Transcript
JEFF MONTGOMERY - There's a global drive to increase the number of people who have got legal identities, so have had their births registered and we're part of that global movement, so we formed to make sure the Pacific voice was heard vocally, but also internationally when we're discussing masses around civil registration births, deaths and marriages.
SELA JANE HOPGOOD - How does it compare with the current systems in place in the Pacific?
JM - Well each country has its own births registration system and some countries do very well in that and other countries are really just starting out, so the idea of the network was to help everybody improve their systems in their own countries, but also to look at how we share information particularly for people who migrate from perhaps the Pacific island country to either Australia or New Zealand or to another island, so that their information can travel with them, so if somebody from the Cook Islands who is born in the Cook Islands dies in Auckland then the New Zealand births, deaths and marriages office, so my office will send the details of that person death back to the Cook Islands, so that it can be matched with their birth record, happens automatically, the family don't need to do anything.
SJH - How is the information, the data that is recorded useful for other public sectors?
JM - The main use of sharing the data is to help countries plan their public services and also to manage things and identify things in the health area that might be important, so we know that a number of people from the islands might go to Australia or New Zealand for medical care and then they die in that country, so by sharing the information back with their birth country that country can use that to look at any health issues that maybe emerging in their community and also to plan health facilities in their country.
SJH - And so data sharing agreements have already started with Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau, right?
JM- The main reason is that there's already a close working relationship between New Zealand and those Pacific countries and also they're active members of the Pacific Registrars Network, so we decided to start with those countries that are relatively small and have quite good civil registry systems, so the Cook Islands in particular has a very effective birth and death registration system, so it was easy for New Zealand and the Cook Islands to connect and it also was easy for Tokelau and Niue because we have very similar laws and ways of operating. The next step is to look at the other countries and to look at sharing information with other Pacific countries, Australia and New Zealand.
