Yang Jian: Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYang Jian: Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 02 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8516. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr JIAN YANG (National): I will briefly reply to the accusation of the previous speaker Jan Logie about the Government’s inactivity in protecting our children. The fact actually now that we have looked at some statistics is that the child abuse statistics show that the number of children abused in the year ended June 2014 fell by 2306 or 12 percent on the previous year. Also under our Social Workers in Schools programme 142000 children now have social worker access. We have done a lot of things to protect our children. We have also established four children’s teams around the country to work with vulnerable children and their families. We have the Children’s Action Plan with more than 30 initiatives to tackle the complex issues that lead to children being vulnerable. We are modernising the social work programme. We also have tougher sentences for crimes against children in which household members are accountable for failing to report abuse. These are the things that the National Government has been doing or has done.I would like to elaborate on a few points raised by some speakers. First of all is the freedom of expression. The Attorney-General’s report acknowledges that “There is no question the Bill serves an important objective. Victims of sexual abuse are extremely vulnerable and the resultant harm is often very serious and long lasting.” The report does raise the issue of freedom of expression. We certainly value the freedom of expression. However we also value child safety. So the key question here is how to have the balance. I believe that the bill will help us eventually to find the proper balance. Related to this is the definition of “child sex offender”. I am sure that we will be able to work out a clearer definition to better serve the intended purpose of the bill. There is another thing that one particular speaker mentioned which is that naming and shaming can be counter-productive. But this bill is not about naming and shaming. It is about how to prevent convicted child sex offenders from legally changing their names. I find it very hard to understand why some people are putting the feelings of sex offenders before the interests of our children.I would say that it is important for us to make sure that we have all the efforts there all the tools there all the mechanisms there to protect our children. The Government has been doing a lot. A member’s bill can simply strengthen some part of the overall system or mechanism. So the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill is intended basically to strengthen the system a little bit further. I hope that all parties will support the bill being referred to the select committee and protect our young people from sex offenders. Thank you.