Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (ACT): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’m taking this call on behalf of ACT. We are supporting the first reading of the Customer and Product Data Bill. We believe that it will be really important for us to hear from relevant stakeholders in the select committee process. I heard from the Minister that this bill is going to be sent, after the first reading, to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee. As the chair of the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee, I look forward to working on this bill with all members on the committee. I look forward to hearing from submitters as well.
The Minister also mentioned two sectors here; that is, the banking and electricity sectors. We understand that this bill is to actually set up an economy-wide framework for data portability. So, basically, it’s about data portability but it can be applied to various sectors and various sectors can be included in this framework. This is normally referred to as the consumer data regime—the consumer data right regime, I should say, Mr Speaker. In this one, as the name implies, consumer data right regime, it is about giving that right to consumers about their data. So every time consumers do any transaction, they are creating data and that data is actually held with the agency or the outlet they are dealing with. This bill is to ensure that that data is actually controlled by the consumer. The consumer authorises if the data can be transferred to another agency so that they can be provided with better products.
In this bill, what is important is that, yes, data is going to be more available, but for consumers it’s also important that it gives that assurance that it’s going to be secure. That is the most important thing for consumers. In this legislation, it says that the data will be transferred to other parties and it will be done in a secure manner; it will be done in a standardised manner, which is a very important point to note in this legislation. With this, what we expect is that there will be more digital innovation, there will be more competition, and that is what we are planning on through this legislation. And I’ll be really looking forward to hearing from submitters how they think that this bill can bring that kind of digital innovation and can bring competition.
I also want to acknowledge that that work on this legislation started in 2020, and then there was a consultation process as well, and the current Minister has decided to carry forward this legislation. So a lot of work has gone into this bill and we really want to see how this can bring that change that we are expecting in different sectors by introducing more competition. This is about bringing market efficiency, this is about giving consumers more confidence that they have the best possible product available to them, and this is through their data being shared.
Now, another important point in this is that this is going to be an economy-wide framework, but this will not be about applying it to each and every consumer. It will be up to consumers to decide if they want to opt into this consumer data right regime, and if they don’t want to, they can decide not to be part of this. Again, it comes down to trust—so trust when any consumer authorises the transfer of any data from one agency to another agency, what they want is trust. This legislation actually will provide that trust as well by making sure that data is transferred through secure interfaces, it is transferred in a standardised manner, and it is transferred in a seamless manner so that the consumers can see in real time what a difference it would make if they switch from one agency to the other agency; that is very important. That operational efficiency and cost efficiency for consumers is really important.
That is why we believe that it is a bill that is important to go to the select committee, and we really want to hear from relevant stakeholders. Open banking, as has been mentioned—we also want to hear from sectors, those who are keen, in open banking, and the electricity sector has been mentioned as well. So I am really looking forward to working on this bill in the select committee process. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
