Ghahraman GolrizGOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise to speak to this bill as what will be the lone voice of opposition on behalf of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand today. I think that there is absolutely no doubt across this House and indeed in our good nation that we do care about the rights and welfare of our children and young people that the crimes to which this bill applies are some of the most heinous damning and damaging of crimes known to our criminal justice system and indeed to our society. The rates of abuse are high in New Zealand; we all know that. We have some of the highest rates of abuse in terms of sexual violence and domestic violence and our children and young people experience both at some of the highest rates in the OECD and we must absolutely do all that is in our power as lawmakers to keep those children and young people safe.However as lawmakers we also have a duty to uphold the rule of law and the rights of New Zealanders. This bill represents what the Supreme Court found to be retrospectively applied legislation and punishment and that it undermined sections 25 and 26 of our New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. That has been echoed by a damning and clear finding by the Attorney-General in the report attached to this bill. So it is disappointing to hear members talk about the rights and welfare of children indeed human rights conventions at the international level whilst we know that this bill is undermining New Zealand's own commitment to our fundamental domestic and international rights when it comes to the rule of law and to the fairness of our justice system.So the rule of law is predicated on laws being known transparent clear and knowable in particular to those that will be sanctioned pursuant to those laws. Retrospectively applied legislation breaches all of those central tenets of the rule of law. To be punished in particular in the criminal justice context by law that was not in place that was not knowable at the time that you committed the act is one of the most fundamental breaches of the rule of law. The might of the State is supposed to be brought into line by our principles of lawmaking and indeed by our robust human rights laws.So to move to the breaches section 25—which encapsulates the minimum standards of criminal procedure—contains a specific ban on retrospectively applied punishments in our criminal justice system. Section 26 does the same. So we've said through passing this bill at all in 2016—that was the previous Government—that we're happy to breach those rights. The select committee process in that context I know—and I've read some of what happened there—was clear that this wasn't a good bill back then. It was passed in any case. Now we want to broaden its application by breaching the rule of law and further breaching our New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. In fact the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act does allow Parliament to breach its laws but the balance has to fall on what is reasonably required.Now the Attorney-General's findings are clear and this is where I want to come back to all that's been said about our duty to protect children and young people. Because the Attorney-General the Supreme Court and indeed the select committee in the previous Government were clear and are clear—this does not contain a measure the keeping of a register is not a measure that keeps children and young people safe. There is very little evidence that it works at all in the jurisdictions where it has been applied. Children and young people are most often abused in terms of the types of offending that this piece of legislation encompasses by those who are very well known to them in their own homes. They are very rarely abused by strangers. So that's one thing but in any case we have the evidence. These registers have existed and been applied in other jurisdictions for many years. It's a measure that we've taken; we've decided to take it. It's neither here nor there I guess we could say if there's no evidence that it works. But to persist with it to lie to ourselves to lie to victims and the public and say that we're doing something that is essential to protecting children and young people whilst we weaken the rule of law as a Parliament is I would say unacceptable. There are measures we can take to protect children and young people in New Zealand and I am proud to have been part of a Government where last term with the first ever Undersecretary for Domestic and Sexual Violence—that's my colleague Jan Logie—we did commit in a Wellbeing Budget a record amount of resource to combatting domestic and sexual violence including offending against children and young people. That was $320 million we committed to a cross-ministry approach that there would be cooperation with service providers on the ground with Māori with Pasifika communities with migrant communities that we would do what we know actually works to keep children and young people safe. That is what we need more of. We don't need more and more policy that's designed to make politicians look tough on crime.So this isn't a good piece of legislation. It weakens human rights in New Zealand it undermines the separation of powers where we've heard from our Chief Justice our President of the Supreme Court telling us that this amounts to a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. So the Attorney-General the Supreme Court we've heard from the Human Rights Commission on this and we're doing it anyway with very very little good. So I don't commend this bill to the House Mr Speaker.