Bennett PaulaFirst ReadingHon PAULA BENNETT (Minister of Police): I move That the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. A key focus for this Government has been protecting children from harm particularly family and sexual violence. That is why last year we passed the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act which imposes additional reporting requirements on convicted child sex offenders who have finished their sentence and are living in the community. The principle of keeping our children safe from abuse was clear; however the Act required a number of complicated technical provisions to ensure convicted offenders were required to report personal information to police sometimes for life. It has become apparent in operationalising this Act that a small group of offenders who were intended to be covered may not be able to be put on the register. We believe the public expects these offenders to be covered by the register so we are acting with urgency to make Parliament's intention clear and remove any doubt that these people are subject to registration.This amendment bill amends the principal Act to reflect the original retrospective policy intent of the legislation. There is no new policy involved. It was intended that the retrospective provisions of the principal Act would apply to all child sex offenders who had been released from prison and were subject to release conditions under Department of Corrections oversight when the Act came into force. It was also intended to include all those child sex offenders who had been convicted of a qualifying offence prior to the Act coming into force but were yet to be sentenced. The laws that govern release from prison and release conditions are complex and rightly so. There is a range of legislation that governs how and when a prisoner is released from prison based on the prisoners assessed risk the sentence imposed time served and the circumstances of the offender and the offence.As with any new legislation there is a settling-in period when the application of the legislation comes under scrutiny. This led to the identification of a small group of child sex offenders for whom eligibility for registration could be challenged. This amendment bill confirms that these child sex offenders are subject to registration. It will reassure the public that a wide range of child sex offenders are registered and are subject to the proactive monitoring and management by police and Corrections as originally intended. It is important we pass this bill today under urgency to ensure that these offenders are subject to reporting obligations as per the register as soon as possible. There are two key issues that are being addressed through this bill. First the application of the principal Act to those released from prison and subject to release conditions. This issue relates to those child sex offenders who when the Act came into force for a range of reasons could no longer be required to serve time in prison but were still required to report to a probation officer and fulfil certain criteria. Examples of release conditions are: to attend counselling or to not be alone with a child under the age of 16 years. The intention of the Act was to link the ability to retrospectively register an offender to the release conditions that relate to that prison sentence. Whether or not the offender has completed the custodial part of the sentence is irrelevant for the purposes of this Act. This bill addresses each of the different release types separately. This is to ensure that all release types are covered by the amendment. This part of the amendment bill will bring 107 child sex offenders back onto the register.The second issue relates to the application of the principal Act to those convicted of a qualifying offence before the principal Act came into force but who had not yet been sentenced. The principal Act does not make it sufficiently clear that registration applies to all offenders who are sentenced after commencement of the Act regardless of when they were convicted. Sixty-seven offenders had been convicted but not yet sentenced when the Act came into force.This Government is committed to improving the well-being and safety of all children in New Zealand. This bill will ensure that a technical issue does not place children at risk from a number of unregistered child sex offenders who were always intended to be subject to registration. It is the up-to-date personal information regularly reported by registered offenders that enables police and Corrections to proactively assess and manage the risk presented to children by child sex offenders living in the community. I would like to make it clear that all of those who were not necessarily registered have been monitored closely by police and there have been no further convictions against children due to that monitoring. I want to thank those parties that will be supporting this legislation and for working with us on this. I commend this bill to the House.