Williams PotoPOTO WILLIAMS (Labour—Christchurch East): Firstly before I start my contribution I do want to say that the value of these debates is in ensuring that should this piece of legislation be tested in court the judge knows the intent of the piece of legislation by viewing the contributions of members particularly at the Committee stage.Having been a member on the Social Services Committee and having heard a wide range of submissions there are a couple of points that have not been traversed that I must ensure are part of this particular Committee debate. In particular I want to refer to clause 8 which my colleague Stuart Nash raised because there are some complex and technical matters within clause 8 that talk about the risk factors that a judge would need to determine in order to ensure that somebody who has a non-custodial sentence is given an order to be placed on the register. We have to give those kinds of elements some context. We have to be able to illuminate and be able to ensure that when this legislation is tested there is a sufficient amount of evidence and information in order to make those determinations.But on hearing from some of the submitters who actually were offenders themselves one of the key points that was raised was the fact that—and it is a principle that we need to examine—as an offender who has been charged with an offence and has completed their sentence there are obvious restrictions upon that person when they go on to a register. There are obvious restrictions. So not only have they completed their sentence but they may in effect have another sentence. We need to look at that principle of having completed one sentence to then have further restrictions placed upon you. It is an important thing to consider within this debate.One of the other considerations that people who are offenders raised at the select committee was the fact that if they as people as humans as family members were to go on to a register and in particular one that is then made public what is the impact on their family? What is then the impact on their children? Are the children of sex offenders or the family members of sex offenders then guilty by association? It is an important thing for us to consider—the rights of family members of sexual offenders—particularly if we are unable to control the release of information. For instance should that information go to third parties like boards of trustees? It is not just the offender who may be at risk of being identified but also their family members.The last point I want to make in this contribution is about the length of time that an offender is on the register. At the select committee we were given some explanation and I ask the Minister if she can perhaps clarify this and I have asked this question before: how did the Minister land on the time frame for offenders to be on the register? I know there are three categories and three different lengths of time. How can we say that somebody after a period of 8 years or 10 years or 15 years is now safe to come off the register? Or alternatively how we can say that the period of X number of years actually reduces any risk to the community?I do not think that question has been asked as part of the discussion in this Committee stage so I would like to know from the Minister how she arrived at determining those particular years. I would also like to know how the rights of children and family members of sex offenders can be guaranteed to be upheld in this piece of legislation. Thank you.