2. KEVIN HAGUE (Green) to the Minister for ACC: Does she consider an independent inquiry into ACC’s management of the incident in which personal information relating to 6,700 claimants was sent to Bronwyn Pullar is needed; if not, why not?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister for ACC): Yes; that is why I fully support the Privacy Commissioner undertaking a review of both the August incident, when a data spreadsheet was wrongly sent to an ACC claimant who did not return it, and of ACC’s privacy policies and processes.
Kevin Hague: Does she not agree that a fully independent inquiry is now needed, given that neither ACC’s interim report on the matter nor the scope of the inquiry announced by the Privacy Commissioner are adequate to cover the now public facts of the involvement of former National Party president Michelle Boag and former ACC Minister Nick Smith in the matter?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is an independent statutory office, established under section 12 of the Privacy Act 1993. It is absolutely independent. If the member has any other queries in relation to these issues, I suggest he takes them up with the Privacy Commissioner.
Kevin Hague: When did she discover that former Minister for ACC Nick Smith had written a letter on official letterhead, drawing attention to his role as Minister for ACC, supporting Bronwyn Pullar?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I received an Official Information Act request from the New Zealand Herald, which I think was yesterday, alerting me to the fact that there was a letter of reference, and today I was able to read that letter because it had been released and was put on to a website.
Kevin Hague: Has former ACC Minister Nick Smith’s letter concerning Ms Pullar been used in any ACC-related claim?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I would not be aware of that, but I am sure that the Privacy Commissioner’s review will be able to determine any of that.
Kevin Hague: Would she write a letter in support of an ACC claimant while Minister?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: As Minister for ACC no, and I am sure that the member is aware that Dr Smith has said that he regretted the lapse in judgment. [Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I want to be able to hear Kevin Hague.
Kevin Hague: What investigation is currently under way into whether the former Minister intervened in any other ACC claims involving friends of his?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I am not aware of any.
Kevin Hague: How can the New Zealand public possibly have confidence in the institution of ACC or in ministerial independence unless and until every aspect of what has occurred is independently investigated?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: The member seems to ignore the fact that the Privacy Commissioner is independent. The terms of reference are still to be decided, but my view is that they need to be as wide as the Privacy Commissioner believes they should be, and that they should be very full. As the member should have seen by the fact that ACC released its report to me on Friday just gone and I asked ACC to release it on its website straight away, I will expect transparency.
8. ANDREW LITTLE (Labour) to the Minister for ACC: Will she set up an independent inquiry to reassure all New Zealanders that ACC and its Ministers act with the utmost integrity when in possession of people’s intimate and sensitive information?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister for ACC): I am confident that the independent Privacy Commissioner’s review will outline the next steps for the ACC’s handling of personal information, and I encourage anyone with concerns or allegations around this to make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner.
Andrew Little: Is it correct that up to the time of the meeting in December 2011 of two senior managers from ACC, ACC claimant Bronwyn Pullar, and former National Party president Michelle Boag, ACC had no knowledge of the mass privacy breach of 6,700 ACC claimants?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I believe that the member is correct. I believe that ACC was not aware—from the report that it has given me, which I had released last Friday—of the nature of the alleged breach, and, consequently, it was not able to get that information back.
Andrew Little: If ACC had no knowledge of the mass privacy breach, at the time of the December 2011 meeting, why did ACC send two senior managers to a meeting with an ACC claimant?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I suggest that that is going to come out in the Privacy Commissioner’s review, and I further note that ACC has sought the assistance of the New Zealand Police.
Andrew Little: What actions were taken—between the time of the December 2011 meeting and 12 March 2012, when the mass privacy breach became public—by ACC to recover the wrongly released information?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: That information has already been released in the report that was put on the ACC’s website last Friday. I am surprised the member has not read it, because it is quite clear in that report that—
Hon Trevor Mallard: Come on, this is Parliament. Answer here, not on a website.
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I am happy to table it, if the member would like me to. It is quite clear that ACC wrote to the claimant and asked to get back any information that she had—confidential information that she should not have had in her possession—and that she had not given back to ACC.
Andrew Little: What assurances can she give that the undertaking given on the ACC website that “any information” collected by the sensitive claims unit “is seen only by sensitive claims unit staff and in some cases an independent assessor.” is being observed?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Quite clearly, with the information that was inadvertently provided to the claimant, who then did not give the information back to ACC, there was some information relating to some sensitive claims unit claimants. I think that is an appalling breach, quite frankly, of their privacy. So I am not yet convinced that all the steps that need to be taken have been taken, and that is why not only is the Privacy Commissioner conducting a review of what has happened and the way forward but also there is going to be a review of all the processes to make sure that this does not happen again. But I would say to that member that over the years there has been the odd instance where there has been a privacy breach. This was one inadvertently made by ACC, and I do not think that anybody would think that the staff member, who had this spreadsheet attached to the email, did so deliberately.
Andrew Little: How many other privacy breaches is the Minister aware of involving a former Minister for ACC writing on behalf of a single claimant, and a former president of the National Party and other people being involved in it?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I am not aware of any in those particular circumstances. However, I am aware of a former Minister in the previous Labour Government releasing confidential information.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1203/S00254.htm
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