Rurawhe Adrian: Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRurawhe Adrian: Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 15 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6650. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. We have heard many good contributions to this debate. Keeping our children safe is one of the most important things that our society can do and one of the things that is not addressed by this bill but that is important to be mentioned is parents being able to keep their children safe. I acknowledge the previous speaker Jan Logie because I totally agree with what she has said.I congratulate the Minister for Social Development on bringing this bill to the House. The Social Services Committee will be able to deal with this efficiently and in a way that it needs to so that our children can be protected. But that is only a small part of the equation I think. My understanding and the way I read things is that the bill deals with those who potentially will reoffend. It is the offenders who have already offended who go on to the register and that deals with just a small percentage of the overall potential offenders out there. But it is an important step that can potentially prevent further harm to children within our society. So for that I acknowledge that the bill is important.The register and the sharing of that information is important to recognise as well—and to also identify the potential risk there and the rights of those people who will be registered on that register. The bill does break new ground in that sense. I think the select committee will have some important work to do around it. There is certainly I think a test that will need to be met for this register and the processes involved in it to be effective. I stand here to acknowledge that and to highlight that issue. The rights of those people need to be recognised as well. What the long-term impact is going to be I do not know but I certainly think that that is a question the select committee needs to answer.The increase in offending against children—and over 50 percent of all sexual offending has been against children—is such a terrible statistic. That is something that needs to be dealt with not only through this bill but also in the way that all agencies deal with our families. The Government has a policy on Whānau Ora. I think Whānau Ora from my understanding is one of those policies that needs to be interwoven in every single piece of legislation that affects our families. I want to put it to the select committee that it should also take notice of that policy—the Government’s own policy on that issue—and apply it to this bill. And it should make sure that it considers every other measure that it can in empowering families to take responsibility for themselves and that it also looks at providing additional resources for families to be able to keep their children safe. I think that is the main message that I want to give to the House and to the select committee on this issue.We support this bill’s referral to the select committee but with reservations to ensure that the select committee does all that it can to make this bill the best it can be. Thank you.