Tolley Anne: Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 01 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11622. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): I move That the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Register) Bill be now read a second time. This bill will enable the establishment of a child sex offender register which will reduce sexual offending against child victims and the risk posed by serious child sex offenders living in our communities. I would like to thank the members of the Social Services Committee and in particular the chair of the committee Alfred Ngaro for his and his committee’s work on this groundbreaking bill. I thank all those members of the public who took the time to submit on the bill. The bill in its current form reflects the careful consideration of the committee.As emphasised by the submitters on this bill child sexual abuse is a serious problem in New Zealand. It causes significant and long-lasting harm to the child victims in our communities and to their families. As also noted by some of the submitters the actions of the child sex offender can also result in significant harm to their own families especially the children who have to live with the repercussions of their parents’ offending.Inter-agency work aimed at preventing child sexual reoffending has improved in recent years in response to various incidents and the introduction of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014. However the lack of a centralised child sex offender register has meant that Government agencies cannot reliably identify assess and/or monitor persons who pose a risk of further harm to children especially after the completion of their sentence.The bill enables the New Zealand Police and the Department of Corrections to establish a child sex offender register for offenders aged 18 years or older at the time of committing the offence who are convicted of a qualifying offence against a child under the age of 16 years and who are sentenced to a term of imprisonment or sentenced to a non-custodial sentence but directed to be registered by the sentencing judge and for offenders convicted of a similar child sex offence in an overseas jurisdiction who intend to reside in New Zealand or who are currently serving a custodial sentence or who are subject to an extended supervision order or public protection order for a qualifying offence on the date that the Act comes into force.In summary the bill prescribes the duration of an offender’s registration based on the class of qualifying offence in schedule 2 and the sentence received. If an offender is sentenced to imprisonment the duration for class 1 offences will be 8 years; for class 2 offences 15 years; and for class 3 offences life. If an offender receives a non-custodial sentence and the judge orders registration the offender will be on the register for 8 years regardless of the offence committed. Registered offenders will be required to report to the police or in some cases to the Department of Corrections and to provide a range of personal information upon their release from prison their commencement of a non-custodial sentence or their arrival in New Zealand and then annually. They will also need to report any changes to their registered information and any intended travel from the registered address.Where it is deemed necessary to protect the safety of a specific child or children the bill provides for authorised information-sharing of a registered offender’s personal information between specified agencies between the commissioner and overseas law enforcement agencies and between police and third parties. The information on the register will not be available to the public. The bill establishes offences for failing to report or provide the required information for providing false or misleading information and most importantly for unauthorised disclosure of information on the register by agencies or third persons to whom information has been disclosed.The bill has emerged from the Social Services Committee with a number of changes as a result of the committee’s careful consideration of these difficult issues. I believe these have strengthened the bill. In the bill as reported back a registered offender who is registered for life will be able to apply to the District Court for a suspension of their reporting obligations after 15 years on the register. The onus will be on them to prove that they no longer pose a risk to the life or sexual safety of a child or children. If the application is granted the offender’s reporting obligations will be suspended but they will remain on the register. If the application is declined they can reapply after 5 years or a lesser period if specified by the court. The police or the Department of Corrections will be able to apply to the court for a revocation of the suspension if it can prove that the offender’s level of risk has increased.Another amendment to the bill is that registered offenders will be required to seek the approval of the Commissioner of Police prior to applying to the Department of Internal Affairs for a change of name and the bill provides a list of the matters that the commissioner must consider prior to granting approval. It is an offence to fail to get that prior approval. The bill also now includes matters that the court must consider when contemplating whether to order an offender sentenced to a non-custodial sentence for a qualifying offence to be placed on the register.The Attorney-General presented a report on this bill pursuant to section 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act advising that he considered the bill as introduced was inconsistent with section 9 of that Act and with section 26(2). I consider that the bill as reported back goes some way to addressing these concerns. The Attorney-General’s report in respect of section 9 commented particularly on the lifetime reporting obligations of offenders. This has been modified to enable those with lifetime reporting obligations to apply after 15 years to have those obligations suspended. With regard to section 26(2) the retrospective provisions are now ameliorated by the new review provisions.As noted by the select committee’s report for those offenders qualifying for the register who are still serving a custodial sentence but who will have already been released into the community when the Act comes into force the reporting requirements are calculated to have started from when the offender was released from custody not from the commencement of the legislation. The committee has however in my view rightfully retained the substance of the retrospective application of the bill to remove the immediate risk from previously convicted child sex offenders who are still serving a sentence of imprisonment when the legislation comes into force.There was discussion during the committee’s consideration of the bill around whether it would be better and cheaper to place offenders on the register based solely on their assessed risk. Although I can appreciate this view and did consider it at the time of writing the bill the problem is that the risk presented by a child sex offender can vary over time. An offender assessed as having a low risk of offending at the time of sentence or release from prison may well become high risk once back in the community again or 5 years after release if some change in circumstances triggers the offending behaviour.This Government believes that it is in the interests of child safety to ensure that personal information is gathered on all qualifying child sex offenders so that if the offender’s level of risk does increase—for example when an offender notifies police of a change of circumstances—agencies will be informed can assess potential risks and will be able to start working with the offender or if necessary a third party such as the offender’s new partner to reduce the chance of further offending.There have also been concerns expressed that the resources required to establish the register will reduce resources for proven interventions or treatment programmes for child sex offenders. This is not a case of having either programmes or the register; both play a very important and complementary role in reducing sexual reoffending against children. I am confident that we have got the right balance to achieve the purpose of this legislation—the protection of vulnerable child victims against the offending behaviour of child sex offenders in the community.I propose to introduce a Supplementary Order Paper at the Committee of the whole House stage with technical amendments to clarify procedural matters and ensure consistency of language in the bill. It will also include an amendment to the commencement clause to the effect that the Act shall come into force 30 days after the date on which it receives the Royal assent rather than on 1 July 2016. This is because a lead-in period of 1 month is needed to bring technical aspects of implementation into effect. I commend the bill to the House.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Before I call the member—I did not interrupt the Minister while she was reading her speech but I do want to make it clear to Ministers that they do not have a general exemption from Speaker’s ruling 53/4 from the Report of the Standing Orders Committee in relation to reading speeches. Where matters are highly technical and at first reading there are exemptions. I think it is fair to say that parts of this bill were technical but Ministers should not read—in fact no member should read—their entire speech. What I am indicating is that at first reading people are much more flexible but by this stage of a bill except for the very technical parts members should not read their speeches.