Amy Adams
The ability of agencies to verify the identities of high-risk offenders will be strengthened following the passage of the Enhancing Identity Verification and Border Processes Legislation Bill.
The Bill will improve public safety by enabling justice, identity and border agencies to share information with each other to identify offenders and ensure they meet the conditions of their sentence.
Wider Government response
The reforms are part of a wider Government response to the inquiry into the escape of Phillip Smith/Traynor, which highlighted the need for agencies to be able to share and manage information in the justice sector more efficiently.
We need to ensure that high-risk offenders cannot hide who they are through the use of multiple aliases, or leave New Zealand without permission, just as Mr Smith/Traynor did.
This Bill will provide certain agencies with real-time access to up-to-date and unalterable information to enable them to identify offenders and protect New Zealanders from harm.
Right balance
The Bill strikes the right balance between upholding public safety and protecting the privacy of individuals by providing clear parameters around the circumstances in which information can be accessed.
Alongside the existing privacy protections outlined in the Privacy Act, these parameters include limiting the information that can be shared to identity information (for example, passport information), limiting the agencies that can share it and the circumstances under which they can do so.
Amy Adams is Justice Minister of New Zealand
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