Walters VanushiVANUSHI WALTERS (Labour—Upper Harbour): Thank you Mr Speaker for the opportunity to stand and take a call on the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Amendment Bill. As the Minister and others have spoken to this in many ways is really about a legislative fix and clarifying the intent of Parliament. I agree with my colleagues who have spoken about the fact that this while not ideal does happen from time to time and I commend the Minister on her work in speedily responding to the Supreme Court decision in a way that's very appropriate given the seriousness of the issues that we're speaking about today. I also just want to say how heartened I am by the support for this bill from colleagues across the floor and the comments about the need to protect our most vulnerable which I wholeheartedly agree with. Of course the principal Act in this case is the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 which came into force in 14 October 2016. This is a bill that amends that Act. The principal Act's purpose is really about reducing sexual reoffending against child victims and reducing the risk posed by serious child sex offenders. It does that essentially by ensuring that key Government agencies have the information they need to actively monitor those offenders who are out in the community and it also does that by providing up-to-date information that assists the police to more rapidly resolve cases of child sex offending. So what this bill does—and a few of my colleagues have spoken to this—is ensure that the law explicitly includes those persons who committed a qualifying offence but who were convicted and sentenced after the Act came into force. So they committed the offence before but were convicted and sentenced after. At this stage I always think that when we're talking about children and young people and the bills that are proceeding through the House it's important to reflect on our international obligations in relation to children. So I just want to speak and reference very briefly the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in particular article 34 which states that State parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes State parties shall in particular take all appropriate national bi-lateral and multi-lateral measures to prevent: (a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; (b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; [but also] (c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials." The rate of child sex abuse in New Zealand is horrific with some organisations whose commentaries I've read—they place it at one in five New Zealand children which is extremely horrific. The organisation HELP estimates the rates at between one and three for young girls who would experience some sort of sexual abuse before they reach the age of 16 and one in seven young men before they reach adulthood. This is horrific and it's absolutely something we need to address. So we need to ensure that the legislation we have in place to address this situation is robust and does protect these young people. I think often people when we're reflecting on this really horrific thing that happens to many young people focus on the act itself. But for many young people they face years and years of psychological distress stress anxiety that also follows them through to adulthood. So it is very important that we ensure our legislation is robust but also ensure that Parliament's intent is very clear in regards to this important legislation. I commend this bill to the House."