General Elections – questions to political parties

We want to know how the upcoming General Election will impact the protection of privacy of New Zealanders. Will our Privacy Act 2020 be updated? What will happen with the draft Customer and Product Data Bill? And, will the Cloud First Policy be changed?

So, we sent three questions (as below) to 8 political parties that have most support in polls – National, Labour, ACT, Greens, Te Pāti Māori, TOP, New Zealand First, New Conservatives.

1. New Zealand is falling behind key trading partners when it comes to our privacy regulation. Do you support updating our Privacy Act 2020 to provide modern, efficient and effective regulation, and, if so, what would be your key priorities for reform?
2. If in power, what would be your party’s approach with the exposure draft of the Customer and Product Data Bill, and how would you ensure people have access to their data and can require banks, energy or telecommunication providers to share customer data with their competitors, without sacrificing privacy?
3. If in power, what would be your party’s approach towards the Government’s refreshed Cloud First Policy announced in April 2023? Are there additional steps you would take to ensure that New Zealand Data Sovereignty and Māori Data Sovereignty are respected? How would you prevent over-dependence on overseas-based technology service providers and ensure their accountability? What safeguards do you consider necessary to protect the public sector data hosted in the cloud against exploitation for secondary uses?

We intend to publish their responses as (/if) they arrive!

The following responses to our election questions letter were received: