Brett Hudson - Police

2 December 2019

This Government is overseeing data breach after data breach, and the latest breach involving the firearm buy-back programme is incredibly serious, National’s Police spokesperson Brett Hudson says.

“Police Minister Stuart Nash needs to take responsibility. His Government put the buy-back scheme together. It has failed to protect New Zealanders’ private and very sensitive information. It has failed to deliver a secure environment for personal data.

“New Zealanders will be rightly worried about where their sensitive information is, and who has it. Kiwis should be able to have confidence in the agencies holding their personal data. Even more concerning is that the data breached includes bank account numbers and details around the firearms owned.

“This isn’t the first time there has been a significant data breach under this Government, there was a breach at the Ministry of Culture and Heritage where information on children had been accessed; staff at NZTA were at risk of personal identity theft after a USB drive containing staff identity cards was lost; private details were stolen from the Commerce Commission; and even Treasury has been breached.

“How can New Zealanders have confidence in the firearms register the Government is proposing when they can’t even protect their personal details in their buy-back scheme? New Zealanders’ data is at risk and this shows we can’t go rushing into a firearms register. The Government’s track record on IST and data is simply not up to scratch.

“In this year of delivery, all Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Government can deliver are privacy breaches.”

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