Y2K Bug will bite, Govt is warned

By Richard Braddell

The Government is bringing in legislation to try to quell public unease about the country's readiness to cope with the millennium bug - just six months after rejecting the need to do so.

The move comes on the same day that three separate reports warned that Government departments, local bodies and business had a long way to go in guarding against Y2K woes.

The Auditor-General, David Macdonald, found yesterday that organisations responsible for vital health services - including hospitals, water and sewerage - needed to take urgent action to get their computer systems compliant.

Surveys from the Y2K Readiness Commission also found half of all businesses had no contingency plans if the bug bit and nearly two-thirds of local bodies did not even have testing programmes.

Communications Minister Maurice Williamson, in unveiling the Year 2000 Information Disclosure Bill, said it would provide comfort to businesses keeping valuable information to themselves out of fear of being sued if it turned out to be incorrect.

Similar "good Samaritan" legislation has already been introduced in Australia and the United States and protects from legal liability those who share in good faith information on Year 2000 systems issues. Fraudulent behaviour or statements in breach of legislation such as the Fair Trading Act will still be actionable.

Mr Williamson, who last August and September rejected the need to legislate over millennium bug information sharing, said there had been little point taking action earlier.

The Tower Corporation general manager (development), Peter Herborn, said: "It's better late than never. You can't solve a problem if it's hidden under a rock."

The bill, which is being referred to a select committee, is expected to become law on May 18 and will not be retrospective.

Mr Williamson said larger organisations would now be in a better position to help out smaller ones.

Although the audits issued yesterday showed larger firms were better prepared than smaller ones, most still had a lot of work to do.

In his hard-hitting report to Parliament, Mr Macdonald said many public sector entities continued to underestimate the extent of the problem and the work needed.

"A significant proportion of hospital and health services and local authorities, in particular, still have a lot of essential tasks to complete, placing them at risk of missing their deadlines."

His report found that 53 out of 195 public sector entities had not yet developed testing programmes while 135 had failed to draw up business continuity plans to cope with potential Year 2000 failures.

Thirty-five out of 55 local authorities had not developed tests, while seven out of 17 and health service providers and 10 out of 33 Government departments were in the same position.

Mr Williamson said the lagging work was of concern, but the Government had no power to force local bodies to comply.

Even with the most stringent measures, it was likely there would be failures and so it was essential that organisations had business continuity plans that would put appropriate backup facilities in place.