Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker first presented the BDMRR Bill to Parliament on 28 February 2007 and it went before the Government Administration Select Committee in May 2007.
Mr Barker has now sent a letter to the Select Committee withdrawing the most controversial element of the original Bill - restrictions on access to the registers.
He has proposed that:
- People wanting certificates and printouts from the registers must present adequate ID first.
- An "access register" be created so that people can find out who has accessed their records.
- Individuals be able to request that their records are not disclosed to the public.
Controversial amendments
Some controversial amendments haven't been addressed by the minister's new proposals:
- The Green party opposed the amendment that requires a birth to be registered by both parents. The Greens pointed out that some women won't want the name of the biological father registered: "One [situation] is where the woman is in a same-sex relationship, wants her partner to share parental responsibilities, but wants to conceive naturally rather than by assisted reproductive technology."
- The Privacy Commissioner wants to ensure that private companies receive accurate death information so that people are correctly identified and not removed from databases by mistake. She's conscious that there's a risk of incorrectly matching deceased and living people.
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