Andersen GinnyCRIMES (CHILD EXPLOITATION OFFENCES) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): I move That the Crimes (Child Exploitation Offences) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill.At its heart this bill is about protecting our children from online harm. In any given week New Zealand children and young people will spend more time online than they may well do with their mum dad or primary caregiver. So as the internet and its many many platforms have become more prevalent in our lives so have the dangers that are associated directly with it. Labour are committed to child wellbeing and this includes protecting our children from harm. Online spaces are increasingly becoming an area where this harm can occur and the law sometimes struggles to keep up with rapidly evolving technology and different platforms.As online platforms become more popular with young people and it becomes harder for us as parents to monitor everything our kids are doing online the opportunity for people to cause harm to our kids through the internet increases. The days of being taught about stranger danger" and being careful when walking home from school have now changed to include the internet and the need to keep our children as safe as possible when they are online.Netsafe and the Ministry for Women conducted a survey recently. In particular—they did this in partnership—they looked into the experiences of New Zealand teenagers with online risk and harm in mind. The survey found that seven—seven—in 10 New Zealand teenagers have experienced at least one type of unwanted digital communication within the past year. It also found that nearly 19 percent of those teenagers surveyed experienced an unwanted digital communication that had a negative impact upon their daily activities. That 19 percent surveyed had been also asked for a nude or nearly nude image of themselves to be shared.When we heard the submissions on Louisa Wall's bill on stopping harmful digital communications it really struck me the number of frank and fearless accounts we heard from young people whose lives had been really torn apart by the unwitting sharing of images of themselves where they were nude or nearly nude and how that had played out not only to affect their own mental health but also their own confidence and even potential of securing a place of employment in the future.This increasing trend is something that as parents we should take notice of and as lawmakers these issues are something that we can respond to as well. This bill is designed to help to ensure that our justice system can respond appropriately to protect our young people from those who engage in acts online to harm people and to harm young people in particular. It is based upon similar legislation that has been passed in Australia. The law in Australia was known as Carly's Law; it was named after Carly as the result of the efforts of her mum—whose name is Sonya Ryan an Adelaide mother—who campaigned for over a decade after her 15-year-old daughter was murdered after an online predator posed as a teenage boy. The creation and enactment of Carly's Law enabled enforcement agencies to take action against online predators before they have the opportunity to act. Making this addition to New Zealand's law builds upon the existing offence of online grooming that was introduced by Labour back in 2005. When this law was passed it was noted when I looked back on the speeches at the time that those who offend against children are often habitual repeat offenders. This bill enables police to intervene earlier.A recent case that we've seen in New Zealand in a Hamilton instance saw a school teacher who had messaged a student approximately 1600 times but due to the difficulty in prosecuting or proving it was difficult. Even in the judgment it's interesting to see comments around police's actions. There is a requirement in that 2005 offence to have an element of sexual nature to the comments and so without that there prosecution is made more difficult even when proving intent may be able to be done. So the bill proposes to make a change to the Crimes Act 1961 and it adds two new offences designed to protect young people from online harm and to increase the penalty for meeting a young person following sexual grooming.The first offence inserted by the bill is digital communication for a person under 16 with intent to mislead and it means that someone who is 18 years or older or who digitally communicates with someone who is under 16 with the intent to mislead them about their age or identity and then meets or arranges to meet with this young person can now be imprisoned. Existing law provides that there is a requirement for sexual reference in communication as previously mentioned and this has made prosecution difficult in the past. This change sends a clear message that an adult impersonating a child with the intention of meeting someone is unacceptable in New Zealand.The second offence inserted by the bill is "Digital communication with young person under 16 with intent to cause harm." This new offence means that someone who is 18 years or older can be imprisoned if they digitally communicate with someone under the age of 16 while deliberately intending to cause harm to the young person or are reckless as to whether the young person is harmed. This change as stated will help police protect young people from others who set out via the internet to communicate with them in order to cause harm. In both of these new offences the change is specifically designed to assist police in doing their jobs. So the two new offences are both applicable in cases where the young person in question is in fact a police officer in an undercover or sting operation.Finally the bill increases the potential maximum sentence for an offence under section 131B of the Crimes Act "Meeting a young person following sexual grooming etc". There is debate around penalties and that is a debate that goes on. Look I have some reservations to be frank regarding just outrightly increasing penalties and I think that while offences against children and young people are serious and should carry serious penalties I would like to hear comments—particularly from members of the public—at the next stage at select committee and also the advice from officials in relation to the proposals that have been made at this first reading stage.Specifically criminalising this activity is part of the response to the problem but I do want to note for the record that equally important is education to ensure that parents and caregivers as well as children are aware of the risks and aware of the steps that they can take to keep safe. That is why this bill builds upon the good work that this Government has been doing in this space including great initiatives like funding the hugely popular Keep it Real Online campaign. The honourable Minister Jan Tinetti has done a fantastic job at championing that campaign so that not only young people but also their parents and caregivers are aware of those risks and our legislative change that was debated just last night in terms of films videos publications—these changes are helping to keep New Zealanders safe.To sum up I know that many parents are concerned about who their children are talking to online. This bill provides further protection for our kids under New Zealand law and sends a very clear message that an adult impersonating a child with the intention of meeting someone is unacceptable in New Zealand. I know that this is something that parents have called for and I am pleased that this bill has the opportunity to be considered by the House and also by the Justice Committee. I commend the bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."