O'Rourke DenisDENIS O'ROURKE (NZ First): New Zealand First has an absolutely zero-tolerance approach when it comes to sex offenders. That is why we supported the original legislation and why we will support this amendment bill. Registration of offenders can we think make a worthwhile contribution and even if it was only to be effective to a relatively small degree it would still be legislation and an amendment that would be worth having. So we think that we have got to do all that we possibly can to minimise the effects of child sex offending in the community and a system of monitoring is essential in order to achieve that. If we are going to have a system of monitoring it is also essential to have a system of registration and that in fact is what this bill sets out to do. In fact this particular bill applies only to amend the retrospective application of the principal Act and actually it does extend its purpose. One of the speakers opposite said that it was only a clarification. It is not actually. It does in fact extend the scope of the legislation so that all child sex offenders will be registrable as was intended under the principal Act. Under that Act it was intended that registration would be for all offenders subject to imprisonment and it was intended to include those yet to be sentenced when the Act came into force who would have been registrable offenders had they been convicted after the commencement of the Act. So actually it is an extension over the original legislation but it was intended in the original legislation so I think this amendment is consistent with that original legislation. Some groups would otherwise fall outside the scope of the Act and they would number we are told something in the vicinity of 130 individuals. That is a very significant number of people who should be under the Act to be left out. It is a hole that needs to be plugged and it needs to be done urgently. So for those reasons we in New Zealand First certainly do want this amendment bill to correct that defect. We think it is important that child sex offenders who are serving a qualifying sentence or who are still subject to conditions or requirements relating to a sentence or who were yet to be sentenced for a qualifying offence when the Act came into force must go on the register and that is what this amendment bill will actually achieve. It is essential for those reasons. I want to particularly comment on the Greens' position because it is a bit different from ours. We respect their position. However we believe that the reduction of offending and the monitoring of it to prevent reoffending—and that is the ultimate objective—has an importance far above the incursion into the privacy rights of the individuals concerned. So it is a matter of what is the predominant interest? We feel that the public interest in protecting children against child sex offenders is by far the predominant consideration and the relatively minor reduction in the privacy of individuals—even if it does mean in practice that some names get out into the public arena—is still not as great as the need to protect children against those offenders. We think it is a balancing act but this bill achieves the right balance. It is not a public process even if in effect it is likely that there will be some leaking of names. I do not disagree with that—that is quite likely. But I do say once again that the need to protect children against sex offenders—and therefore that they should be monitored and therefore that they need to be registered—is the predominant consideration. So for all of those reasons New Zealand First will continue to support the bill and vote in favour.