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RNZ News
18 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Combating organised crime: Call for government and businesses to pool data
Guns, drugs and cash seized by the police during operations in Christchurch and Auckland in 2023. Photo: Police / supplied A ministerial advisory group is calling for a nationwide information sharing network, or "data lake", along with a new sharing framework to help combat organised crime. The group says government agencies typically avoid the risk of sharing secure data, but a more proactive sharing approach could help target crime groups. They want a tech company to build the new "data lake" - a secure platform that would allow agencies like police and Customs to share the data they already collect with each other, in a usable format. It would automatically reformat encrypted data to make it standardised and usable by enforcement agencies, and would be hosted in a secure government-controlled cloud platform with data partitioned to ensure only those with appropriate clearance could access it. Artificial intelligence could also be used, helping identify patterns across things like financial transactions, travel records, corporate structures, and identity data to potentially help map criminal networks, match people with aliases, and provide real-time alerts. "This architecture can be scalable, privacy-conscious, and legally compliant. It creates a future-proof platform for secure and governed information sharing, enabling agencies to act with a unified view of organised crime," the report said. Ministerial advisory group chair Steve Symon says information needs to get to the right places. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro Chair Steve Symon told RNZ most of the data involved was already collected by various government agencies, so it would mostly be a tool to help use that data to find international criminals. "We don't want a situation where we we open up the floodgates of information sharing, but we do want to make sure the information is getting [to] the right places," he said. "Whether that be information by Customs about travel movements or information held by the companies office about companies or how companies have been registered, there's a variety of different pieces of information that are currently held by government agencies. "The idea of the data lake is to bring together those bits of data that might assist with tackling organised crime, and then have some oversight in terms of who can access that data and for what purpose." The group found government agencies typically avoided data sharing, as it was seen as risky - what the report described as an "extreme level of risk aversion" - but this needed to be changed to keep up with organised crime making more use of technological advances. "Organised crime is organised. We are not," the report said. The group had looked at potential costs of getting a data lake set up, he said, but that was all subject to commercial sensitivities and he refused to give an estimate. "There have been discussions and we have been aware of an approach that might be made, but we can't discuss it because, of course, we don't want to prejudice the outcome of those discussions. "It is a difficult one for me to answer without prejudicing the communications that the government would have to have with a provider like Microsoft." He said the decision on whether to proceed given the potential cost would be made by the government. A 150 kilogram haul of cocaine seized by Customs in Tauranga last month. Photo: Customs NZ/Supplied He said the group wanted to strike a balance between privacy and the rise of organised crime in New Zealand, which it had highlighted in another report in March - pointing to rising drug use showing up in wastewater testing and increasing levels of cyber fraud. The group also wanted more cooperation with other countries - particularly Pacific Islands - and with businesses like airports, ports, banks and telecommunications companies for tracking things like fraud and drug smuggling. Symon said he saw first-hand the extent of the drug problems affecting Fiji a couple of weeks ago on a trip with Associate Police Minister Casey Costello. "A lot of those drugs are destined for New Zealand or Australia ... there is a lot of information, a lot of data we could use and work with them to share, to help them in their fight which wouldn't be a significant privacy concern for New Zealanders." The group also suggested government agencies working more closely with the private sector - businesses - in specific high-risk areas - like an airport having problems with baggage handlers . He said in that example, information shared between the airport, the private businesses working within the airport, and enforcement authorities could identify things like when staff had called in sick but their access cards were still being used. "We see it in border areas such as airports, our sea ports, we also see it in high-risk in industries such as banks and telcos in the respect that they hold critical data which would be relevant to the fight against organised crime." The report noted that businesses wanted to be involved, and would benefit from being able to avoid effects of organised crime, like fraud. "That is the carrot ... there also needs to be a stick - a legislative mechanism for requiring the less than willing segment of the private sector to come to the table." The group suggested making the failure to report certain suspicious activities to the police commissioner an offence. Other suggestions for cooperating with businesses included creating dedicated liaison roles within Customs, police and other relevant agencies to deal with the groups involved in the data sharing, as well as encouraging the establishment of organised crime prevention roles within businesses themselves. Another option would be an "organised crime supply chain rating system" which would rate and accredit businesses based on their organised crime resilience and information sharing maturity, to encourage good behaviour. A haul of more than three tonnes of cocaine intercepted from a vessel in the Pacific Ocean in 2023. Photo: NZ Police / Supplied Symon said the aim would be to ensure zero data breaches. "We're not naive. There have been occasions where for example police officers have accessed [data] for inappropriate reasons and those have been publicised and dealt with, but what we are talking about here is data held by enforcement agencies. "The benefit of a data lake would be that you would have that information held in one repository, and you could have controls and information about who accesses that data and when, and have a electronic paper trail." He acknowledged there were risks with sharing sensitive data with an AI tool, but said the options for protecting that data would need to be examined in commercial negotiations. The report also called for a minor legislative change to the Privacy Act which would aim to simplify the process of information sharing between agencies. It would mean that when information was shared for the purposes of tackling organised crime, the agency requesting the data would be held responsible, rather than the agency providing the data. "This would simplify the process, ensure that the relevant belief is held by a person who holds sufficient information to make that belief properly informed and it would transfer the privacy risk from the provider to the requestor (usually an enforcement agency)," it said. If the model proved workable and valuable, however, it could be expanded. "If there is success with that sharing, and we can show the public and the gain public confidence in the way we're approaching it, then it's certainly something where you could explore going further," Symon said. The report highlighted a plan to also set up a new legal framework to help support more data sharing. "Under current settings, there is no clear and transparent framework that authorises the sharing of sensitive information with private sector partners," the report said. "For example, in the border security space, there is no clear and transparent framework that enables the two-way sharing of sensitive information between Customs and private sector partners such as operators of Customs Controlled Areas and other supply chain partners." The framework would: Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Wellington councillors want review of Moa Point sludge project after cost blowout
Artist impression of the new sludge minimisation facility at Moa Point which McConnell Dowell Constructors Ltd and HEB Construction Ltd will build. Photo: Supplied / Wellington City Council Some Wellington city councillors are demanding an immediate independent review into how the city's sludge minimisation plant blew out by $80 million , with one saying it is "incredibly frustating". But another is not surprised by the cost increases, claiming calls for a review now are "pure politics". Councillors were told in a briefing on Thursday the sludge minimisation facility under construction at Moa Point was now forecast to cost between $478-511m . Originally expected to cost $200m in 2021, $400m was set aside for the plant in 2022, with ratepayers levied to fund it. Councillor Diane Calvert - one of the city's mayoral candidates - said she wanted to understand why the council was only becoming aware in the last few months of the "huge increase". "It's half a billion dollars, the public rightly want answers." Calvert said she asked for a full, external review of the Wellington Town Hall cost blow-out in 2023 - which surged from $80m to over $330m - but that was voted down at the time. "Now we are back in this position again, and I would like to see a review done now, not waiting until the project is completed at the end of 2026. "Because we are intending to spend money on other projects." The facility was designed to reduce the volume of sewage sludge created through the wastewater treatment process and turn it into a reusable, dry product. It was designed to reduce the city's amount of sludge by 80 percent, and sludge-related carbon emissions by 60 percent. Piping sludge to the city's Southern Landfill will no longer be allowed in 2026. Councillor and mayoral candidate Diane Calvert is calling for an external review of the project, but some say it's just "pure politics". Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas Council documents described it as a "complex project" with highly regulated construction of a "combination of mechanical, biological and chemical processes on a physically constrained site". Chief infrastructure officer Jenny Chetwynd said the complexity of the project, delays and changes in the design, the risk the council had taken and the costs of the commissioning process were some of the reasons for the blowout. The budget for commissioning - money used to test out the plant's functions and tweak the machinery before it opened, including bringing in international experts to do so - had grown from $2.5m to $20m alone. Councillor Ben McNulty said he was "incredibly and deeply frustrated" by the cost blow-out. "No one wanted this news, and I extend that to our officials didn't want this news, but it's happened, there have been signposts along the way, like the town hall review that may have equipped us to deal with some aspects, that we didn't take up, and now we are going to have put this forward. "There is going to be an opportunity cost, because this $80 million means there's something else that we don't do." McNulty agreed with an immediate independent review of the project. "It's not a witch-hunt, it's about actually making sure we know exactly what went wrong, we lead it with really qualified people external to the project, so they come in with fresh ideas and perspective and we learn this and so we don't do this again." But councillor Tim Brown said he was not really surprised the plant escalated in costs, because it was a project which involved a high degree of risk. "It's disappointing but not a surprise at all." He said a review should be conducted after the facility was completed, but not immediately. Brown said management had been upfront throughout the process about the complexity and challenges of the project. He said the council had chosen to take on the risk of the project from the outset. He said the blow-out of the sludge minimisation facility, was not on the same scale as the Wellington Town Hall, which he said was "genuine mismanagement" and involved an entire re-think of the project. He said calls for an external review now were politics in an election campaign. "What [Diane Calvert] is asking for now is pure politics. "The value created by doing a review at this point, is negligible. You are not going to change anything at this point going forward. "At the end of it all, once it's all done and dusted [is] a good point to say could we, and should we have done something differently." The council will meet next week to vote on additional funding for the project. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Police minister blames previous government for poor asset management
Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii The Police Minister says the force's asset management has been of concern "for some time". RNZ reported on Thursday that Police admit over 170 back-office job cuts last year ate into its ability to manage costly assets. Mark Mitchell said the previous government failed to invest for six years in core operations. "This was allowed to deteriorate quickly," he said in a statement. The National-led government has since put about $240 million in to meet cost pressures, and more for vehicles and a boat, Mitchell said. He did not mention asset management systems, which a Treasury report showed were at least five years behind being fixed to work properly. Police said it has realigned leadership to manage assets better. Earlier this year, it was rated the worst out of 16 agencies Cabinet put on watch to do better in 2023. Yet in 2024, Police cut the back-office staff anyway, saying it would not hurt the front line. Eleven of the 16 agencies were on track to be up to Cabinet standards by this financial year, the report back to Treasury in February said. This included Health New Zealand (HNZ), though last year it had a raft of non-compliances - including one which HNZ said would take until 2028 to fix: Meshing finance, asset and investment management policies "to ensure assets are maintained to deliver the required level of service quality". Along with that hangover of poor asset management, Health NZ also justified its lack of a national health plan financially adept enough to persuade the Auditor-General as being because it was always going to take several more years to make it "mature" enough. It was not clear how this shortcoming fit with it complying with Cabinet's directive to improve asset management. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
