Lee MelissaMELISSA LEE (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'd like to thank everyone starting from the Minister the Hon Poto Williams. Hon Poto Williams: Thank you for the water. MELISSA LEE: Thank you for all of the work—and you're welcome about the water—and I'd like to obviously commend the work that our officials have had to deliver to this House in the short space of time since the Supreme Court decision. Having gone through the process of the first reading second reading and committee stage I am still left with some questions particularly because I think my colleague Simeon Brown had a very good point in his amendment. But I am left with the question: is the degree of criminality of the offending of appellant D if the wording in our original bill had been clear enough so that he would have been placed on the sex offender registry in the original piece of legislation so there would have been no reason for that person to end up in the Supreme Court—does that process diminish the degree of offence that requires the offence and the offender to be put on the sex offender registry? That is the thing that keeps playing in my head. I can't deal with it right now but I think the very fact that we're dealing with sexual offences against children is enormously serious and the very fact is that we have a register of sex offenders who commit these heinous crimes against children. Because it is serious their names are registered and they are followed—not literally but they are registered so that the police can monitor them. When they come out of prison they then have to register with the Police Corrections and the probation office to tell them where they're going to be living what kind of living arrangements do they have do they have young children in their homes what is their car registration and what kind of internet service provider do they actually have in their home so that the Police and the Corrections and the people who are looking to relocate this offender back into society are able to assist him to hopefully not reoffend. I think it is really really important and I think the very fact that this offender has his own clause in the bill—appellant D has new clause 11 in the bill—it really concerns me. But I am taking the Minister at her word that this has actually been dealt with. I just want to address the issue that Golriz Ghahraman actually said. She said Is the bill doing anything?" She said that the bill makes politicians look tough and that is the reason why she's opposing this bill. This bill does do something. The Supreme Court decision means that 600 sex offenders who were on the sex offender registry were wiped off—that's a quarter of the sex offenders. This amendment that we are passing tonight puts those 600 offenders—those people who are offending against the most vulnerable children; offending sexually molesting our children—back on the register so we can keep a watch—not us; the police the probation officers and the corrections officers who can help them as well as protect our children. She said that it makes us look tough. This doesn't make us politicians look tough; this actually makes us responsible. The Supreme Court decision was three to two—it wasn't a unanimous decision. That is the reason why we're actually debating this. I just wish that we could send a message back with a unanimous vote to pass this so that we can actually make people understand that the intent of this Parliament is to say that there is retrospective law for sexual offending against children and that we are standing together as one voice—one Parliament. It's just a shame that the Green Party can't agree to that. I commend this bill to the House."