Ngaro Alfred: Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 02 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11662. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National): I rise to take a call on the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill. There are some comments that were made in regard to the whole aspect of the register and its importance. I want to just say that the purpose of the register is to provide the authorities with another tool. It does not just exist on its own; there is a list that people will look at and then make a judgment and create some analysis.Just to provide a little bit of background information what has happened previously is there has been the role of information sharing between different agencies. That has played quite an important role especially with Police and with the Department of Corrections. In fact back in 2012 this role was significant because it was at that time that they were able through that information sharing to identify a convicted sex offender who was actually a teacher at a school. Without that information sharing that would not have happened. That was critically important. It highlighted the need to have the analysis to have good data and good information that allowed them to be able to make a judgment call about what needed to happen in that case.In 2013 a collaboration between Police and corrections meant they set up what they call the CISO—the Centre for Impact on Sexual Offending. That was set up particularly so that there could be both the analysis of the information and the ability to form what they would call a product of intelligence that allowed them to give to the individual a profile around a particular offender. That was critically important. Out of that analysis they were then able to have individual profiling which allowed them to be able to then make an assessment about the risk factor of that offender. The purpose then for this bill and for this register is to fit into that context.So firstly the Centre for Impact on Sexual Offending will become the administrator of the register. Secondly it adds to the analysis because it gives regular up-to-date information. Currently there is no legislation framework that allows them to be able to do that. In order to be able to minimise risk you have to have what they call an appropriate risk management framework. So this fits into a framework. It is not purely a list that exists on its own; it has an administrator it has two key stakeholders—the Police and corrections—working together. They have the analysis. What the register will do is give them up-to-date information that enables them to make an assessment at that point in time. Their role is to both monitor and manage the risk. That is the reason for the register; that is the reason why it is actually absolutely important for us to have this register inside that framework to truly make a difference to reducing the risk of offending and at the same time too—I would agree with the member David Clendon—to be able to then provide other forms of rehabilitation that may be appropriate to the offender. That is the reason that is there.Mr Clendon also made comment around the $146 million. We all had the inquiry and the information that we wanted to be able to ask as to how when we think about the cost-benefit analysis almost two-thirds of that $146 million is already consumed in current roles of responsibility already there. So we are not talking a huge amount of extra fund that is going to be used to administer this register that is being proposed at the moment. That is critically important.We also feel that that is important because again it enables them to be able to have this up-to-date information as well.We had 135 substantive submissions and 98 of those submissions talked about the need—and I take Mr Darroch Ball’s comment—for making the register public. There was concern because they felt that the public needed to have the information—in fact many submitters talked about the right of the public to have that information—so that it could give them the ability to be able to assess their own risk and their own challenges that they had in their own communities. You would have to say there is some merit in that submission and in the advocacy for that.There was some comment that there was no evidence. There is evidence and it was presented to us. There is a 2011 study by Prescott and Rockoff from Columbia University in the United States which was substantive enough to identify two things. The first thing that it identified is this: there is little or no evidence to demonstrate that making the register accessible to the public improves public safety overall. So here is the evidence. The fact is they were saying that there is no evidence to say that by making it public it was going to be able to reduce the offending that was in there. But here is the thing that I think is actually really important too: inside of that it said that we find that the evidence that the registration reduces the frequency of offences by providing law enforcement with information on sex offenders. There is evidence; it does prove the importance of the register—No. 1 to be able to have approved accredited providers that will ensure that those key stakeholders have that information.We did ask the question to ensure that that information would not be able to be breached or leaked out into the public to ensure in a sense the confidentiality. However the balance is this: do we have the right information to create the right analyses so that the monitoring and the managing of high-risk offenders could be put in place? We think that is important as well.The last thing I want to say is that this Government has also passed other forms of legislation such as the public scrutiny information that is there that is provided—it is the public protection orders and the enhanced extended supervision orders that are also in place. When there are high-risk offenders this form of legislation will ensure that the enhanced extended supervision orders are actually still behind the wire. It means there is accommodation that is there. That is another tool along with the register to ensure that we both monitor and manage high-risk offenders that are a risk and could be a risk to our communities. At the end of the day it is about keeping our children and our communities safe. I commend this bill in its second reading to the House.