Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. It is a pleasure to stand and speak in support of my colleague and friend Greg O'Connor's member's bill the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill. Two sets of brackets Greg that's impressive.This is a good bill because it extends upon what has already been working well in New Zealand. Established back in around 2016 was New Zealand's first ever sex offender register which required those sex offenders when travelling within New Zealand if travelling away from their primary residence to make sure it was recorded where they were staying and for the length of time they're staying within New Zealand. The specific reason behind this is to identify if there would be children residing in the house.So what this bill really does is bring the overseas requirements for child sex offenders in line with the requirement which already exists when offenders travel domestically. So they will need to provide addresses of travel particularly when there will be children present. This bill amends the primary legislation in a simple form to make these requirements incumbent upon those registered sex offenders who are travelling internationally. This works to grow the community of countries who are all looking out for the best interests of New Zealand of children and particularly New Zealand children.It's important to note that there has been quite a body of work being done to identify potential gaps in borders to identify existing opportunities that sex offenders can utilise in order to reach areas where children are unprotected. Typically I'm not a big fan of policies that are based on the idea of deterring someone from committing a crime because most of the research demonstrates that deterrence in itself doesn't really work in terms of preventing crime from happening. But this is one area where the high level of premeditation involved is one where evidence demonstrates that deterrence does have a valuable factor involved.I looked into this particularly when I had my own member's bill in the same space looking at online grooming. All the evidence I could see was that there is a high level of premeditation planning and essentially building a web—is the way it's described by those experts—where it facilitates and enables a sex offender to commit crimes. And there can be years and years of planning going into establishing an environment that enables the offender to access young vulnerable people. So whatever we can do to join up with the international community to prevent that from happening is a good thing.It's important to note that we've already done some work internationally so there's already a United Nations convention that New Zealand has signed up to along with a number of other countries. And what that convention has done will work alongside Greg's bill. So that means that if a New Zealand citizen goes to another country and commits a sex offence against a child then that offender can also be charged and convicted back in New Zealand. And that's one of the very rare instances where committing a crime in another country is actually able to be prosecuted here in New Zealand and we do have examples of where that's worked already. We know that there's been instances in the past where someone travelled to Moscow in 2007 where he photographed and exploited young children. That person was then sentenced at the High Court in 2008 and received a seven-year imprisonment on four charges of sexual violation. So that is an example of countries working across borders in order to make it as difficult as possible for child sex offenders who look to prey upon the most vulnerable.In particular I think it's important to note that there are particular countries that have got known sex tourism that have a market for children and young people. And we know that sex offenders do travel to areas such as Thailand also Cambodia—and Phnom Penh has a particular street where that is known to occur. And when you have people from typically Western countries travelling to those countries which have significantly reduced incomes and extreme poverty in some areas it is directly exploiting families who are in need of money for access to their children. There is no other word for it but despicable.If we can work alongside other countries in respect of those sex offenders if they are known to the State we have a moral responsibility to work alongside other countries to make sure that we monitor their movement and make sure that they are not accessing vulnerable young people not only in New Zealand but also in other countries.Greg's done a great job at shepherding this bill through. It has taken a while at the Justice Committee but we have all worked quite hard over a period of time to enable it to reach this point. It's important to note that as much as this is to protect children and potential victims it's also an opportunity to note that many of these offenders are known to their victims. I just want to make that point. I tend to make that point every time that we have a stereotype in our mind that a sex offender is a stranger in a park with a coat on in horn-rimmed glasses. But that is in fact not always the case at all. It is people within our own families within our own social circles who know children well and create a relationship based on trust before any offending ever begins.And the more that we can convey that message to our communities that it is not strangers only that we should fear but sometimes we need to be cautious as parents and guardians of those people within our own social circles who seek access to young people and prey upon their vulnerabilities.Offenders we know protect themselves by knowing that the authorities know where they will be. And so overseas family members and potential victims will receive the same protection as those same families in New Zealand by the offender knowing that their travel and places of the address are being monitored. So that is people in New Zealand travelling to be with families in other countries and those families who reside in other countries deserve to be having the same protections as families here in New Zealand.I just would like to note that as part of the bill there's been a section 7 report on the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and a part of that is the retrospectivity—as previously noted double jeopardy and retrospectivity that this bill needs to be retrospective in order for it to operate and that has been a factor in picking that up. The additional reporting requirements will apply to people who have already been registered offenders on the register. So it's for that reason that the double jeopardy rule had been triggered.However it's also important to note that in the Solicitor-General's section 7 report they note that it's an important balance of rights to make sure that there is a balance of rights of those having the safety and protection and that needs to be weighed up in this instance as well.I'd like to conclude by congratulating Greg O'Connor. He's continued to shepherd this bill through a long process and it is another step to make sure that we join hands with the international community and provide as much protection as possible in an area where there are known predators who will continue to look for opportunities. And the more that we can close those gaps and shut down those opportunities then the safer and more protected the next generation of young people will be.