The New Zealand Government is facing a change in how their information will be stored with a new all-of-government facility to be built at Whenuapai. 

According to Public Service, Defence and GCSB Minister Andrew Little, plans have been made to construct a secure facility that will house protected information for a broad range of government agencies at RNZAF Base Auckland. 

“We are well and truly living in a digital age and the way in which protected government information is managed into the future is becoming more and more important,” Minister Andrew Little said. 

“The construction of this facility is an essential and long-term investment to further ensure core public service information storage well into this century.” 

It is expected that the $300 million-worth data facility will consolidate and expand the New Zealand Government’s current secure storage capacity and capability for at least another 25 years.  

While Minister Little did not exactly entail the kind of information that would be stored at the facility, he stated that it was highly sensitive data. 

“It’s information collected by a range of government agencies, including the intelligence agencies, but also Police, Customs, and others,” he said. 

As the government lead for information security, the Government Communications Security Bureau is partnering with NZDF on the project.  

The Bureau will operate the facility on behalf of the broad range of government agencies that will use it.  

The all-of-government facility, whose funding was first approved in 2019, was initially a secret until the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch mosques in 2020 recommended that the New Zealand Government should be more upfront with the public about national security challenges. 

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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