Unkovich Tanya; Kuriger BarbaraTANYA UNKOVICH (NZ First): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise today to take a call on this third reading of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill. Alongside my colleagues from now on I will also refer to it only as the bill. This bill seeks to address an area of public safety that is incredibly important—of those of our most vulnerable in our society: our children—and is but one of the many reasons that New Zealand First will continue to support this bill. Now the register that is being spoken of is a record of a range of up to date personal information about registered child sex offenders who are living in our community. This is a tool which helps police and corrections staff to monitor these people who have already offended in the past and it does so with the aim of preventing reoffending and also again keeping our children and our most vulnerable safe.Now one of the purposes of this bill is to enhance these monitoring measures and also to regulate the overseas travel of anyone who is on the register. This bill proposes amendments to existing legislation which requires registerable offenders to provide additional information to the authorities before they travel overseas for more than 48 hours. Now one of the benefits of the bill as it is written is that it aligns with reporting requirements for domestic and overseas travel. This will ensure consistency and coherence in monitoring the movements of these offenders. It also enhances collaboration between the New Zealand Police and the Customs Service. This will enable them to leverage their networks and their resources to protect our children even more from any potential risk posed by the offenders who are travelling abroad and this will strengthen international efforts in this area.Now New Zealand First we support this bill for many many reasons. One of them is because it upholds the principle of protecting the vulnerable in our society—vulnerable individuals. It ensures public safety and it also ensures effective enforcement of the current law. Now we believe that supporting this bill will also acknowledge the importance of addressing a very difficult issue that exists and that is of child sexual exploitation. Now this sadly does occur. By enabling the sharing and the coordination of the information between the relevant agencies this will strengthen international efforts to combat child sex tourism. Now as I've mentioned before while speaking on this bill however I feel it's important to comment again on it. Whilst it's important to note that a significant proportion of child sex offenders do not reoffend it is very important to note that many still do when they have been released from prison.Now due to the nature of this type of offence if by chance during a temporary lapse of reason an offender reoffends and they commit yet another sexual offence the consequences for the victim are by no means temporary. It causes emotional harm and physical harm. The suffering on the victim and on their families will continue for a lifetime. That's why it's so important that we continue to create awareness around this area to ensure we can do whatever we can to prevent it in the first place. If it was to happen one offence could just be the beginning of another systemic family pattern of abuse. So anything that we can do to prevent that pattern from reoccurring is important.So this bill as I've already mentioned is going to be another measure to protect the most vulnerable who are in our society. Now some may argue—and I've already mentioned this before but what about the rights of the offender. They deserve a chance to rehabilitate and not live under a cloud of judgment. But what if by having these additional requirements is in fact a deterrent for them that makes them think twice during a temporary lapse of reason. It may just be the one thing that makes them go No." So as I've mentioned due to the nature of the offence any decision that is made in a split second can lead to irreversible consequences for both the victim and the offender. So it is possible I believe that these extra measures provided for in this bill could be the deterrent that they need to finally take responsibility for their actions and take ownership of their life which they have a second chance at.So in summary—I won't speak for too much longer—New Zealand First we so boldly believe in public safety. It's a very important part of our principles and especially the safety of our children the most vulnerable in our society the defenceless and we do believe that it does outweigh the privacy or the equal protection of the sex offender. So that's why it is very important for us to continue to support this bill and we believe that it will be received very well and we commend it to the House. Thank you Madam Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The next call is a split call. I call Mariameno Kapa-Kingi."