Hawke's Bay Power Consumers' Trust chair Diana Kirton. Photo / File pic.
Hawke's Bay Power Consumers' Trust chair Diana Kirton. Photo / File pic.
The Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’ Trust is working with the Privacy Commission to remedy two breaches.
The trust published residential addresses, mobile and landline numbers and email addresses of some submitters to its five-yearly ownership review.
It was acknowledged by the trust on November 1 that it had not complied with the Privacy Act in doing so.
The trust then conducted an assessment of the privacy breach to determine if it had reached the threshold required to notify the Privacy Commissioner.
That process has concluded, with the Hawke’s Bay Power Consumers’ Trust (HBPCT) acknowledging it did reach the threshold in the case of two particular submitters.
The two individuals were contacted and the HBCPT says it “will now work constructively with the Privacy Commission on next steps”.
Trust chairwoman Diana Kirton said she could not say what set the two submissions apart from the rest.
“The Privacy Act provides that the Privacy Commissioner must be notified of a privacy breach, where it is reasonable to believe that breach has caused serious harm to an affected individual or individuals or is likely to do so,” Kirton said.
“Each ownership review submission received was reviewed by our lawyers and an assessment made of whether the contents of the submission might result in serious harm. That process identified two submissions that met the threshold.
“You will appreciate that it would be inappropriate for me to reveal any further detail.”
In a press release on Wednesday the HBPCT described the publication of the personal information of submitters as “inadvertent”.
That is slightly at odds with a statement provided to Hawke’s Bay Today, on October 25, by Kirton.
Kirton, in response to a question about whether it was usual practice to publish addresses and phone numbers, said it was.
“The trust makes it clear ... that all submissions will be made public and be publicly available,” Kirton told Hawke’s Bay Today at that time.
“This has been the process that HBPCT has followed in successive five-yearly reviews.
“We do intend reviewing the mechanics of the submission process to identify improvements that could be made for any potential future review.”
A Unison faultman working on lines at Rissington. Photo / NZME
About 200 of Hawke’s Bay’s 61,000 power consumers, whose shares in lines company Unison are held by the HBPCT, made submissions on their preferred ownership structure.
The HBPCT is holding its public ownership review meeting in Napier on Friday , where submitters get the opportunity to speak directly to the five trustees: Kirton, Barbara Arnott, David Pearson, Kirsten Westwood and Jeff Farnworth.
It’s understood 11 submitters will speak, with each given a five-minute slot to get their point across.
That includes Brian Anderson of lobby group Free the Funds, who has five minutes to speak.
Anderson made a personal submission, but also one for Free the Funds, which he claims has almost 400 registered supporters.
Anderson says he would have liked Free the Funds to also receive a five-minute slot - something Kirton says would have required a separate person to submit for Free the Funds.
The HBPCT will announce its decision on whether the ownership model is to change or stay the same on November 17.
Hamish Bidwell joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2022 and works out of the Hastings newsroom.
