Nakhle RimaRIMA NAKHLE (National—Takanini): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'd like to thank the House for the opportunity to say a few words in support of this bill the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill in its third reading. This amendment bill is a member's bill and just for the benefit of friends listening in and my darling husband in the gallery a member's bill is a bill that is introduced by a non-Minister and essentially deals with a matter of public policy. In this instance this bill is in the name of Mr Greg O'Connor the member of Parliament for Ōhāriu and this member's bill I believe is a really good example of what often is the case with member's bills where they identify an aspect of an established law that is in need of amending for reasons that can cover a large range of scenarios. In this instance the ultimate goal of this amendment bill is to protect children globally from sex offenders by making our own local laws more stringent. What a noble goal this is where we acknowledge as lawmakers that the responsibility to protect children—pure beautiful innocent children—is one that is not confined to the parameters of our country but rather transcends borders and jurisdictions. I thank the member in charge of this bill—Mr O'Connor—and I also thank the Hon Erica Stanford if I may in her absence—DEPUTY SPEAKER: You don't refer to her absence but you can thank her. RIMA NAKHLE: Oh is that how I should—I had been meaning to look that up. Thank you Madam Speaker. I thank the Hon Erica Stanford for having the courage and the insights and the foresight but also the passion to initiate the changes needed to achieve this goal. I'm sure many of us in the House are blessed with nieces and nephews and I remember when my first niece was born in 2008. I was allowed to go into the nursery where she was lying there and I get a little bit moved when I think of that memory because I looked at her and I marvelled at her beauty. Then not long after I had acknowledged that this is my niece and that I actually had a niece I just thought that if anyone ever tries to do anything like this sort of sexual violation against her—yeah I don't know what person I'd become. That moment really solidified for me how important it is to protect children from sexual violation and this is why I feel extremely strongly about this amendment bill that's before the House today. Indeed I reflect on times when I'm with my nieces and nephews and it's not uncommon that we'll be in a very happy situation laughing—with me being one of their favourite aunties—but then my mind drifts again to ask how do I protect them from sexual offenders. So thank you Mr O'Connor and Erica Stanford for bringing this amendment to the House. A recap: this bill seeks to amend the principal Act the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act—which is the long name that I just mentioned earlier—and the proposed amendment is essentially centred around requirements to make child sex offenders provide additional and specific information to the police 48 hours before travelling for overseas travel that is for more than 48 hours. The current situation we are focusing on is in a few sections of the Act here. Section 21 requires currently—without the amendments—that registered sex offenders advise the registrar of their travel plans if they are travelling overseas for more than 48 hours with the dates that they are leaving and returning but not the name of the country of destination and section 22 requires that registered sex offenders advise the registrar if the date of their return to New Zealand changes while they're overseas. The status quo covers the basics in overseas travel reporting but it does not go anywhere near as far enough in ensuring that police have extensive details of the travel plans of the registered sex offender. So this amendment bill when passed—and I really would love to acknowledge our Green colleagues in the House for the change of heart that they've had and I thank them for sharing the process of that thought. This amendment bill will mandate a number of specific requirements. One is that for each address at which the offender intends to stay while overseas they must provide those details. They must also provide the date on which the offender intends to travel to the country and the date on which the offender intends to travel out of that aforementioned country and where the offender doesn't intend to return to New Zealand the name of the country where the offender intends to reside must also be disclosed. The passport number the place of issue the date of expiry of each valid passport held by the offender—specific and extensive details. This bill will also amend section 43 of the principal Act to allow for information sharing as we heard earlier between Government agencies in the interests of public safety so that the whereabouts of the offender can be monitored and the personal information given by the offender can be verified. The risk that the offender may commit further sexual offences against children can in this way be better managed and the risks to public safety are also better managed. Again I would like to stress that these changes are deliberate and specific. Now in the few minutes that I have left I would also like to touch upon a point of contention with regard to this amendment bill and throughout the course of the various stages of this amendment bill the debates and the consideration—and I've been privileged to be part of these stages as one of the members of the Justice Committee. Here I'd like to acknowledge our chair my colleague and my friend James Meager who is I believe doing an exceptional job as chair. So in these various stages we've heard the cry of some that oppose this bill because it apparently infringes on the human rights of registered sex offenders of sex predators. These arguments have been based around the section 7 report of the Attorney-General to the Justice Committee commenting that this bill appears to be inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act on several fronts—namely these fronts: the right of an offender to benefit from the lesser penalty where penalties change and the right to freedom from double jeopardy and retrospectivity. Now these considerations were discussed at length and they have been discussed at length we learnt by successive Justice Committees and indeed I have thought about them at length because human rights is very important and I think they should be important to every single person that is part of this great House. But time and time again I came to the same conclusion that our Justice Committee also reached in the select committee report on the amendment bill and that is—and I quote—additional reporting requirements that the bill proposes do not significantly increase the limitations placed on individuals who are subject to registration." I tautoko this and I agree with this wholeheartedly and as I said that's the conclusion I came to time and time again because as mentioned by many a great speaker before me we need to do everything we can to protect children. I wish we could do more—absolutely. But this is one step in protecting our children from the abhorrent nature of sexual violation. Ninety percent of the sexual abuse that takes place in New Zealand is perpetrated by people that are known to the victim. This amendment bill is needed especially where registered sex offenders are travelling under the ostensible guise of—a big example—visiting family. Sexual abuse as I mentioned in my former speech is a different level of abhorrence and I'm so quietly pleased that we've come together as a House to commend this bill. Thank you."