Ghahraman GolrizGOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise again for the third time in this urgent reading of this bill. I begin again as others have done and as I have done before tonight by holding at the centre of this debate the victims of child abuse and sexual violence the incredibly high rates the incredible heartbreak of our nation as we consider this absolute plight and epidemic that we face as lawmakers and as New Zealanders. We absolutely all agree across this House and across our nation that children should be safe from sexual violence and abuse that we hold that duty at the forefront of everything that we do—in particular because children without the agency of adults are our most marginalised of communities. So I know that that is the intention behind this bill and in particular the intention of the Minister who has brought the bill before the House. Unfortunately it doesn't change the position that we in the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand hold: that it's not good law it's not effective law and it in fact undermines both the rule of law and New Zealand's human rights standards. We agree with the Chief Justice the President of New Zealand's Supreme Court the Attorney-General and the Human Rights Commission that there is very little evidence that there's any efficacy at all in holding a child sex offender register and I'll address the comments made by my colleague Simeon Brown from the National Party that the efficacy of child sex registers is not central to this debate because this is about the retrospective application. Well actually it is central to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act balancing exercise that we must consider when we consider whether or not the breaches of that Act are justified in law. We have to consider whether or not the breach of two fundamental human rights in New Zealand which come under section 25 the minimum standards for criminal procedure and section 26 the rule against retrospective punishment—whether we're doing something that's actually worth it. When there is no real evidence that what we're doing is protecting anyone at all that becomes central to the integrity of this law. The rule of law which it is our duty to uphold is about transparency and the knowability of law to those that it impacts and affects. Retrospective legislation in every way breaches the rule of law. Then we come to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. We have section 25 that sets out the minimum standards for criminal procedure. Now criminal sanction is one of the most important arenas for human rights law to be upheld. There is huge prejudice when we talk about criminal justice and the prejudice is felt palpable in this House tonight because we all care so deeply. We are all so horrified by child sex offending but that doesn't make every single piece of law that we say addresses that plight good law.So we're breaching the minimum standards of criminal justice and fairness in this law. We're breaching the rule against retrospective legislation. We are—it is the opinion of the Attorney-General and the President of the Supreme Court—punishing people by putting them on the register. Our highest independent experts on making that assessment say that this is a punishment—I know others disagree in this House—and that it does breach those rights. Now the only way that would be justified is if we could point to evidence that this is at all keeping kids safe. I think it is time and I think the past Government I was proud to be a part of and this Government do have a commitment to doing things differently in criminal justice. That means looking at the evidence of what works to prevent crime to keep communities safe to rehabilitate those that come into conflict with our criminal justice system. This is not that approach. We have done a lot that's been right and we can invest the resource that will go into keeping this register and to apply it retrospectively into what we know works. We know that under the first Wellbeing Budget that we passed under the last Government together with the coalition partners we committed the biggest resource—that was $320 million—to a cross-ministry approach to solving domestic and sexual violence including violence against children including sexual violence against children. That was led by my colleague Jan Logie the first parliamentary under-secretary for domestic and sexual violence in New Zealand and it is going to be work that our new Minister for domestic and sexual violence Marama Davidson will lead. I know that the Minister of Police who has brought this bill to the House today is excited and committed to doing that work as well and we know that it will be leading on the support of community-based grassroots people that are at the forefront of this incredible challenge in our communities across Māori communities Pacific communities and migrant communities. We know that the resource is best spent invested in their work. So this isn't good law. It does weaken the rule of law in New Zealand. It weakens us as a Parliament and our commitment to human rights which isn't something that we can say we'll only do when it's convenient and pretty. We have to do it when it looks hard. We can't keep relying on old failed approaches that only make politicians look tough on crime. So I oppose the bill.