Ross Jami-Lee: Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ross Jami-Lee: Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 13 September 2011. Volume:675;Page:21249. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a call—the final call—on this bill. I have to remind members of the Opposition who sound as though they have not actually read a word of this bill that it is the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2). I say that it sounds as though they have not read a word of this bill because for the last half an hour I have not actually heard the bill itself being addressed. We heard about domestic violence and about child poverty but it was as if someone in the Labour research unit decided that today those were the issues those members were going to talk about regardless of the bill that was on the Order Paper. 
I cannot allow all of those claims to go unanswered. Many of them are false many of them are without merit and many of them are without substance. I will take the first point. Anyone listening tonight to the Opposition could be under the impression that this bill deals only with poor children and children from poor families. Let me remind the House and anyone watching that this bill is about every child. Every child who suffers from domestic violence and every child who is not cared for properly is a child whom this bill protects. 
I will read out a definition for Labour members who have not actually picked up the bill. We know that some Labour members have not picked up the bill because Carmel Sepuloni did not even know that this bill had been to a select committee. She said that Labour would be supporting this bill going to a select committee. I am sorry to inform Carmel Sepuloni that it has already been to a select committee. We know how much she cares about this bill! She did not even know that it had been to a select committee. Let me read out the definition. New section 195(3) inserted by clause 7 states: “For the purposes of this section and section 195A a child is a person under the age of 18 years.” That means that every child counts. That means that every child who has suffered from somebody not providing them with the necessities of life and every child who has not had someone looking out for them is a child whom this bill covers. So to Labour members who have said just about all night that this bill is about only poor children I say that it is about every child. I wanted to correct that because I was somewhat offended that not every child was considered equal in the speeches coming from the Opposition. 
I will also answer the claims that this Government has done nothing about domestic violence. That could not be further from the truth. My good friend Chester Borrows reminded me earlier that this Government dealt with the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill a number of years ago. It was one of the first— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member. I am having increasing difficulty hearing what the member is saying. Can members just tone it down. 
JAMI-LEE ROSS 
: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. I was almost at full volume but I will try to speak a bit louder if you like. This Government has dealt with the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill. The Opposition claims that this Government has done nothing about domestic violence but the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill has been passed by this Government. It increased penalties for domestic violence against children. In that domestic violence legislation we extended protection for child victims of domestic violence and we introduced police safety orders that extended protection from abusive adults. Those were some of the measures around domestic violence that this Government has dealt with. The members opposite who say that National has done nothing about domestic violence are absolutely wrong—they are absolutely wrong. 
I will also answer something that Dr Prasad said. He was one of the first speakers from the Opposition. He made a bold claim that National has not done enough for children. Let me remind Dr Prasad and the Labour Opposition that Labour had 9 years to pass a bill like this. Labour had 9 years to pass a bill on the protection of children. It had 9 years to pass a bill that doubles the penalty for cruelty to a child. Did Labour pass a bill that doubles the penalty for cruelty to a child? No it did not. This Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) doubles the penalty for cruelty to a child. Did Labour when it had 9 years in Government pass a bill that creates a new offence of failure to protect a child or vulnerable adult? No it did not. But Labour members have the gall to come here tonight and say that National has done nothing and has not done enough for children when we are here today debating a bill that the National Government brought in and put on the Order Paper. It has been through a select committee I remind Carmel Sepuloni again. We are here debating it because this Government is about action. This Government is about protecting children. This Government is about dealing with domestic violence through the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill passed already by this Government. I ask the Labour members opposite who think that not enough is being done for children and that not enough is being done about domestic violence to stand up tomorrow morning look in the mirror and ask themselves what Labour did in its 9 years in Government. 
We are here today debating the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) because it is an important measure. It is something that National members are passionate about and it is something we are doing right here tonight. I say thank you to Labour members for supporting the bill. It is good to hear that they are supporting the bill but many of the claims they have been making tonight simply just do not stand up to scrutiny. 
Let us talk about a couple of other points in the bill that have not had much discussion. They are important points. A part of the bill has not had a lot of discussion but we also need to cover it. This bill also changes the law around sexual grooming. It gives the police the power to prosecute people who are detected by police to be engaging in sexual grooming activities. Currently the law does not allow a person to be prosecuted if the person whom they were sexually grooming was a police officer operating under cover. That is quite a flaw in the legislation as it currently stands which this bill also seeks to change. Somebody who is engaging in the act of sexual grooming whether they are doing it to a minor or to a police officer posing as a minor is still engaging in sexual grooming. The current legislation does not allow anything to be done about those people who sexually groom an under-cover police officer and this bill will allow the police to take action on that. 
Another point in this bill that I want to talk about which I have not heard mentioned at all tonight is that the maximum penalty for the possession of an offensive weapon will rise from 2 years’ to 3 years’ imprisonment. I am sure many members of Parliament when they are out in their constituencies have heard from members of the public—and I heard this myself on Saturday at my stall at the Howick market—that the penalties are just not strong enough for people who commit crimes in the community. This bill will increase the maximum penalty for possession of an offensive weapon from 2 years’ to 3 years’ imprisonment. 
I repeat that one of the other significant parts of this bill is the doubling of the penalty for cruelty to a child. This Government is taking action. This Government cares about the protection of children. We reject the accusation that the Labour Opposition has made tonight that National has done little for children. We are right here debating a bill that Labour itself had 9 years to introduce but did not. National is taking the action. National has brought the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) to this Parliament and I look forward to it being passed sometime in the near future.