Dean Jacqui: Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDean Jacqui: Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 03 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19218. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki):Our children deserve to be protected against sex offenders whether or not those individuals have been convicted or not. That is the starting point for us as New Zealanders and it is the underlying theme of this very good bill the Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill. I am pleased that Labour is supporting this bill at its first reading and I agree with the previous speaker the Hon Phil Goff that one of the most important aspects that the Law and Order Committee does need to consider is the impact on human rights and the concerns raised by not only the Labour members but other members throughout this House about the rights of the victim weighed up against the rights of the perpetrator convicted of that crime. But due to the significant risk of serious harm posed by the small number of the worst sex offenders against adults and children and the very small number of violent offenders who would be managed on an extended supervision order it is believed by the Minister of Corrections and this side of the House—and hopefully the majority of this House—that extended supervision orders will be a vital tool for protecting our most precious citizens.The provisions in this Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill include enabling orders to be renewed for as long as they are needed. Currently supervision orders are extended for a period limited to 10 years and then it is extremely difficult to maintain any form of control and check on convicted sex offenders beyond that point. The previous speaker has outlined a certain individual for whom we have grave concern about their future offending and I will not dignify the individual by going over that evidence again. The bill will also expand the scope of orders beyond high-risk child sex offenders to include a small number of high-risk sex offenders against adults because adults too need to be protected. We are talking about very small numbers here and again I have referenced the concerns and share the concerns about the human rights of both the victims but also the offenders.The bill will allow these proposed enhancements to apply to extended supervision order applications made to and granted by the court after the legislation is in place. So if there is an offender already subject to an extended supervision order they would remain on that order under the existing regime which is of a period of 10 years but on application from the Department of Corrections they would be eligible to have a new order imposed upon them by the court under the new legislative regime. At that point when the new order takes effect the existing order would be automatically cancelled. So on the passing of this bill and when it is enacted there should be no gap between the existing protection orders and the new extended protection order regime.Very recently while in consideration of the Parole Amendment Bill members of the Law and Order Committee attended a number of parole hearings throughout New Zealand. I attended a parole hearing in Mt Eden prison and the prisoner wishing to apply for parole was a sex offender. He was trying very hard to convince the Parole Board that the fact that he was seen to be lurking around shopping malls and other places where he was forbidden to be and that he was trying to get his hands on a cellphone and send texts to targeted people was perfectly acceptable even though this was against his bail conditions. It was a kind of incremental creeping approach of saying: “It’s all right. I know I have offended in a shopping mall before but I’m not going to do it again. It’s all right. I have sent texts grooming potential victims but I have no intention of doing that again.” Well the Parole Board doing its job saw through that kind of argument and declined parole in that instance but it highlighted to me the danger that children and adults can be in from a determined high-risk sex offender. It is that kind of danger that this bill seeks to protect our most precious citizens from. Thank you.