartial data can give insights that ground effective democracy and decision making, and they can also ensure that we have accountability. These things are all critical for a high-functioning democracy. Accessible, high-quality data and statistics mean everyone can participate in Government.

This bill today replaces the Statistics Act of 1975. This is an historic occasion, making sure we have modern, fit for purpose legislation that can be used to drive the changes we are seeing, to make sure that they’re underpinned by good ethical frameworks. As data becomes more ubiquitous, as it becomes used in different ways, we need the tools and modern legislation to make sure we can continue to drive change in this country that is evidence based and that can hold Governments to account for the changes that they make.

For more than 40 years, that previous Act has done its duty, and it has done a good job. It’s underpinned high trust in Government, a focus on high-quality statistics, the independence of the Government Statistician, and so forth, but this Act was written before personal computers were widespread, before social media, before the cultural changes that technology continues to drive. So while that legislation has stood us in good stead, it’s time to make sure we’ve got a new bill here, that will turn into an Act, that reflects Aotearoa’s evolving aspirations.

So there are a number of key issues that this bill sets out to resolve. The 1975 Act makes no reference to data at all. It lacks the flexibility to respond to the changes in data and digital that we are seeing. It does not provide the kinds of tools we need to boost the supply and quality of administrative data—so, this is data that’s collected for other purposes, often: for registrations, service delivery, transactions, recordkeeping. That data is becoming increasingly important and is used more widely, but the tools are not in the Act to take advantage of it to the full extent. The current Act is completely silent on the Crown-Māori relationship. It doesn’t take seriously the responsibility of the Crown to meet its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Finally, the existing Act, because of its age, makes for challenges in interpretation. It doesn’t anticipate many of the situations we find ourselves in today.

So the new Data and Statistics Bill strengthens and futureproofs our data collection framework for official statistics. It recognises the Crown’s responsibility to provide relevant, reliable, and accessible data reflecting Māori, iwi, and hapū interests, and it modernises the framework for accessing data and research. We think these key objectives are captured in the bill, and, like the old bill, it’s also strong on protection safeguards to make sure that data is used appropriately and that people who would misuse data are held to account.

Administrative data has become more and more important. It’s becoming increasingly critical because it is getting harder to ascertain the statistics by traditional methods, and particularly from some communities. So, globally, there is a move towards collecting administrative data and using it to complement the data that’s collected by more traditional methods through surveys. At the same time as it’s becoming harder to collect the data, the data is more in demand. So we have an increased need for data. We’re seeing exponential growth in the use of data to support decisions around complex environmental changes, economic changes, and, indeed, to support wellbeing issues. So there’s a need for relevant legislation that supports those changes we’re observing in society. Supported by the right framework, we could counter data challenges by realising the exciting potential for innovation and growth in statistical products and services that support that policy and investment.

The bill does play its role in strengthening the support for the Government Statistician as the main producer of official statistics and supports Stats New Zealand to become a data-first agency, an administrative data-first agency. It also provides for the Statistician to make mandatory requests for certain types of data, in certain formats as well. So these are all the tools that will support a modern data collection framework.

The bill also requires review of census. It requires that the Government Statistician take responsibility for the operation of each census. There are new statutory obligations on public sector agencies designed to improve data quality, to make sure Statistics New Zealand is informed of any changes in their collection methods, and so forth. It also clarifies that the Government Statistician can authorise departments and other agencies to collect data on their behalf, and that goes also for Māori and iwi organisations. For many Māori, data is a taonga, and the ability to collect timely data can improve and advance economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing. So the bill gives powers to the Government Statistician to, effectively, work with Māori to work out what the best way is to give effect to the Crown’s responsibility under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi and to recognise Māori interests along the way as the Statistician performs his or her functions.

Under the bill, it’s also a requirement for the Government Statistician to foster the building of capability and capacity in Māori communities. This is a significant and important and meaningful change, and the Statistician is obliged to find opportunities to meaningfully engage with Māori and meaningfully build that capacity and capability. At this point, I do want to also acknowledge the Data Iwi Leaders Group, who provided meaningful and useful contributions on early versions of this bill. I continue to work with them both through my role with the Department of Internal Affairs and looking at the coming digital strategy as well as in my role as Minister of Statistics, and I do want to acknowledge the work of the Data Iwi Leaders Group.

There are protections around access to data, the transparency of who’s using data, which researchers can access it, and also a requirement to judge whether the use of data is in the public interest. That is all a responsibility for the Government Statistician. Those tests are out there to look at the likely benefits of research, any harms that can be caused. There are protections around the anonymisation of data and so on, and there are additional protections around the use of our data by overseas-based researchers. Also, requirements around the publication of data to make sure that the benefits of using that data are shared with the wider public so that the public gets the benefit of the data that’s collected on their behalf using the taxpayer funds, the funds the Government administers, to collect censuses, to collect all that other data, and to process it.

There are, of course, appropriate protections around privacy. We can’t have a conversation in 2021 about the use of data without thinking about privacy concerns. It’s imperative that data which is extremely sensitive by nature is appropriately protected, and this bill has protections in place that govern the collection, the management, and the use of data by Statistics New Zealand and by other people that might work also with that data. So there are strong protections in place that provide the protection to people whose data is in the system. There are accountabilities for those who would use the data, to make sure that there’s not the identification of anybody that shouldn’t be identified in that process, and there is a penalties regime which is updated in the bill.

The Data and Statistics Bill is a crucial enabler for ensuring transparency and trust in Aotearoa and in supporting the decisions we make to make sure that we have progress, to make sure that we have better environmental, economic, and cultural progress in this country. I’m very excited to be updating the Statistics Act of 1975, delighted to bring this bill to this House, and I trust members of this House will enjoy the debate and support this wonderful bill.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to be talking on the Data and Statistics Bill. And I just wonder: is this as good as it gets for this former Minister of Health? And now we’re talking about these lofty issues of data and statistics! I look across the other side and I see the Minister there and I know he’s doing a good job. I look beside him and I see his other colleague, Mr Kris Faafoi, and I’m just asking myself: which is the most reforming of these Ministers, these powerhouses of the Labour Party who are just going to change New Zealand for ever? I’m just not sure which one it’s going to be! I can see Mr Penk giving me the old—anyway, anyway, turning to the bill.

Wow, I’m so glad you got through 10 minutes, Minister. That was an impressive array of trying to work out what this bill actually does. So I’m looking forward to the other considerations from the Labour members, because hopefully you’re going to have to read something before you can stand up, because there ain’t much in this bill. There’s probably two or three issues, which I’ll pick up on, but you are right: it does repeal the Statistics Act of 1975. Well done. Well done, Minister. But what does it actually do? Well, that’s where you start to wonder: what’s the big leap forward?

Well, let’s start about the purpose statement. OK, it recognises the Crown’s responsibility to consider and provide for Māori interests in data and stats—and I’m going to talk about that in a minute. It “enables more effective system leadership”. I’ll just say that again: “enables more effective system leadership”. What does that mean? That’s a great statement written by someone, but, honestly, effective system leadership in stats—oh wow; “strengthens and future-proofs the framework for collecting data for official statistics”—well, I sort of get the concept of that; “modernises the framework for accessing data for research”—yeah, good; “continues to provide appropriate safeguards and protections”—oh gee, I hope that happens, because what was the last little data breach we had just the other day? ACC was that, Mr Watts?

💬 Simon Watts: The DHBs.

Oh, the DHBs as well? OK, so they’re all very lofty statements.

So I see the issue around Māori is what, I think, is the main part of this bill, and this is about the Crown recognising its Tiriti o Waitangi relationships and responsibilities. So it’s perhaps just worth noting what these are. It is saying, “recognising the interests of Māori, including (iwi and hapū) in the collection of data, the production of statistics, and access to and use of data for research as tools for furthering Māori economic, social, cultural, and environmental wellbeing”—well, that’s good—“in the way in which data is collected, managed and used for the production of official statistics and research.” I presume that is in relation to Māori, but it’s unclear.

“The Bill includes principles for engaging with Māori including that it must be early and meaningful”—mm-hmm—“should include early discussion of the most effective ways of engaging, and should include consideration of opportunities for partnering. The Bill places duties on the Government Statistician to recognise and respect the Crown’s responsibility to give effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi … by recognising the interests of Māori when performing their functions under this Act; and build and maintain Stats NZ’s capability and capacity to understand te Tiriti o Waitangi … and the perspectives of Māori”. I would have thought there was already an existing obligation—and, presumably, is it in hand? And “engage with Māori about collecting data, producing official statistics, and using data”—and I presume what is not clear is whether that is data for Māori or for all New Zealanders.

And, finally, “foster the capability and capacity of Māori to collect and use data for statistics and research, and engage with the Government Statistician”—I presume, again, for Māori. And “engage with Māori when preparing the multi-year data and statistics work programme; … before determining how the census of population”—and I presume it’s the New Zealand population, and it’s unclear—“and dwellings will be taken and what data will be collected; … before providing written standards.”

So my first question is—the concept of Māori in this is an interesting one, and I understand what the Minister just said; he’s been relying on a data iwi leadership group, which is good. Is that going to be the group that Stats New Zealand consults with when it’s doing this Tiriti o Waitangi responsibility; or how does the Statistician go about consulting with Māori? Because, as we all know, there are many groups of Māori, and it’s unclear what that process is. The objectives are clear, but it’s certainly not clear about how that might take place. I note there’s no mention in this for any representation of Māori to be specified, and, in that light, I don’t know what reference or skills or authority the data iwi leadership group actually is that has been providing input to this bill. So that would be an area, no doubt, that many people are going to be very interested in seeing, to make sure that it is fully representative and that it is fit for purpose, as the bill loves to talk about.

The other thing is that the bill provides for greater oversight and influence on the data system by the Statistician through the establishment of a multi-year data and statistical programme. I’ve got to ask myself: if they haven’t got that already—and I’ve met the new CEO of Stats New Zealand and I’m very impressed with him—if it hasn’t got a four-year, multi-year data and statistical programme already in place, I’d be horrified. But, apparently, this bill provides for it. We’d be most concerned, wouldn’t we, all of us in this Parliament, including the Labour members, if we didn’t have it. It also gives the Statistician, apparently, powers to issue standards. Wow, that’s new! I thought they would issue standards and they have been issuing standards. And, of course, there’s a requirement for agencies to provide information on data and statistics in the form that Stats New Zealand actually requires it—that’s well covered in Part 3; that looks OK.

What it does say is that Stats will be required “to conduct a review of the operation of each census” within 12 months of operation. I already thought that there was an obligation for a review of census, and I remember the Hon James Shaw when he was the census Minister, in the lead-up to the most disastrous census that we’ve had in New Zealand, leading up to the 2017 election. The call for a review of that census was a howler—a howler—because it was such a poor census. So I already thought the Statistician had a right or an obligation to do that. Whether it’s a 12-month—if that’s the new bit in this bill, this reforming bill—well, that’ll be interesting, but I suspect it was already there. No doubt the Governance and Administration Committee is going to have a wonderful time looking at this.

The bill also proposes to remove barriers in eight statutes “that prohibit or restrict the provision of data to the Government Statistician.” Well, that’s interesting. The Citizenship Act, the Commodity Levies Act, the Education and Training Act, the Electoral Act—wow. Well, apart from that, the only other major part is that the bill is going to provide “additional safeguards when overseas-based researchers access data.” So I suppose this gives rise to “What is data?” We want to make sure that the data that Stats New Zealand collects is for the public good. If it’s not, whether it’s for Māori, or whether it’s for commercial enterprises, or whether it’s someone looking to invest in New Zealand, that should be of a public nature. So it’d be interesting to see how this is interpreted and what is meant by the legislation, because if this ends up being restrictive unnecessarily, then that will be an issue which, hopefully, again, the Government’s Governance and Administration Committee will need to turn its mind to. Unfortunately, I don’t sit on that committee.

But it has been a very useful session coming here at 9.30 in the morning to talk about this absolutely reforming bill to be passed under urgency. Just—

💬 Hon Member: Revolutionary.

Absolutely, I just can’t wait. Maybe Mr Faafoi has got another one for us this morning, but, well, what a waste of time. Why wouldn’t we be in select committee doing something much more productive.

Order! The member’s time has expired.

What a disappointment that the member’s time has expired! I was enjoying that so much as a member of the Governance and Administration Committee! Just like the Minister, I am extremely excited about the bill, and I want to acknowledge him for all the work he has done to bring it here. But there are a few pieces of information I might draw the previous speaker attention to—

💬 Hon Member: Like we’re not in urgency.

Particularly that we’re not in urgency. But specifically I want to talk a little bit about the work with the data iwi leaders around the work we are doing as a Government with Māori leaders to improve collection of data that affects Māori. If the previous speaker, Andrew Bayly, had actually looked at some of the work of the Governance and Administration Committee or looked at some of the work of the Associate Minister of Statistics, he may have actually found out that there is information in the public domain about the specific work, such as the work of Te Whata, an online—oh, look. He’s left. He doesn’t want to hear about it. [Interruption] I withdraw and apologise.

Look, this is an important bill, because over the last few months we’ve seen the importance of data and statistics, and I do actually want to acknowledge that in relation to Māori. We’ve seen the importance of that data in the roll-out of the vaccine, and our DHBs, particularly in my area, are heavily reliant on that data in terms of knowing where to put specific resource. I know that tonight they’re actually putting out our new bus to go and reach some of our Māori communities in Nelson, and they use specific data and statistics in order to inform that work. It’s incredibly important and very, very exciting to see that we are reforming this piece of legislation.

There are a couple of other things I just want to point out, having actually read the bill, particularly around the importance of privacy. It’s incredibly important in this day and age, as other speakers have pointed out, that people have trust and confidence in the data that Government collects and that Government then uses to inform decisions. One of the things I am pleased to see is that the bill continues to put in place techniques to strengthen the use of that data.

So we are very excited on this side of the House to be looking at this bill and having it go to select committee. I am looking forward to a significant number of submissions coming through from the public that I’m sure we will take time to read and digest, and I encourage members of the public, people who have an interest in this area, to please submit on this so that we can ensure the bill that comes through is as strong as possible for our communities. So, on that note, I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Oh, hang on. Let’s take this valuable piece of kit off. [Member removes face mask] I’ve got rid of that.

Now, data and statistics—I listened to the Minister, the Hon Dr David Clark, describing the reason this bill was changed from the “Statistics Bill” to the “Data and Statistics Bill”, but just before I get on to that, for the benefit of the cricket tragics on the other side of the House, of course, we’re playing in the semi-final of the Twenty20 World Cup in the morning. For those who haven’t thought about statistics, one of the most fascinating things about cricket is statistics. Actually, it’s one of the reasons that we watch cricket and that we follow the likes of Kane Williamson so closely, because, in fact, his statistics are as good as any. And, of course, I just thought I would show you, McAnulty, this tie, which I probably picked up in some nefarious place. But it’s a very useful tie—it’s a cricket tie. Of course, there’s the cricket tragic Kiri Allan; a tragic cricketer! But, just to get back to the bill, I do think that cricket really epitomises the use of statistics. If you look at the history of the sport, now I’ve got on to it, you can go right back to W.G. Grace. In fact, his statistics were as good as any of the modern era. So it’s really fascinating to go back and look at statistics.

But I want to get on to this bill. I listened to the Minister discussing the difference between statistics and data. So I thought I would look it up, and I found some very interesting things out. So statistics is the discipline that concerns the collection, organisation, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. So I’m not sure why we need to change the name of the bill, because it, effectively, is the same. But the other interesting thing I found out was that data is information collected by a census or an organ that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant information and must be proved to be meaningful. Now, that’s a very interesting description of what data is, because I took that to mean, effectively, you can effectively use poor data and make it into something useful. I’ve watched this Government in the last few months using a lot of this data, I’ve watched our health industry use a lot of this data, and I’ve never really understood where it all comes from. But it just shows how you can collect data and you can get very different results with what you started off to get.

Anyway, back to the real issue or essence of this bill. It repeals the 1975 Act, which was the Statistics Act, and replaces it, effectively, with the Data and Statistics Bill. I’ve got to say that I’m fully in support of the collection of data and statistics, but there’s a few issues I want to raise with respect to that, because I think there is a great deal of concern in New Zealand at the moment around the collection of data, and the accuracy of that, and the collection of statistics, and the accuracy of that, in many, many ways. You see, I think if you look at the way we collect statistics, or data, it’s most important that we do that in a manner that those people providing the information can trust, because if they don’t trust it, they won’t fill the information in correctly. I think also we’ve got to be very careful, when collecting and when deciding what to collect, that we collect information that is not going to, firstly, put people off supplying the correct information, that’s not going to frighten people or—not frighten, that’s a bad word—but not going to, I guess, disincentivise people from participating in society in New Zealand, that’s not going to disincentivise people from investing in New Zealand.

I think we’ve seen instances in recent times where we haven’t done this particularly well. I’ll refer to the last census, and I don’t want to get into criticising anyone as a result of the last census, but if you think about collecting data on Lambton Quay and then collecting data in, for example, Hakiaha St in Taumarunui, which is the Lambton Quay of Taumarunui, if you think about collecting data in those two places, it’s a very different set of principles you need to use to collect it. Because the things that are available on Lambton Quay and the methods you can use on Lambton Quay to collect data are totally different than they are in the main street of Raetihi or, as I said, Taumarunui. That was the problem we struck, and we strike, with a whole lot of things in this Parliament. We think that what happens on Lambton Quay can happen everywhere else in New Zealand, and it, frankly, can’t. The reason it can’t is because we don’t have either the connectivity or the facilities or even, in fact, the education to make the same things happen in other parts of New Zealand that happen in the main street.

One of the problems I think with—probably most countries in the world have the same problem. One of the problems we have with the organisation of our bureaucracy is that it’s based in a town or a city that has access to everything, and they think automatically that everyone has access to everything. That, frankly, is totally incorrect. I think one of the real problems we’ve got in New Zealand at the moment—and, I’m sure, in the world—is that the rapid increase and availability of technology and the take up of technology is just so different in parts of New Zealand than it is in other parts of New Zealand. Of course, when you go to make a thing like, for example, collecting data purely electronically, it’s just not going to work.

If I go back in my life and I think of the first kind of statistics forms I would have filled out—quite aside from what I was meant to fill out at school and probably didn’t, for the very same reason I was talking about earlier, in that unless you trust the person you’re going to supply the data to, you’re not going to supply the correct data to them or the correct statistics to them. But, to go back, the first statistics forms I really had to fill out were farming statistics forms, and it’s really quite interesting when you look at what you fill out and how you go about filling it out, because if you don’t actually draw on accurate information, you get vast differences from year to year as to what you provide. It amazes me that that Statistics New Zealand have never investigated that. Well, I suppose they have, but they’re probably not allowed to use it because the way the Act’s formulated. But if you don’t supply relatively consistent information, then you get some very big distortions in what happens. So it’s very easy for us to collect inaccurate, basically, information that you cannot any longer trust.

I think the other issue that interests me in this bill is that we are dealing with the Crown-Māori relations stuff, and the manner in which we deal with that and the manner in which we collect the information with respect to that has never been more apparent that it’s flawed than in recent times with the vaccination situation we’ve got in New Zealand, and the fact that we didn’t use—well, either we didn’t have the information or we didn’t use the information we had to plan that particularly well. We’ve only got to look at parts of my electorate right now, the Rangitīkei electorate, and see the vast difference in vaccination rates between some parts of it and other parts of it, to see that we’ve clearly not used the information we knew and the challenges that we knew would come as a result of that information particularly well. That’s how it is, and I guess that, hopefully, this bill will help to patch some of that up. But it also points out some great difficulties. I think, again, if we look at what’s going on in society in New Zealand right now, unless we can trust and have implicit trust in what’s going to happen to the information we provide and we actually value the result of providing that information, then it’s not going to be provided accurately. It’s very difficult for the Government unless it can ensure it has the trust of the people. It’s going to be very difficult for Governments to collect information that’s useful to it.

This bill is coming to—I can’t say it’s the best select committee in the House, because I’ve always said the Primary Production Committee is the best committee in the House, but it’s very close to it, Rachel, isn’t it? Very close to it. So it’s coming to the Governance and Administration Committee, and we’ll look forward to the challenge of the submissions on it. I just hope that people realise how important, actually, the gathering of statistics and, as the Minister said, data is. I think data is automatically collected actually by something up there, but statistics have certainly got to be supplied. So I’ll look forward to it coming to the select committee. I hope we do get a lot of submissions, and I think we probably will, given the challenges that we’ve seen with the collection of statistics and data in New Zealand in the last year or two, even given the recent publicity the Inland Revenue’s had about how they’re going to collect a bit of information they want. They don’t know what information they want, interestingly, but nonetheless, they’re going to collect it anyway!

So I think that’s the point I make about having trust in the collection of information: unless we actually know what it’s going to be used for and are confident in the end use of that, it’s very difficult to collect it accurately. I’d just go back to the population statistics and my time on a council where you see the projections going forward. Unless you can trust those projections, it’s very difficult to make good decisions going forward. So, I look forward to this bill making its way through the House. I look forward to the submissions on it—I think they’ll be very interesting—and I look forward to it going to a very good select committee, and those people on it will utilise it very well. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Chair—oh, Mr Speaker, sorry.

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: I call Naisi Chen.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. That shows how long I haven’t contributed in this House, but it’s great to be back.

Can I just say that this bill is hugely exciting, and I think from the contributions we’ve heard from the other side, we actually haven’t understood—I don’t think the other side has understood—this modern-day, 21st century approach to data. They still seem to think that data is still collected—yes, statistics still may be collected face to face and door to door, but today, in the 21st century, we are collecting data at a whole different level.

So that’s why, first of all, can I extend an invitation to all of the experts here in Aotearoa New Zealand on data, our data scientists, our experts in the IT field: please come and make a submission to one of the best select committees in this place—the Governance and Administration Committee—and please could you tell our chair a thing or two about how data is actually collected.

This is the month—or, I guess, two weeks ago—that Facebook announced their new change to the metaverse, although they’ve signalled that this change will be fully eventualised in 10 years’ time. But it signals that we are in a very different time already. Being in this different time, we need to make sure that our laws and legislation actually keep up with regulating things. I know that critics of Facebook’s new rebranding are saying that they’re very sceptical of why they’re rebranding to the metaverse, and some of them would say that it’s because they wanted to get away from all the scandals of their data breaches. This is why it’s so important for this House today to start to discuss all of these frameworks so that we can actually regulate the way that data is used in New Zealand for the good of our people.

During the Super Saturday campaign, we realised how important it was to have timely and accurate data so that we could put our resources into the most critical areas so that we could actually benefit all the people of New Zealand, to have that equity lens. Could I also commend the Associate Minister of Statistics, the Hon Meka Whaitiri, for her work in modernising this Treaty relationship so that we use our data for the good of our Māori people as well. It’s bringing this into modern-day New Zealand. On that note, I commend this bill to the House.

Kia ora. E te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koutou. Thank you for this opportunity to stand in support of the Data and Statistics Bill, which was largely developed by the Hon James Shaw when he was the Minister of Statistics in the last term.

After such exuberant speeches from the Government, I’m still going to say that this is actually exciting for me as well. I was genuinely surprised that I didn’t have to fight anyone in my caucus to get the statistics portfolio. This bill repeals and replaces the Statistics Act, which, of course, was very much out of date. It carries over those provisions that still apply in today’s world but brings everything into line with how the world operates now. And since, of course, the old Act is paper based, clarifying how we use digital access and the way that data is collected now, I think, will make the lives of the staff at Stats New Zealand very, very much easier. We are pleased to see that this bill introduces numerous new provisions to ensure our statistics are collected, produced, and disseminated in line with best international principles and practices.

It’s long been said that Māori are the most studied people in the world. However, when I’ve travelled around and worked with indigenous peoples in different places, they have a similar saying, and that is because studying the natives is a core part of colonisation across the globe, and even today the bulk of statistics on Māori are deficit-based: how much less educated we are; how much less healthy; how much more convicted; how many more of us in prison; and right now, how many of us are not vaccinated and how many do we need to reach 90 percent in each DHB?

We’re supportive of the bill more explicitly adding the recognition of the Crown’s obligations to Te Tiriti o Waitangi—that obligates them to serve Māori interests. We hope this means moving away from that deficit model and building on the work that Stats New Zealand have already done around Māori identity and the prevalence of te reo Māori, to look at all the ways that Māori culture and therefore Māori people actually benefit this country. The goal of engaging with Māori early and meaningfully is a good model for every law and every practice in every Government department.

We note the explicit clarification of the Government Statistician’s professional independence. This is essential because, as any researcher knows, the quality of the data is everything. It cannot be subject to the machinations of the Government of the day. There are specific provisions accounting for the anonymisation of data—again, anything that’s going for public release. People should be protected—their data, their personal information protected. Those frameworks for safe sharing: we have seen data breaches across different Government departments, and once information starts being shared in addition to that, then the chance for breaches just multiplies.

We note that the Minister of Statistics will no longer need to approve the survey work of other agencies. We really support this. We don’t think that that kind of micromanagement is necessary. We think that if a good process is set up, then the senior officials in any agency should be able to get on with the work. Needing a set data is critical to be assured of the quality of the information being shared, we absolutely agree with, especially when other decisions on funding will be made as a result of it.

In terms of privacy, we really support the transparency requirements on Government agencies to publish information on any data sharing. We should know where information is moving, and then, having done that, if people are using it for independent research and publication, that should be made clear as well so we know where that information is moving and what’s happened to it. Our main concern is around ethical considerations around State collection and use of data generally, to protect against profiling or other unethical modes of use, and, again, that’s to protect the privacy of the people whose data we’re collecting.

We very much oppose unwarranted information-sharing between State databases. While statistics are different, this concern links to those wider privacy concerns that we have. The guarantee of safety is important if we want people to share their personal information. We note that in the next census, for the first time, new questions will be in place to learn more about people who are trans, intersex, and non-binary. We want our people in our rainbow communities to trust that their information will be safe so we can actually have real data about the numbers, the prevalence, and the issues facing different parts of our communities. Government agencies have not always been there for rainbow communities, and we want to trust that this time they will be. We are relieved that the Privacy Commissioner has not raised any concerns on this draft bill, but we see a key role for him in continuing to work with those agencies as we implement this new legislation.

So the bill appears to strengthen the processes that govern data and State collection of that, and it requires them to balance the benefits of that data collection, and what they might use it for, with the cultural and ethical considerations that affect the communities and the people they gather it from. Nō reira, we commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.

Morning, Madam Speaker. The Data and Statistics Bill—what a wonderful piece of legislation; the exuberant sharing by the various members of this House and the political machinations of the Minister David Clark. My colleagues were, as you can well imagine, bursting with enthusiasm to take this off me. I think that might almost be a derogatory offering. But, going back through history, we know the importance of sharing language, collating language, numeracy. It was part of our history. It’s how we collated and shared history and referred back to it. You can go back to the Greco-Roman period, where it was put on limestone tablets and papyrus, for the Roman era. The Rosetta Stone—I don’t know if anyone here is conducive with history—

💬 Todd Muller: Yes.

—but it was a way of—well, there you go; Mr Muller is acutely aware of it. But, more recently, it’s modernisation, digitisation, and the sharing and storing of that has allowed us to access any manner of various parts of history and how they’re stored. More recently, it’s important that New Zealanders have confidence in the way that data is collected. It’s particularly important because sometimes people are forgotten—and, you know, we see it all the time. We have 60,000 students chronically absent from school—data; statistics. There you have it. We have an extra 70,000 people absent on the job seeker benefit since Labour came into power—data; statistics. This is how we use it every day.

Sadly, we have two Ministers that are absent in representing rural communities, stored through data and statistics. But the data also shows a curious thing: ACT is not absent. ACT received 13,000 votes back in 2017, and four years later, we are somewhere currently polling at about half a million—data and statistics.

💬 Hon Member: That’s right.

There you go. I think the bill is quite succinct. I think it’s been well canvassed in this House. It’s a 45-year reboot of a piece of legislation to come in line with modernisation and digitisation. Currently, there are constraints, and I think we would all understand that, based on the advent of modern technology and how we use it. The ability to coalesce, collate, collect, and store data—I think we’d all agree that’s changed, and how we analyse it; how we use it. It was well canvassed by the Green member.

Health statistics, ethnic statistics, understanding those that are disadvantaged in society, crime stats and the runaway problem with crime across New Zealand. But there are some concerns the ACT Party has raised. There are people that perhaps are reluctant to share their information. The bill makes direct amendments to the Official Information Act. Well, arguably, it excludes the term “official information”. Well, we’re trying to ascertain the premise for that. What is the clause for? The explanatory note doesn’t say. What is the information in this clause trying to protect?

I just want to go through the bill in part. The unintended impacts—the data and statistics systems rely on the collection and use of information, including personal and commercially sensitive business information. Now, arguably, that speaks to intellectual property (IP) and how IP is potentially collated and potentially shared into governmental departments, etc. Now, suffice it to say, there will be people worried by that. The former includes identifying information for Māori and Pasifika communities. Equally so, people may be concerned about their privacy being eroded and how their information is shared. People with disabilities—arguably, this is deeply important if we are going to get a handle on helping that part of our community.

This bill will not be able to address all the risks, and I think that’s duly noted, related to the Government agencies and their management and their use of data. And, unfortunately, we have seen data breaches more often than not recently. It will also not speak directly to address security and quality and consistency of coverage of data collected and what governmental departments have use to it. Now, the ACT Party has been very clear. We actually support this legislation. We know the important nature of the use of data and statistics in New Zealand. I noticed the ruckus applause, but it’s actually something that’s quite important, and I commend this bill to the House.

Madam Speaker, it’s great to be back in the House. I’ve been away for 13 weeks, less one day, as you can tell by the length of my Auckland hair.

I’m a little dismayed by the suggestion that some of us in this House might not know our history. The previous speaker, Mark Cameron, clearly got a few things mixed up. The Rosetta Stone, of course, was incredibly important not because of data but because it provided the capacity to learn how to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics, and it was actually about a decree from the priest of a particular temple in Memphis about supporting the king—nothing to do with data per se. The earliest written records we have are, in fact, accounting records—accounting records—not data records in particular.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! A chocolate fish to that member.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So, you know, whatever, from that speaker.

I was, however, a little surprised by the curious lack of enthusiasm for this bill from Mr Andrew Bayly. Now, on this side of the House, we are excited about this bill and we’re looking forward to it coming to the Governance and Administration Committee. But I guess, in terms of Mr Bayly not being so excited about this bill, that might be expected from a party which, in their opening-up plan, couldn’t get the unemployment rate right—only had the Māori unemployment rate. May I suggest to Mr Andrew Bayly that data is, in fact, very, very important. Actually, I know that the speakers on the other side of the House agree with that too.

This will be an interesting bill to examine. I am particularly concerned with looking at the issues around data sovereignty and the interaction of the Treaty with the collection of data, and I’m sure we will enjoy examining it in the select committee. I commend this bill to the House.

Well, what a pleasure it is to be back in the House after 85 days in lockdown in Auckland, and I tell you what, I’m looking forward to giving a few key statistics during this speech about the issues that our fellow Aucklanders are facing.

I’m going to be talking about the Data and Statistics Bill, first reading. I, obviously, rise on behalf of National as the MP for North Shore, in Auckland. National supports this bill. This bill is to replace the Act that was put in place in 1975. I must say I’ve had a look at a few of the key statistics from 1975. Footrot Flats obviously was a key element and a key show there, and I was sort of wondering, looking across the other side, who’s a Wal and who’s our Aunt Dolly, but I won’t get into the detail on that. Also, National, a key statistic in 1975, won the election. So I think we’ll just ponder on that for a little while. Statistics, obviously in those days, were all hard copy and computers were just coming on line; so you can imagine the need to replace this Act is—obviously, things have moved on. But look, good statistics are essential for good policy—we know that—and are a key element in terms of driving a number of our decisions.

In terms of the three provisions within the bill that I wanted to touch on, obviously, the Crown responsibility is to consider and also to provide for Māori interests—is a key element that’s in here. Obviously, in 1975, for those who remember a little bit of their key statistics, it was the year in which the Waitangi Tribunal was actually established. So I think it is quite appropriate that that is being reflected as well. Obviously, the bill also looks at adding in additional safeguards and protections into the bill. Obviously, around confidentiality, we’ve seen the sort of catastrophic failures by this Government, particularly down in the Waikato and other Government departments, which have just been blatantly releasing our personal information and other details and other statistics and information, which obviously this bill covers, into the public domain. So confidentiality, and some enforcement for that, is really important. The last aspect is, obviously, that this bill will introduce a new framework for the collection of data, which will also allow some mandatory requests of that data.

I wanted to get back to a few other key statistics, particularly in Auckland City, because obviously we’re all down here and life is normal, but life is not normal in Auckland or in the Waikato for our fellow constituents. Auckland business closures, a statistic that this bill will obviously cover, have increased by 13.8 percent, according to Statistics New Zealand, in the month of September. Obviously, they are significant numbers. Statistics New Zealand also release information around the Consumers Price Index, which is, obviously, the measure of inflation, up 4.9 percent—a key statistic in regards to cost of living as well. So that’s a key aspect that, obviously, has been under this Government’s watch.

But look, National supports the better collection and publication of analysis of data and statistics, obviously. And obviously, this is really important, I guess, to take into account some of those industry trends. I think if you took a straw poll of where Aucklanders sit today, and I’m looking down at Chris Penk, because I know that, in his constituency, if you took a statistical survey of those constituents about how happy they are to be in lockdown under this Government, I think you’d find the statistical significance, of course, of those findings would be around zero percent. That’s how happy they are in regards to where they are at the moment and the critical need for change in that regard. Anything will be too slow for the people of Auckland.

I also wanted to refer back to some other key statistics that, obviously, this type of bill would look to, hopefully, cover. That is the fact that 100 percent of hair salons in Auckland are closed. Just a reminder: 100 percent of those remain closed even though you can still go and get your Botox. But obviously, in regards to this bill, in regards to the statistics that would be carrying, that also means that 100 percent of the revenue that those businesses collect is no longer there as well, and that’s a significant impact, obviously on all those members.

Obviously, this bill has a number of other elements that we won’t have, sadly, enough time to cover in this short speech. But I wanted to just reinforce that National will be supporting this bill and we’re looking forward to going through to the select committee process, where I’m sure we will receive a large number of submissions and contributions to what will be an absolutely important topic.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is a bill where, once again, it’s getting support from across the House. We’re starting to get into a situation where people are using this to spout out interesting pieces of information. This is not contentious. It’s needed, it’s long overdue, let’s just get on with it.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’m delighted to rise in support of this bill. It’s not often in this House that one gets to seriously nerd out on the subject of data and statistics, but in my past life I was a qualitative researcher, as well as a Family Court practitioner. Data and statistics are my bag. So I can fully appreciate Dr Elizabeth Kerekere’s enthusiasm for the post in the Greens, and I can fully appreciate the enthusiasm of Deborah Russell, another academic.

I want to quote a paper from the Ministry of Justice published just before the Labour-led coalition took over. They said, “Data provides an objective view based on real experience. It helps us see how things actually work and not how we think they work or should work. Better data helps us understand what the problem is, the catalyst behind it, and what the solution could be. Simply put, it’s a three-step process: data to insights to action.”—something we saw all too clearly when we repealed the subsequent child legislation, which had absolutely no empirical basis for it.

What I want to highlight now is the constant and heartfelt call of all people in my previous position as a researcher, because of the paucity of Government data, which is why I’m so delighted to see this bill. There is an urgent move—need, said one set of researchers from Otago University—an urgent need to improve data about who uses our courts, whether or not they’re represented, and how their cases proceed. Without this information, we are unable to design a justice system that responds to the needs of those who are using the courts and protects its important public functions. This bill matters.

Finally, I close with a quote from the Hon Stuart Nash—via Oscar Wilde, I believe—and I return to our friend on the ACT benches. This ACT gentleman has used statistics “like a drunk man uses a lamppost: for support rather than illumination.” I look forward to the use for illumination, for analysis, and for solutions. I commend this bill to the House.

I rise to speak on the Data and Statistics Bill. This is a bill that the National Party supports, one which modernises an Act which goes back some time and takes into account the significant advances that have happened since 1975, when the original Act came into force.

We need good data to make good decisions. For example, the faster cancer treatment target of 90 percent has been achieved 94.9 percent of the time in the Canterbury District Health Board; it has been achieved only 64.9 percent of the time in the Southern District Health Board. This is the worst in the country. Families and hard-working oncologists shouldn’t be let down by a health system that is under-resourced in our region. And this is why statistics matter, why we need good statistics, so we can ensure we get the right resourcing for our health system.

Why does it matter? There’s a gentleman who lives just around the corner from me by the name of Jeremy MacGillivray, who I met about a year ago, who has just passed away. He’s another young Southerner and parent who had a lengthy delay getting diagnosis and treatment, and he has unfortunately left this Earth sooner than he probably should have because we don’t have adequate resourcing in our region. An 18-month delay in diagnosing Jeremy with bowel cancer most likely cost him his life. He’s a dad, a husband—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Can the member bring us back to the bill,

This is, Madam Speaker. I’m just speaking to why this bill matters and why we need good data to inform the decisions that are made, to inform policy, and inform the Government. I’ll just say that, in 2017, Jeremy started waking with stomach cramps and asked to be checked for bowel cancer because the disease had claimed his grandfather. His request was declined because of his age, lack of symptoms, and because a direct relative—a parent or sibling—had not had the disease. After diagnosis, he was told of an 18-week wait for chemotherapy. Unfortunately, it took too long. So that’s why this bill is very, very important.

The bill is one we do support; we support the better collection, publication, and analysis of data and statistics to quickly identify trends and tailor solutions. I’ll just say again briefly why that matters: in the Southern District Health Board, the current threshold of access for the orthopaedic triage process is painfully elevated due to the completely unacknowledged lack of resources from the Ministry of Health, and it has meant that patients are unable to be seen because of a lack of resourcing. We have a hospital in Southland that is short 90 beds and two theatres presently for the present needs of the region. The population is, I’m pleased to say, growing, but for our existing needs we just don’t have enough theatres, we don’t have enough beds, we don’t have enough health staff. And that’s why we need this collection and publication and analysis of data and statistics to ensure that the Government actually has the proper information, publishes that information to the public, so the public understands what is needed and the Government understands what is needed to provide the proper resourcing. Using granular data to tailor wraparound support services is at the heart of National’s approach and, for example, our social investment approach to governance.

New Zealand needs to make sure that our data collection methods and our statistical analysis are keeping up with modern technology and the standards that are set internationally. We need to ensure, as well, that data across agencies is collected in similar ways and presented in ways that can be easily comparable so that analysis of data is easily done. That’s why, at the beginning of my speech, I referred to the Canterbury District Health Board having a 94.9 percent achievement in terms of the faster cancer screening targets, but the Southern District Health Board having a woeful 64.9 percent approach.

So we very much support this. We look forward to the Government bringing this bill in and we look forward to the relevant information being provided to the public as well, because it’s important that this information is widely disseminated so that the public actually understands what is happening in their regions and what their region needs. And it’s only with the provision of appropriate data and appropriately packaged data—so it’s easily accessible—that people can understand that information. So I’ll finish my contribution there and say that this is a good step and the National Party is in support of this bill.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. It’s wonderful to hear the enthusiasm and the energy from this side of the House this morning, and particularly the passion that sits behind the Data and Statistics Bill. It’s my pleasure this morning to speak very briefly on this to commend it to the House.

This bill replaces the Statistics Act 1975, because we know that times have changed, that our internet systems have got broader and we use them, in particular, every day. I remember well, back in the day, that my first platform, I think, that I used was Bebo, which was fantastic at that particular time, and look how far we have progressed, my friends.

But can I acknowledge the work of Minister Clark for this particular bill, but also my tuahine the Hon Meka Whaitiri for the work that she has done on protecting Māori data, working in a meaningful way with both iwi and also Māori rōpū to ensure that we acquire the right data.

At this particular time, what I’ve seen while I’ve been sitting in Auckland in lockdown is the tremendous work of our health workers on the front line, that have been backed by data to go down every street, to go down every community, to ensure that we vaccinate as many people as possible. That highlights the importance of data and the work that we do today; and bills like this that remove barriers from us accessing that data, to inform best practice; and to develop the right solutions for the empowerment of our communities, of our people of Aoteroa, and also of our most vulnerable groups like Māori and Pacific. So without further ado, I commend this bill to House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

The question is, That the Data and Statistics Bill be considered by the Governance and Administration Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Governance and Administration Committee.