Rutherford TomTOM RUTHERFORD (National—Bay of Plenty): Thank you Madam Speaker. I take great pride in rising as the final speaker in support of Greg O'Connor's bill this evening in its second reading the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill—or as my colleague Cameron Brewer so aptly called it earlier on the bill.The bill is a member's bill by the MP for Ōhāriu and it amends the principal Act to require registered child sex offenders to provide additional information to the police before travelling overseas for more than 48 hours. Now when I read this for the first time I thought Goodness me. How does this not happen already? How is this actually not the country we live in in 2024 where this is already taking place?" It really disappoints me where I've listened across the speeches given this evening and to think there's a political party here who doesn't want to support this legislation. I think actually I'm proud to be a part of the party that's supporting the Opposition party by bringing this bill to the House and we're supporting it through the second reading.Now having not been a contributor on the first reading or through the select committee stage I did my homework before getting up to speak. Particularly I looked through a couple of documents that I thought would really be beneficial to contribute to this debate. Firstly the departmental report. Currently section 21 of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 only requires registered persons to advise the register of their travel plans if they're travelling overseas for more than 48 hours; they are only required to advise the register of the dates they are leaving and returning to New Zealand not the country of destination. Section 22 requires the registered offender to advise the register if the date of their return to New Zealand changes while they are overseas. Then I dived a little bit deeper. I looked at the submissions that were received by the Justice Committee. Of the 10 submissions received six were in favour two were opposed one didn't specifically state whether or not they supported the bill and one was considered out of scope. Overall submissions expressed support for increasing the protection provided to children and vulnerable people including those overseas. Although only six of the 10 submitters explicitly supported the bill only two submitters opposed the bill. One opposed the bill on the basis of human rights considerations for the registered offender and one opposed the bill based on the view that sex offenders should not be permitted to travel at all.I then dived a little bit deeper because I saw that the Justice Committee had recommended that the bill be passed with unanimous support and the Green Party actually sits on that select committee and gave it support at select committee yet coming back to the second reading they've changed their mind which is disappointing. But there were four proposed amendments. The first: postponing the bill's commencement to allow police time to prepare and inform offenders about the new requirements a pragmatic change that ensures amending the commencement date to three months after Royal assent. The second proposed amendment to the bill was: eliminating redundant passport information reporting provisions given existing obligations. That just seems sort of a business-as-usual tweak to make sure the bill operates as best as it possibly can. The third amendment: amending the Act to clarify and enhance information sharing between specified agencies for public safety and risk management—the information sharing between Government agencies which is so vital to the protection of our children and our communities. Finally explicitly applying the bill retrospectively to ensure comprehensive coverage of all registrable offenders.Improved international cooperation and protection—this bill will demonstrate New Zealand's global leadership in protecting children from sexual exploitation by highlighting our protective reach beyond our borders. It establishes international cooperation preventing offenders from using travel to avoid detection. I support this bill to the House.Motion agreed to.Bill read a second time."