2 November 2012

Minister Bennett passes the buck on client privacy

The Minister of Social Development is passing the buck on client privacy, following the release of the damning Deloitte report on privacy breaches at the Ministry of Social Development, the Green Party said today.

“Paula Bennett needs to take responsibility for the poor leadership she has shown on client privacy, which has contributed to the culture of wanton disregard for privacy at the Ministry of Social Development,” said Green Party income support spokesperson Jan Logie.

“The Minister’s response to a number of written questions has been to claim that anything related to this breach is an operational matter and the responsibility of the Chief Executive. This is passing the buck.

“The Minister promised to keep a close eye during the introduction of the kiosks, but the Deloitte report shows that in the final business case there was no discussion of security risks. This is symptomatic of a Ministry that doesn’t understand the importance of keeping confidential the private information it holds.

“While four Ministry staff are currently the subject of employment investigations, the Minister is still refusing to acknowledge that her lack of oversight has contributed to this breach.

“Paula Bennett needs to step up and take responsibility for the disgraceful and repeated breaches of privacy by herself and her Ministry.”

ends

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Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
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