New Government Statistician and Stats NZ Chief Executive Colin Lynch is encouraging a focus on trust and transparency as digital transformation in the public sector accelerates.
Colin has been at the helm of the National Statistics Organisation since January, bringing extensive leadership experience across the public and private sectors. Read the news story here.
He has a strong focus on trust, ethics and customer service, which was evident when he addressed audiences at this month’s Digitising Government New Zealand conference in Wellington.
Colin described data as sitting at the “epicentre” of national and local decision-making.
“It is the oil that fuels digital services. It shapes our policies. It drives the services we provide. It guides investment. And, most importantly, it influences people’s lives in real and tangible ways.
“It is the mirror that reflects who we are – as a nation, as communities, and as individuals.
“My counsel is simple: with every significant decision you make in delivering digital services, ask yourself – will this improve New Zealanders’ trust in the service, and in the data that underpins it?”.
During his address, Colin spoke about the ongoing work of the Data Ethics Advisory Group, and emphasised the importance of embedding ethics into the design of data gathering, analysis and deliver.
He warned that with technology advancing rapidly, getting it right now, is more important than ever.
“As we continue to digitise services, innovate, and adopt AI (and with the rise of agentic AI) we need a strong focus on trust – and on the policies, controls, and everyday practices that build it.
“That brings me to a hard but necessary point: Policies are not enough. Implementation matters – and consistent adherence matters most.”
Colin also took part in an engaging panel session at the conference, discussing the topic of ‘building in equity and trust’.
He was joined by Bernadette Scanlon, Deputy Secretary, Policy & Insights from Ministry for Pacific Peoples, and Kate Kolich, Head of Data & AI from Contact Energy.
The panel discussed the relationality of trust, biases in the digital landscape and the importance of considerate service design.
Colin highlighted that Stats NZ as an agency was navigating an evolving data landscape, moving away from the traditional ownership of data and towards interagency collaboration to enable increased public trust.
