Yang Jian: Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYang Jian: Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 02 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8504. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr JIAN YANG (National): I move That the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services Committee to consider the bill. Child safety is an absolute priority. We need to protect our young people from sex offenders. Child sexual abuse causes significant and long-lasting harm to the children in our community and to their families. In 2014 alone 451 offenders were convicted of a child sex offence and 307 were sentenced to imprisonment. The aim of my bill is to amend the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Act 1995 to prevent convicted child sex offenders from legally changing their names.This bill seeks to protect vulnerable members of society from child sex offenders by preventing those individuals convicted of a child sex offence from changing their names. This will ensure that the appropriate agencies can properly manage these offenders to assist in their rehabilitation and to maintain public safety. It will also reassure parents that along with changes already made by the Government they can have faith in the vetting of anyone being employed in a job related to children. Parents and children should be able to trust people in positions of responsibility. The Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill will enable this. This will prevent other sex offenders from being able to change their names in an attempt to get closer to innocent children. This bill serves an important objective. Victims of sexual abuse are extremely vulnerable and the resultant harm is often very serious and long-lasting.Sections 21A and 21B of the principal Act provide for the right of eligible persons to register a name change and the procedures for doing so. Section 21 of the principal Act defines “eligible person” as: “a person—(a) whose birth is registered; or (b) who is a New Zealand citizen or is entitled under the Immigration Act 2009 to be in New Zealand …”. The bill extends the definition of “eligible person” by providing that the term does not include a person who is a child sex offender. The bill defines the term “child sex offender” as: “a person—(a) who has been convicted of a relevant offence; and (b) whose conviction for the relevant offence has not been quashed.” The bill provides that the term “relevant offence” has the same meaning as the term has in section 107B of the Parole Act 2002. The relevant offences listed in that section include a great variety of offences including for example sexual violation incest murder manslaughter acid-throwing and kidnapping. Some of the offences listed as relevant offences in section 107B apply only to offences against a person below the age of 12 years or 16 years. However most of the offences listed are general offences applying to persons of any age. I look forward to the select committee input on this bill to meet the objective of preventing convicted child sex offenders from legally changing their names.My bill dovetails into the National Government’s programme of work aimed at keeping our young people safe from harm. This programme includes a Government bill to establish New Zealand’s first child sex offender register with the aim to reduce the risk posed by child sex offenders. The Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill received its first reading in September and has been referred to the Social Services Committee. I will ask the select committee to consider my bill alongside the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill and I look forward to working with the committee. The register will provide information to authorise the Police and Department of Corrections staff which will identify and manage the risk posed by convicted child sex offenders who have come to the end of their sentences or some who are serving non-custodial sentences. The aim is to have the register established by July 2016.It is estimated that 472 offenders will be registered in the first year rising to 1541 in year 4 when an evaluation will be completed. Registration will apply to offenders convicted in New Zealand and to those who move here following a similar conviction overseas. At the moment offenders can disappear back into communities when they finish a sentence. We want authorities to be able to keep track of them and get information on any change in their circumstances that may increase their risk of reoffending. Last year 294 child sex offenders were released from prison back into the community. The majority of these offenders will have no ongoing contact with justice sector agencies after they complete their sentence or orders even though their risk of reoffending may be high.This Government has already gone a long way towards addressing the risks presented by high-risk sexual and violent offenders with the introduction of public protection orders and the enhancement of extended supervision orders in 2014. In addition National introduced 24-hour GPS tracking for high-risk child sex offenders. We also have the Centre for Impact on Sexual Offending. Police and corrections staff started working more closely to share information intelligence resulting in the centre which profiles child sex offenders who are about to be released from prison or who are serving sentences in the community. Under this Government we are changing the system.National legislated the Vulnerable Children Act to protect children from the adults working with them. The Vulnerable Children Act requires State sector agencies that work with children and the organisations they fund to have child protection policies in place. They will face a requirement for all paid children’s workers to be safety checked in a consistent way. Also we have stronger child protection memorandums of understanding with Child Youth and Family and other agencies including police health and education and for iwis.I look forward to the select committee discussion on this bill as child safety is an absolute priority. We need to protect our young people from sex offenders. Thank you.