Submission on the proposed Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill, by Lisa Pilot

Republished with permission.

Beneath is an excellent submission on the Trust Framework Bill which is going through parliament now.  Public submissions close today.  Please share this with your MPs and demand that they oppose it.  


Submission on the proposed Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill

By Lisa Pilot

I am writing to you as a tax-paying New Zealand Citizen who believes that the government should act as the public servant that they are, to protect the individual rights and freedom of the hard-working contributors to our society.

You are proposing a Bill ironically disguised as a ‘Trust Framework’ that effectively eliminates all levels of trust and freedom to operate as individual agents with control over our personal information and any transactions we choose to participate in.

It is no surprise that:

“No public consultation on the Bill has been undertaken. [and]
Limited information is available in the 10 February 2021 Regulatory Impact Statement:
​https://www.dia.govt.nz/Resource-material-Regulatory-Impact-Statements-Index#digital

Considering we are currently ruled by the same government whose Prime Minister responded to the Opposition party’s leadership upheaval (the term Opposition used in its loosest form) with the words:
“I’m too busy dealing with a global pandemic to comment,” yet amazingly, despite this, her party finds the time to invest over $3.2 million just to undertake the first phase of implementing the core functions of the Digital Trust Framework legislation by 2022.
Combined-Digital-Identity-Proactive-Release.pdf (dia.govt.nz)

No public consultation on the Bill has been undertaken.

Here are my comments in red on the government’s helpful illustration of how this framework will function:
​

In China, WeChat which started out as a harmless instant messaging service to rival WhatsApp, is now the primary tool used by the Chinese government for mass surveillance, their social credit system, and unsurprisingly it has seamlessly functioned as their tool to control movement of people and lockdowns since the COVID pandemic.

This seemingly well-intentioned ‘Trust framework’ is apparently responding to some urgent issues that need addressing within our current digital landscape. Some of these ‘issues’ named in the bill:

• an inconsistency of how private data is stored and managed in the digital environment
• a lack of te o Maori principals in our digital identities
• a lack of Maori representation in the governance of our digital strategy
• and let’s face it, the limitation of the government’s ability to (yet) legally control individual transactions, interactions, and personal identities within the digital environment.

The proposed solution to these so called ‘important issues’ is the establishment of a Trust Framework Governance Board and a Trust Framework Authority that can control the accreditation and ability of individuals, agencies, or businesses to operate freely. This control framework will include controlled access to essential financial and medical services. 

Given the pattern of the government’s actions over the last 18 months, one can only assume that compliance with the Jab! Jab! Jab! campaign will quickly become a part of your digital identity ‘accreditation’. The CCP of China I’m sure will continue to provide their willing mentorship to the New Zealand government.

Not only this, the bill refers to vague yet extensive digital infrastructure that will be established in line with the Strategy for a Digital Public Service (digital.govt.nz) listing an endless number of features such as:

• inter-operability, 
• permeability, 
• multi-disciplinary, multi-generational, multi-stakeholder environments, 
• micro-secondments, 
• culturally inclusive particularly in reference to te ao Maori and tikanga,
• the Government Chief Digital Officer with the DGLG will build mana to mana relationship with the Futures Taumata leading to the co-creation of a mutually agreed work programme…

What does this all mean?! And why push this through at a time where the average citizen is distracted with the basic needs to keep a roof over their head and their families fed – if not to take advantage of their distraction. There is no angle where this looks to be in the best interest of our hard-working, tax-paying citizens.

My recommendations to the committee:

1. Undertake an independent review of the proposed Bill, led by the Governor-General, to assess what protection the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework provides to the individual that is not already addressed by our:

• New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
• Privacy Act 1993
• Fair Trading Act 1986
• Consumer Guarantees Act 1993
• Electronic Identity Verification Act 2012
• Identity Information Confirmation Act 2012
• Anti-money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009

  
2. And conversely how the new framework undermines the legislation and    protection of the individual’s rights provided by these Acts.
 
3. Undertake an independent review led by the Governor-General to assess the fairness and purpose of the Maori-led governance within the Framework and clarification on how this will benefit (or perhaps disadvantage) the non-Maori tax-paying citizens.

4. Undertake Public Consultation.

Screenshot extract from the Department of Internal Affairs Regulatory Impact Statements Site: 
https://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/Files/detailed-policy-for-the-digital-identity-trust-framework/$file/detailed-policy-for-the-digital-identity-trust-framework.pdf

This impact statement highlights the clear undertones of the true agenda of the Bill: enforcement and compliance. Yet somehow because the Bill’s title has the word “Trust" in it and the justification includes the implied urgency caused by the "COVID19 pandemic," we are expected to blankly nod in agreement and let it happen.

New Zealand has become a laughingstock overseas with our complacency allowing an extreme fascist approach to the vaccine mandates - our own Prime Minister smilingly announcing that we are creating a two-class system of citizens. This previously idyllic, green, non-corrupt island nation of New Zealand has now become synonymous with the aggressive cancelling and prosecution of the unvaccinated by a herd of blank fearful sheep urged on by their smug Shepherd Jacinda.
​
This Bill continues to steer us on the path to become nothing but a subsidiary of the CCP.  If New Zealanders want to have a sliver of hope to maintain their idyllic lifestyles then this Bill must be scrapped and all resources and funding redirected to improving the basics; access to medical services and education.

This Bill is one more big step from the government this year towards abolition of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and just one more of many gleeful steps Comrade Ardern’s party will take next.
​