Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you Mr Chair for the opportunity. I would like to speak to clause 3 because there has been a lot of interest in the purpose of this bill. This clause forms the basis of this whole bill and there has been a lot of discussion from both sides about the objective of this bill. The objective of this bill is to track serious child sex offenders. Yes I have heard members from the other side saying that there is no evidence that this register is going to help us reduce offending or reoffending but to me it is a common-sense thing. Keeping track of serious child sex offenders cannot go wrong. We live in a society where the safety of the public is of utmost importance. We also know that the rights of victims are important but we need to balance the rights of victims with the rights of the offenders. This register will collect information not just as a data-collection exercise; the information that will be collected on this register will form the basis for risk assessment of these offenders by police and the Department of Corrections. The information that will be available on this register will be only for specified agencies and will be available to third parties if required. On Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 178 from the member from New Zealand First Darroch Ball I want to say that I oppose that SOP because there is no evidence that making such a register publicly available helps.Darroch Ball: You just said there's no evidence that a register works but you're supporting that.Dr PARMJEET PARMAR: It is about a publicly available register; that is not going to help. The evidence clearly shows that making such registers publicly available actually does not provide anything in terms of public safety. Instead it can disrupt the life of the offenders to the extent that they can take up reoffending. There is a very very narrow focus in that SOP because that SOP is just taking into consideration the offender and is not taking into consideration the wider picture—especially those people who may be related to that offender and how their family and work life will be affected if that offender is named and information is in the public domain. It is not just about protecting the offender's information it is not just about protecting victims but it is also about protecting those people who are related to offenders who will go on that register. As I said the information will be available to specified agencies and based on that they will be doing risk assessment and they will be able to take preventative action. I fully support that this database should remain as a secure database and that is why we want the administration of this database to be so strict. The bill clearly specifies that the administration of this register will be done by the Commissioner of Police and as we heard before before making any significant operational changes the commissioner will be required to consult with the chief executive officer of the Department of Corrections. We have taken this very very strict exclusive approach just to ensure this database remains secure and that the public have confidence in this register. We know that there is a lot of information that will be collected on this register. We need to be sensitive to those offenders and especially the families of the offenders. About who will go on the register—again this legislation is very very clear that those who are convicted and are sentenced to imprisonment will automatically go on this register but in the case of a non-custodial sentence it will be at the sentencing judge's discretion to decide whether the person should go on the register or not. But again this bill gives enough guidance to the judge about who should go on the register. It clearly states that if there is a continuous risk from the offender then that person should go on the register. So it is about reducing the possibility of reoffending by serious child sex offenders. About the age—again there is no uncertainty in this legislation. It makes very very clear that the person should be 18 or over at the time of committing the offence at the time of getting convicted of a qualifying offence at the time of being sentenced to imprisonment or through a non-custodial sentence being directed by the judge to be on the register. Another good thing about this legislation is that it covers those people who are convicted overseas. So if people are convicted of a similar offence in an overseas jurisdiction and they decide to come to live here in New Zealand they will also go on this register. About the information—yes we heard a lot of information will go on this register related to the offender.