Little AndrewCRIMINAL RECORDS (EXPUNGEMENT OF CONVICTIONS FOR HISTORICAL HOMOSEXUAL OFFENCES) BILLThird ReadingHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Justice): I move That the Criminal Records (Expungement of Convictions for Historical Homosexual Offences) Bill be now read a third time.The bill addresses the prejudice stigma and other negative effects caused by convictions for historical homosexual offences. The Justice and Electoral Committee considered a petition from Wiremu Demchick and 2111 others calling for an apology to those convicted of consensual homosexual acts prior to 1986 and a process for reversing those convictions. An apology was made in the House on 6 July 2017 by my predecessor as Minister of Justice the Hon Amy Adams and the bill has created a process for expunging these convictions from criminal records.The bill provides for a statutory scheme that allows people convicted of historical homosexual offences to apply to have their convictions expunged. The Secretary for Justice must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the conduct would not be an offence under today's law. In particular this will include the secretary being satisfied that all parties involved were 16 years or older and the conduct was consensual. The convicted person or a representative of the convicted person if they are deceased can make an application for expungement. Eligibility under the scheme is for people convicted of any of five specific offences. These include offences that were decriminalised under the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 and their predecessor offences.If expungement is granted it entitles the convicted person to declare they have no such conviction for any purpose under New Zealand law and the conviction will not appear on any criminal history check. It's an offence for officials to disclose expunged convictions. There will no compensation however as this would go beyond the purpose of the scheme which is to prevent further negative effects from the stigma of conviction. There's no general principle that a person who's convicted of a repealed offence is entitled to compensation on the repeal of the offence. In this instance there's no suggestion that the convictions in question were wrongfully imposed as they were in accordance with the law at the time. The bill sends a clear signal that discrimination against homosexual people is no longer acceptable and that we are committed to putting right the wrongs from the past.I'd like to take this opportunity to thank a number of people who've been instrumental in the passage of this bill: firstly the Hon Amy Adams who introduced the bill to the House; secondly the members of the Justice Committee who spent considerable time and effort hearing submissions considering very carefully the detail of the bill and coming up with the bill that is more or less intact as we embark on its third reading. I'd like to thank all parliamentary parties for their backing of the bill and for the constructive way in which this bill has progressed through every stage of the House. The bill has enjoyed widespread support as it has passed through the House. Can I acknowledge the many many other citizens including the women and lesbian women who have been part of this cause for justice supporting the men and their families who have been wrongly stigmatised for so long both before but especially since the passage of the Homosexual Law Reform Act of 1986.One of the calls in the petition from Wiremu Demchick was for an apology and indeed the Hon Amy Adams referred to a motion in the House—or in fact moved a motion in the House—providing for that apology. That was in terms of apologising to what were described as homosexual New Zealanders who were convicted for consensual adult activity and to recognise the tremendous hurt and suffering that those men and their families have gone through. Can I say—not because that apology was not genuine; it was from this Parliament—and add a personal touch as the current Minister of Justice on behalf of this House and all members who have passed through it since Parliament was established in New Zealand and say sorry to those men who have carried the stigma and shame of doing nothing other than expressing the love for the person that they did love and to the families who have shared that shame and embarrassment as well and to the many thousands of others who lived in eternal fear of a law that was unjust and to our mind improper; that we have enjoyed the benefit of a better enlightenment if I can put it that way a better sense of justice of respect for the dignity of the person and who they are. This law goes some way to recognising that for the many many men who were treated in a most unjust way for who they were and doing nothing other than expressing their love. It is the right thing for this House to do.Can I also address another issue that came up in submissions and that was the call for compensation. Having considered that request from submissions—not all submitters but enough to make it an issue worthy of further consideration—the committee acknowledged that it was too complex a task to not only set up a process where every individual has their personal circumstances considered in the process of achieving an expungement but then to consider whether compensation ought to be payable and if so how much. That was going to be too complicated. But that does not mean that members of this House—and indeed the Government bureaucracy that will now be put in place to administer the scheme provided for in this bill—do not consider that we must continue as a nation recognising the diversity of all people in this country their sexuality and sexual orientation and looking for opportunities to celebrate that diversity and to continue to acknowledge what a richer country we are for allowing people to express themselves and who they are.As I said this bill will go some way to putting right a wrong that has been on the records of the thousands of men affected by the unjust law that was finally removed in 1986. It'll go some way but it will never replace the years and decades of hurt and harm that have been caused as a result. We can be thankful to some small degree that this House and this generation recognises the injustice and has put that right and it is recognised across this House from all members from all parties who have united together to express this act of justice.So on that basis I once again thank those citizens who were brave enough and courageous enough to bring this matter to the attention of the House. I want to express thanks to all members of the House who have been involved either through the select committee or just simply as members voting on this bill to bring that insidious injustice to an end. Finally I want to commend this bill to the House.