New agency boss explores data’s future
Auckland City Mission head Dame Diane Robertson has been appointed chairwoman of a new government-appointed body charged with winning public trust for the wider use of data.
The Data Futures Partnership will comprise a seven-strong ‘‘core working group’’ of paid part-time members, headed by Robertson, and a pool of about 40 unpaid volunteers. The partnership has an annual budget of $1.6 million.
A Cabinet paper released in August described public trust in data-sharing as ‘‘tenuous’’.
It was about the same time that controversy flared up over proposed research by the Social Development Ministry and Child, Youth and Family agencies, in a bid to delve deeper into government data to identify the factors most likely to lead to social dysfunction.
Robertson, who will step down as missioner at the end of the year, said one of the tasks of the working group would be to decide on a number of ‘‘catalyst projects’’ that would showcase new ways to share data for the public good.
The partnership would not be a ‘‘talk-fest’’, which was one of the risks identified by Cabinet.
Robertson said she was alert to people’s privacy concerns.
‘‘I live in a world where people are terrified of sharing data and people think their private data is going to be breached; social services, health . . . it is a constant ongoing discussion.
‘‘The issue we have to look at here is the difference between ‘personal information’ and information that is de-personalised with all ‘identifiers’ taken off and used as ‘data’ to give us better information.’’
She agreed that, in the wake of the flag debate, the public did not always share the Government’s faith in the ability of ‘‘the great and the good’’ to lead public discussions, but said the partnership team would have to prove its credibility.
‘‘Because I come from a social services background and work in that ‘face to face’ area, I understand the impact of data on people’s lives and their suspicions around it.’’
While some people might be hostile to government agencies sharing more information, there were situations with broad support for ensuring everyone was on the same page, she said.
An example was that no-one wanted roads repeatedly dug up because utility companies weren’t co-ordinating their repairs, and people appreciated sound health statistics when making decisions about vaccinating their children against diseases.
Robertson has had some university training and experience as a computer programmer, having written her own database to plug gaps in software used in the charitable sector.