identity and pride. Twenty-four percent of New Zealanders identify as having a disability. In partnership with the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and the New Zealand School Trustees Association, the Commission led the development of a pilot independent process for students and their families who wish to appeal an exclusion or expulsion from school. The pilot programme is expected to be rolled out in three school regions in 2019. The Enquiries and Complaints team dealt with 6304 new human rights enquiries and complaints, an increase of 1075 on the previous year. The human rights issues facing Pasifika people were identified and discussed at five Pasifika community ‘Uipa’anga/fonotaga held around the country. The Commission also carried out an independent audit as part of a plan to improve how the enquiries and complaints process serves the Pasifika community. The audit was prompted by the low level of complaints from Pasifika people. The Commission’s ongoing relationship with the Department of Corrections helped shape the Department’s Management of Transgender Prisoners policy. The Canterbury Earthquakes Insurance Tribunal Bill, which is before Parliament and would establish a bespoke insurance tribunal, reflected the Commission’s recommendations from the Staying in the Red Zones report, released in 2016. The report on the red-zoning process in Canterbury found that the reduced offers to owners of vacant sections, commercial and uninsured residential properties – and the delay in providing offers and then revising them – had added to the stress owners faced. With the rapid advance of digital technology and increasing surveillance in our society, data and privacy issues are becoming more relevant. The Commission wants to ensure that human rights standards and principles guide legal and policy frameworks in responding to these issues. The Commission published an extensive reference paper, Privacy, Data and Technology: Human Rights Challenges in the Digital Age, as a guide for policy-makers and the public on the complex human rights and legal frameworks in this area. The Commission’s legal intervention work continues to have an impact on human rights jurisprudence in New Zealand. The Commission participated as an intervener in a landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court considered whether New Zealand’s higher courts have jurisdiction to declare a statute inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act (BORA). Our submission, which we had made successfully in the Court of Appeal, supported the argument in favour of courts having jurisdiction. However, while the Supreme Court’s decision is pending, the Cabinet has agreed in principle to allow the courts to make a declaration of inconsistency if they believe that legislation is not consistent with the BORA. Annual Report 2018 7