O'Connor Damien: Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill — Second Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10336] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Racing) 
 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Justice 
: I move  
That the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill be now read a second time 
. It is a great honour to read this speech out as someone who did a lot of work on a member’s bill on this matter and welcomed the introduction of this bill to the House. The further progress of this bill today brings us a step closer to the creation of a clean slate regime in New Zealand—a regime that finally gives people the chance to put their past mistakes behind them and to get on with their lives as law-abiding citizens without being subject to unfair discrimination and ongoing punishment. Such a scheme is long overdue in New Zealand. Contrary to what the critics of this legislation may claim this is not dangerous uncharted liberal territory. It is not soft law that will see armed robbers and sex offenders being employed as primary schoolteachers as the Opposition will try to make out. The scheme will allow people with minor convictions—ones that never resulted in a jail term—who have subsequently kept their noses clean for 7 years to lawfully conceal those convictions as they go about their day-to-day lives. 
Comparable schemes have been in operation in overseas jurisdictions including the UK and Australia for up to 30 years. The lack of such a scheme here has been the cause of extreme and in my view totally unnecessary anxiety and suffering for many ordinary hard-working and law-abiding New Zealanders who are haunted by the legacy of a very minor mistake they may have made many many years ago. Because they have had to disclose a criminal record they find themselves constantly being discriminated against by prospective employers by landlords and so on—despite having lived blameless lives for years or even decades since that offence. The punishment they experience for their entire lives is utterly disproportionate to the crime. 
Few issues have prompted so many heartfelt letters to the Minister and myself in the 4 years we have been in Government. I have had a letter— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Give us an example. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: —if Mr Brownlee would listen—from a 48-year-old grandmother who offended when she was 15 years old. She still feels she is treated like a criminal as a result of that. Another letter came from a man who committed a petty theft when he was 17 and is still followed by the stigma of his criminal record 55 years later. Another person was convicted of removing a roadworks sign 10 years ago. That was not a victimless or costless crime I concede but it is surely an act that a decade later we can forgive as a youthful prank that went too far. We have dozens of letters on this topic and they all tell similar stories of minor and deeply regretted mistakes that continue to punish their authors decades on. Many of those affected believe they have suffered discrimination in employment and elsewhere as a result of their criminal record and all of them feel the stigma of being branded as a criminal in public every time they are asked to disclose any prior criminal convictions. In those cases the punishment they experience quite simply does not fit the crime. 
This scheme is designed to help ordinary New Zealanders such as those people. It is not a scheme that gives free rein for serious or violent criminals to lie about their past. The qualifying hurdle is high by any standards—higher than in most similar overseas schemes. To qualify for clean slating firstly the conviction must not have resulted in a custodial sentence and secondly the person must have remained conviction free for 7 years. The conviction-free period of 7 years is a change from the provisions in the bill as introduced. Following discussion and public submissions the Justice and Electoral Committee decided to reduce the qualifying period from 10 years. The statistical evidence was that if people have a minor conviction and have not reoffended after 7 years they are unlikely ever to reoffend. There was therefore no reason to hold the conviction-free period at 10 years and I agree with that amendment. 
The non-custodial threshold for qualifying convictions is also a high hurdle. It is conservative in comparison with overseas schemes most of which allow for a sentence of 6 months or less in prison to qualify while some allow for convictions resulting in up to 30 months’ imprisonment to qualify. There are advantages in having such a clear threshold. Custodial sentences are generally used as a sentence of last resort for serious or recidivist offenders. Furthermore that is a clear line of eligibility that the public can easily understand. Any further conviction whether or not it results in a custodial sentence will mean that the individual is no longer eligible for a clean slate. Such a conviction will bring the concealed records back to light until such time as all the requirements are met once again. 
It is important to note that individuals with convictions for child sex offences will not be eligible for concealment irrespective of the sentence handed down. Most New Zealanders if they were sensible—unlike the Opposition—would agree that any child sex offence is a serious matter and for that reason should be exempt from concealment. 
The clean slate regime provides authorisation for those with qualifying convictions to conceal or not to be obliged to disclose those convictions when going about their day-to-day lives. They will effectively have a clean slate when seeking employment or accommodation applying for hire purchase arranging insurance and so on. The conviction will not have to be disclosed by the individual and it will be an offence for a person with access to criminal records to unlawfully disclose a concealed conviction. The official conviction record is retained however and may be used in specific exemption situations. The exemptions include accessing clean slate records for law enforcement investigations and in relation to particularly sensitive matters regarding certain types of employment such as employment in the care and protection of children or young persons or employment involving matters of national security. In those cases all convictions will be available to the prospective employer and must be disclosed by the applicant. We will also move a Supplementary Order Paper at the Committee stage to provide a further exemption allowing the police to examine clean slate convictions when considering applications under the Arms Act for firearms licences. 
It is unfortunately not possible for a clean slate regime to legally excuse New Zealanders from their obligation to disclose past convictions to overseas authorities while travelling or in overseas visa or immigration entry applications. A concealment regime can exempt New Zealanders from the normal obligations under New Zealand law in certain circumstances but it cannot exempt them from any other country’s law. Similarly clean slate regimes operating in overseas countries do not apply when those countries’ citizens arrive in New Zealand. That will be a source of disappointment to many people but it is not within the power of New Zealand’s Parliament to legislate for other countries’ disclosure requirements. Consistent with that reality the Government legislation enables New Zealand law enforcement agencies to disclose an individual’s full criminal record when requested to do so by equivalent overseas agencies for the purposes of investigation. That reciprocates the level of cooperation that our law enforcement agencies expect from overseas jurisdictions. 
I thank the members of the Justice and Electoral Committee for their work on this bill and on the member’s bill in the name of Nandor Tanczos which was considered alongside this bill. Mr Tanczos’ bill helped to provide impetus to this issue and raised valuable points of debate and discussion about how a clean slate regime would best be tailored for New Zealand. That debate has I think had a positive influence on the shape of this bill as reported from the committee. 
The Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill will finally provide the means for many hundreds of New Zealanders to put their past behind them. Those who have lived blameless lives for many years should not be continually punished by the stigma of a past mistake being made public over and over again. This is not soft law nor is it a licence to lie. The thresholds are high and conservative by any standards and the scheme’s exceptions are justified and serve as safeguards. We look forward to the passage of the bill and the commencement in New Zealand of a clean slate regime.