Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill

I move, That the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

If you just indulge me, Madam Speaker—

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, the member’s been rather busy.

This requires the same versatility and dexterity that my appearance on the rugby field in Gisborne did this last weekend—and, hopefully, more successful.

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: I’ll just ask the Clerk to make sure that the clock is set for 10 minutes when the speaker starts. Thank you.

That will be to the relief of my colleagues on this side, Madam Speaker.

The Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill is now entering its third reading, and if it actually does pass today, it will be the first member’s bill to have passed in the current Parliament. I think that’s significant, because it’s a bill that has had quite a considerable journey through the last Parliament and this Parliament. It has been considered by two Justice Committees, led by Vanushi Walters and James Meager. So because the subject of the bill, child sex offenders and protecting our children against them, is a topic that is near and dear to the hearts of not only all members but all New Zealanders, I think it’s highly appropriate that it has had the agreement of virtually the whole House through all its readings. So it gives me great pleasure to be standing here today to be reading on what I hope is the passing of this bill.

Now, when we speak of child sex offenders, I was a detective for many years in the New Zealand Police and dealt with a large number of offenders. But there was a class of offender that I dealt with—particularly in my latter years when I actually established child abuse teams in Masterton and in Porirua, where I really had my eyes open to a whole different world of offending. Now, it’s been apparent to me that, as this bill has made its way through the House, sometimes you don’t realise how much you know, because of your previous experience. But what became apparent to me is that when I was dealing with members on all sides of the House and, in fact, any conversations I had, people, when they speak about child sex offenders, are often thinking of the man in the park, the horn-rimmed glasses guy who hovers, or the man in the blue van, who is the stranger that we warn our children against. But that’s not where the danger is, because of most of the cases—and I reflect on the cases I dealt with, and most police officers do—almost invariably the offender and the victim are known to each other, or certainly, the offender is known to the victim’s family. So when we look at the protections required for our children, in particular, it’s important to note that.

So this bill sits on top of a bill which was passed in 2015, which ensures that those who are placed on the register—and shortly I’ll go through the qualifying criteria—have a special form of protection for potential victims but also for themselves, because of the unique nature of their offending.

I just wanted to speak about dealing with these offenders also. They are often seen and even portrayed sometimes in the media as predatory, well-planned people with a vast network that they’re dealing with. Again, that’s not the case. These people are often solitary. While we often see cases where they will join together through electronic and through making sure they access the type of material that we don’t want them to, actually, when it comes to the offending, often it is very much lone offending. Interviewing these people, they’re pretty pathetic sort of individuals themselves. And so when I say they need the protection, when they do go to prison, they have a very hard time in prison; some would say “Rightfully so.”, but certainly it’s not somewhere where they want to go back to.

And these offenders actually have a relatively low recidivism rate compared to other offenders, again for two reasons: one, often they’re older when they’re found and the offending will be historical; secondly, they will actually have had programmes when they went through prison and are relatively well monitored. So it means we’ve been relatively successful in ensuring that these people don’t continue their predatory activities and we are able to protect our children in that regard.

So, when this bill was brought in originally, what it ensures is that when these offenders do go to visit family, if they’re going to leave, once they’re on this child register, if they do go to visit elsewhere—they want to go to Napier for the weekend; they want to go to Dunedin for the weekend—they are obliged to tell the police to tell their case officer where they’re going to be going, where they’re going to be staying, and, importantly, any children that are going to be at that address, not only giving that protection to the children that will be at the address but also ensuring that they know that we know, which again is one of those big protections.

However, what becomes apparent is that those same protections are not made available to those who are living overseas. Earlier this year, I was in the Cook Islands, and I outlined to the Cook Islands Parliament this piece of legislation as an example of a member’s bill. And there was considerable interest because they know, there, that many of these offenders do go back to visit family in places like the Cook Islands, places like the Islands—whether it be Queensland, Victoria. So while we’re well aware of the offending that goes on in places like in the “golden triangle” up in Asia—and that is another class of offending—this really is designed to protect our children or grandchildren or children in general who are likely to be visited by these people.

I’m informed by police that there’s about 20-odd individuals who do travel to Australia, who travel internationally, who are on this register each year. Now, these are not the very serious offenders, because the very serious offenders are actually usually still under probation; they’re still under other orders, and they’re very unlikely to ever get permission to travel overseas. These are the people who have served their time, who are on this register. And the research shows that they are likely to continue to offend throughout their lives. And so ensuring that we have the protections that they know that we know—that’s the best thing we’ll consider that will keep our children safe.

So the bill, if these individuals have been placed on the register—and, again, the registrable offender is a person who has been convicted of a qualifying offence, has been sentenced to imprisonment or has been sentenced to a non-custodial sentence, and has been made subject to a registration order. That order doesn’t count if they were under 18 at the time of the offending. And those qualifying offences are class 1, class 2, and class 3 offences, as defined in the Crimes Act, and cover a full range of offending where the victim is under 16.

Also pertinent to this bill, a corresponding registrable offender is a person who, as a consequence of a conviction in a foreign jurisdiction for a corresponding offence, has been sentenced to imprisonment or, essentially, would still be eligible for an equivalent child sex offender register in that jurisdiction. In other words, we could actually get offenders coming back to New Zealand who’ve offended overseas and would actually be on our register. Once again, these are the very people who we are likely to see who will be actually travelling.

So, look, just in the time that’s left to me, I just want to, again, thank the House, thank the committees that have considered this bill and that have improved this bill. One improvement, or certainly change, that was made by the select committee is that it will be three months after the date of Royal assent before the bill comes into play. The reason for that is that it will take time—these offenders need to be notified, those who are on the register notified, but also the police have to have time to get this up and running.

Another aspect that is covered is: will this be enforceable overseas? Technically and legally, no. However, New Zealand Police have liaison officers. We have good interactions, or Police have good interactions, with our agencies overseas, and they can, through these relationships, ensure that these people will be checked, because I know from dealing with my Australian colleagues—bearing in mind that each state in Australia is a different jurisdiction and actually have the same problem—that those same relationships become important in ensuring that they are actually able to track these offenders.

So, again, I congratulate this House in anticipation of this bill going through today and also the committees that considered it, because I think, once again, this shows that this is a class of offending that we all understand the need to put in place all the protections we can so that those who will predate our children, those who will, basically, rob them of their adulthoods—which, essentially, sex offending does—we can deal with them appropriately. So I take great pleasure in commending this bill to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just wanted to pay tribute to the sponsor, the previous speaker, Greg O’Connor, for helping shepherd and lead this bill through the Justice Committee. Given all his years on the front line of police and representing the Police Association, he brought a depth of understanding to this piece of legislation as to why it was required and how it could best perform.

I also want to pay tribute to his predecessor with this, with the original bill being introduced by Erica Stanford. As Mr O’Connor said, this bill—now on its third reading—traverses two Parliaments: the 53rd and the current Parliament, the 54th. I also want to pay tribute to our chair, James Meager, who also led us through this process over the last six months.

So it’s a very good day that this bill, after a couple of years, going through two Parliaments, two Justice Committees, two readings, a committee of the whole House stage, public submissions, some revisions, and a few improvements that we arrive at this place where it is going to be put on the statute book, hopefully, after this third reading this afternoon.

As has been highlighted by the sponsor, Mr O’Connor, the bill—full title: Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill; we’ll just call it “the bill”, I think, going forward—enhances New Zealand’s capacity to protect children globally by ensuring that our police and our Customs Service and other authorities have detailed information on the international movements of our registered child sex offenders.

It brings the overseas travel reporting requirements in line with those for domestic travel. That actually surprises a number of us in the House that arrived only in October—and it will surprise some in the public as well—that domestic travel had reporting requirements but international travel didn’t for registered child sex offenders. So this is good news. The bill highlights, as has been said, New Zealand’s commitment to safeguarding our children from sexual exploitation, both domestically and internationally, and addressing the risks associated with child sex offending more comprehensively.

As Mr O’Connor said, often the offenders here do not look like or are not the people that we think they are, but they are registered and we need to monitor their travel because they are going into homes, potentially—whether it’s visiting family or friends in Australia; whether it’s going for a short stay longer than 48 hours, but that needs to be known. So this, again, adds an extra layer of protection.

Looking at the actual requirements and the legislative remits of this bill, it would amend the Act to require registered child sex offenders to provide additional information to the police before travelling overseas for more than 48 hours. We did look at that 48-hour time frame—that threshold—and that is where we landed. A registered offender who intends to return to New Zealand would also need to report each address where they intend to stay while overseas, and the dates on which they intend to travel to and out of the country. Looking at the explanatory note in the bill itself: “This information would be required for each country that the offender intends to travel to and remain in for more than 48 hours.”

So the National Party is united in our determination to give this extra tool to the New Zealand Police, to Customs, and to any authority that may be involved. I think we said not so long ago, in maybe it was the second reading, that “Kumbaya” had broken out and that it looked like we were almost unanimous in this House with providing that extra tool for police. And why wouldn’t we give all the tools that we could to the authorities to protect children as best as we can? As we often say in this House: even if it saves one child, it’s all been worth it.

So I hope—I hope—that the Green Party has caucused this since. And I hope that the Green Party, whose co-leader was the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, come around and support this on the third reading. Because why wouldn’t you? If they aren’t, I think we all in the House, and the New Zealand public deserve to hear their articulation as to why not.

So we come to the third reading, having exercised a lot of consideration and caution with this bill. We know that it’s not the answer to everything, but it is a suite of tools that we now have that line up with our domestic reporting requirements for our registered child sex offenders that now go internationally. So that is the prudent thing to do, and, frankly, it’s well overdue.

So to the two Justice Committees, to the members of the public that submitted, to the various members on those two Justice Committees—the first one chaired by Vanushi Walters; I want to acknowledge her today: someone I shared the campaign trail with, and her integrity on the Justice Committee was well known; also James Meager, who is often dubbed our in-house solicitor, from Otago University, no less—no less. So I want to acknowledge those.

I want to also make the point for the Greens, again, that we really hope that they can come on board, and that the National Party are happy to support this child protection bill. But that is only a suite of pro-child, pro-family appropriations, policies, and plans that we have. Some of them you’ll see tomorrow—one more sleep, I think the finance Minister says. One more sleep where we, as a party and a coalition Government, are singularly focused on the family unit, on protecting children, and on improving their opportunities. We have walked into a situation where child poverty stats—according to Stats NZ, released in January this year for the year June to 30 June 2023 had deteriorated—had deteriorated: material hardship was up; key indicators were up. Again, the protection of children—we inherited a Government where 6,500 people were living in emergency housing, nearly half of them were children.

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can we come back to the bill?

So this is part of a suite—this member’s bill—of a National Party programme where we are putting the family, the children at the centre of it. So we are very happy to support this, and we urge—we urge—the Green Party to consider joining the rest of the House and coming in behind, so we can say, hand on heart, in 2024, that we unanimously supported this and we unanimously did the best we can for our children in the future. Thank you very much.

Tēnā koe. Kia ora koutou katoa. I rise today to speak as the Green Party’s justice spokesperson and to outline our position, which has changed since the first and second readings of this bill. I will begin by talking about what we believe in, in regards to keeping our children safe, and then I’ll talk a little bit about how we came to change our position on this bill.

We have always been extremely clear that we want to live in a world, and contribute to the leadership of this country, in a way that makes sure that children and everybody—but particularly children; some of the most vulnerable people in our society—can live free from sexual violence and harm. We know that we have to strengthen the work to prevent sexual violence from ever happening in the first place. That is why we are so proud to stand here as the party with the first ever Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence. People who have sexually violated children must be accountable for the heartbreaking and enduring harm that they inflict on people, on children, knowing the devastating trauma and harm that that causes for those children’s entire lives. Offenders must be accountable and supported to stop their violent behaviour, and there must be restoration and reparation directly to victims and survivors and their needs.

We wish to state our position unequivocally, because the research and evidence spells out very clearly where the real levers for protecting our children are. And I would like to think that in the work that the previous Government did together on Te Aorerekura, the first ever cross-Government strategy to eliminate family and sexual violence from our communities—this work to prevent violence against children is in the heart of Te Aorerekura.

The way that we came to change our position on this bill is because when the first and second readings of this bill happened and myself and my colleague Kahurangi Carter, who is the spokesperson for children, realised that we were the only party that was not supporting this bill, we had some serious questions and it didn’t make sense to us. We felt that, as new MPs without the guidance of our previous MP Golriz Ghahraman, who was very staunch on her opposition against this bill, we had to revisit those reasons and ask ourselves whether that was the right decision to be made or not. We had lengthy decisions amongst our caucus around why we have the stance that we have and why we might want to change it. We felt strongly that supporting this bill is an important measure towards protecting the rights of children and the safety of children. So I want to mihi to you, Greg, for your work on this bill and the work that you have done throughout your career to protect children and families—to live free from violence. I want to thank Erica Stanford as well for her work on improving aspects of this bill.

We said in the first reading of this bill, I believe, that if Minister Stanford’s amendments could be incorporated into the bill, we would consider supporting the bill. We’ve done that; we are supporting the bill now. It’s great that we’ve got unanimity across the House in taking this important step.

So the issue of ending violence against children has been a longstanding priority for us. As I said before, we are very, very proud of the work that we have achieved together on Te Aorerekura. Even during the election last year—I mean, across parties, whether it was Labour, National, or the Greens—everybody agreed that Te Aorerekura is a blueprint for how we might deal with these really difficult issues like preventing violence in our communities. Te Aorerekura identifies and responds to the drivers of violence, requiring accountability from people using violence and supporting them to change, because that is a really important piece of the puzzle. It’s not just identifying who has created harm and following their movements and actions to make sure that they don’t cause further harm but it’s actually getting at the root cause of that behaviour and trying to reduce that, because that is a service to the future, in that we’re preventing future harm from occurring.

So this bill amends the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 to require registered child sex offenders to provide additional information to police before travelling overseas. This information includes addresses of all places they will be staying—all of these things have already been stated in this debate.

I think the key thing that we really want to emphasise is that registers by themselves do little in and of themselves to reduce offending. We understand that there are steps that can be taken through this bill to, hopefully, add some more protection, especially now with the improvements that I mentioned before, thanks to Minister Stanford.

We also stand by the very important submission made by the Attorney-General on the impact that this bill has on human rights, and the Ministry of Justice, who were at pains to highlight that this legislation is inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (NZBORA) and therefore risks a dangerous precedent. But that wouldn’t be the first time that we had supported a bill that had some warnings against NZBORA. We do so because we believe in the rights of children to live free from violence. The Justice Committee’s own report noted the statement of the Attorney-General that evidence is limited as to the effectiveness of sex offender registers in improving public safety. The report quotes that “he”—the Attorney-General—“considered that the intrusion on that right”—to benefit from lesser penalty where penalties change—“was not in due proportion to the importance of the objective of the bill and could not be demonstrably justified.”

Now, we do, in this House, weigh up public interest and public benefits whenever we have to consider breaching the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. So, in this case, we should all be clear that we are voting in public interest and—for the Greens, with the improvements made to the bill since the first reading—that we consider those reasons in the interests of the public.

So, in closing, I repeat: the Greens want a world where all children, here and across the world, live safe lives free from sexual violence and abuse. We know we must strengthen the work to prevent sexual violence from ever happening in the first place. We want to see justice for all victim/survivors of sexual violence and abuse, especially for children. People who have sexually violated children must be accountable for the heartbreaking and enduring harm that they have inflicted. Offenders must be accountable and supported to stop their violent behaviour, and there must be restoration and reparation directly to victim/survivors and their needs. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Well, I do feel a “Kumbaya” moment coming on, as Cameron Brewer would say. I want to thank the Greens and Tamatha Paul for her eloquent discussion about how the Greens have changed their position and will be supporting this bill. I think she touched on a lot of very important issues as we debate the child protection amendment bill, I’m just going to call it, because there are a lot of words in the brackets, aren’t there? But I think that was a really great demonstration of how this parliamentary process and going through the readings can actually allow considered debate, discussion, and actually allow parties to consider their position and change it.

So no surprise: ACT will be continuing to support Mr O’Connor’s excellent member’s bill. Again, I think a lot of credit should go to him for diligently bringing this through two parliaments, two select committees, and working away to make necessary changes and updates and improvements. I’ve got to say, I was lucky enough to be on the Justice Committee in this Parliament, and Mr O’Connor would come along and make very constructive contributions. When he saw that there were some things that needed to be adjusted on the advice of officials or other submitters, he was very pragmatic and I think we worked through those issues in a very constructive way.

I’m going to talk a bit about why I think this bill is important, because, really, it is extending New Zealand’s duty of care to our children—and we take that very seriously—and actually extending that duty of care to other countries’ children. I think that’s a really important element.

Again, Ms Paul actually talked about the kind of horrendous acts of sexual violence against children in New Zealand, and they are some appalling statistics—one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. That is appalling and we must do more to address that. Again, I want to thank Ms Paul for saying that, actually, our criminal justice system isn’t up to scratch. These are some of the issues that I know we’re looking at in the Justice Committee.

These assaults are really unacceptable, and what the register that we’re now really extending overseas does is actually try to protect children by, obviously, registering offenders so we know where they are in our community in New Zealand. What we’re doing with Mr O’Connor’s bill is now extending that duty to other countries and really trying to provide useful information that may prevent sexual crimes against children in other countries.

Also, other countries have already got legislation such as this, so I think it’s important that New Zealand does its piece to actually update our international obligations. So, again, in Australia, they have a similar law where each state and territory must report these details of offenders—where they are, and if they travel outside of Australia, permission is needed, and, of course, those people are tracked, similar to our bill. And then, obviously, in the United States, there are different laws, but again, one of them is the international Megan’s Law, which is to prevent child exploitation by, again, requiring notification as people who are sex offenders travel outside the US.

I also want to acknowledge Ms Paul’s discussion around the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (BORA). I think that it is actually very important that we do acknowledge that the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act report does say that we are actually impinging on people’s rights, but I think it’s a really important process that we have in New Zealand where when a piece of legislation comes before our Parliament we get these New Zealand Bill of Rights Act reports, because it does allow us to see how a piece of legislation measures up against the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act but also allows this Parliament to balance the competing interests. That’s what we’re talking about here. There are the competing interests of ensuring that our children are safe and are protected from these paedophile offenders versus their rights. I think that’s a really important discussion that we should have in the open.

I think having a BORA report like this available for each piece of legislation allows both this House and, obviously, the select committee, which considered this bill, to have that information. I think that’s a really robust piece of our process that we can actually say, “Well, where does it make sense to impinge on people’s rights in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act because it’s actually for the greater good and it’s going to protect people?”

Again, just briefly turning to the bill. Again, it has been mentioned—this was obviously Mr O’Connor’s bill. We obviously had an Amendment Paper from Erica Stanford, which has been incorporated, making some useful changes around the inter-agency sharing of data and making sure that that was all linked up.

I talked about some pragmatic changes in the select committee, one of those being around the commencement and just giving time for the police to make sure. Hopefully, when we pass this bill today in this House—yet to be seen, but if that does transpire, it certainly will with the support of ACT; I’m hopeful all the other parties are still on board—just allowing the police that time to make sure they have the processes in place. That was a request that they made and that we heard at the select committee and helpfully incorporated, I hope.

There were, obviously, some other issues around retrospectivity, which, again, are covered both in the commentary and in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act report. But, again, that had to be designed this way because we wanted to make sure we obviously captured all of the people on the current register in New Zealand and made sure that they were the ones that we were wanting to continue to track, regardless of when they were added in time, and that these obligations that we’re looking to place on them would be placed on them, rather than some loophole because of the time in which they were placed on the register.

I want to finally just finish by making a few remarks about—and, again, I know, Mr O’Connor; I think this bill can do a few things. It can, obviously, protect children where the offender may be known to them, but we also have some appalling cases of child sex tourism where people are actually travelling outside of New Zealand’s jurisdiction where they’re closely monitored to maybe do illegal activities in other countries. Some stats suggest that around 2 million children around the world are victims of sex tourism every year. That’s pretty appalling. In Asia alone, we have some really appalling statistics, including children as young as six, and younger, being subject to this predator behaviour. In fact, if you’re wanting to watch a bit of an interesting documentary, the former host of To Catch a Predator, Chris Hansen, actually travelled to Cambodia and uncovered some of these horrific things that are happening in child sex tourism. His report is just really one of many that outlines this really hideous, disgusting, and vile trade that is taking place. Again, these acts against children are really appalling and we should do everything we can to stop them.

This bill is a response to one MP seeing an issue, diligently fighting for it, being pragmatic, and actually extending New Zealand’s care and protection for our own children to other countries’ children. I really think that this is a great piece of legislation which does its small but important part to add to our laws that do protect our children. So, again, I want to thank Mr O’Connor for bringing this to the last Parliament and to this Parliament, sticking with it, sticking with these speeches and with the process, and, I think, delivering something very useful. Again, ACT will be voting in favour of this. I commend it to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise today to take a call on this third reading of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill. Alongside my colleagues, from now on I will also refer to it only as “the bill”. This bill seeks to address an area of public safety that is incredibly important—of those of our most vulnerable in our society: our children—and is but one of the many reasons that New Zealand First will continue to support this bill.

Now, the register that is being spoken of is a record of a range of up-to-date personal information about registered child sex offenders who are living in our community. This is a tool which helps police and corrections staff to monitor these people who have already offended in the past, and it does so with the aim of preventing reoffending, and also, again, keeping our children and our most vulnerable safe.

One of the purposes of this bill is to enhance these monitoring measures and also to regulate the overseas travel of anyone who is on the register currently. This bill proposes amendments to existing legislation which requires registerable offenders to provide additional information to the authorities before they travel overseas for more than 48 hours. Now, one of the benefits of the bill as it is written is that it aligns with reporting requirements for domestic and overseas travel. This will ensure consistency and coherence in monitoring the movements of these offenders. It also enhances collaboration between the New Zealand Police and the Customs Service. This will enable them to leverage their networks and their resources to protect our children even more from any potential risk posed by the offenders who are travelling abroad, and this will strengthen international efforts in this area.

Now, New Zealand First, we support this bill for many, many reasons. One of them is because it upholds the principle of protecting the vulnerable in our society—vulnerable individuals. It ensures public safety and it also ensures effective enforcement of the current law. Now, we believe that supporting this bill will also acknowledge the importance of addressing a very difficult issue that exists, and that is of child sexual exploitation. Now, this, sadly, does occur. By enabling the sharing and the coordination of the information between the relevant agencies, this will strengthen international efforts to combat child sex tourism. Now, as I’ve mentioned before while speaking on this bill, I, however, feel it’s important to comment again on it: whilst it’s important to note that a significant proportion of child sex offenders do not reoffend, it is very important to note that many still do when they have been released from prison.

Due to the nature of this type of offence, if, by chance, during a temporary lapse of reason, an offender reoffends and they commit yet another sexual offence, the consequences for the victim are by no means temporary. It causes emotional harm and physical harm. The suffering on the victim and on their families, for many, will continue for a lifetime. That’s why it’s so important that we continue to create awareness around this area to ensure we can do whatever we can to prevent it in the first place. If it was to happen, one offence could just be the beginning of another systemic family pattern of abuse. So anything that we can do to prevent that pattern from reoccurring is important.

So this bill, as I’ve already mentioned, is going to be another measure to protect the most vulnerable who are in our society. Now, some may argue—and I’ve already mentioned this before—“But what about the rights of the offender? They deserve a chance to rehabilitate and not live under a cloud of judgment.” But what if, by having these additional requirements, it is, in fact, a deterrent for them that makes them think twice during a temporary lapse of reason? It may just be the one thing that makes them go, “No.” As I’ve mentioned, due to the nature of the offence, any decision that is made in a split second can lead to irreversible consequences for both the victim and the offender. So it is possible, I believe, that these extra measures provided for in this bill could be the deterrent that they need to finally take responsibility for their actions and take ownership of their life which they have a second chance at.

So, in summary—I won’t speak for too much longer—in New Zealand First we so boldly believe in public safety. It’s a very important part of our principles, and especially the safety of our children, the most vulnerable in our society, the defenceless, and we do believe that it does outweigh the privacy or the equal protection of the sex offender. So that’s why it is very important for us to continue to support this bill, and we believe that it will be received very well and we commend it to the House. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The next call is a split call. I call Mariameno Kapa-Kingi.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. I just want to share a little bit here around my own experience in this space. For a number of years, I was part of a specialist team that would interview children who were survivors of sexual assault and abuse. I was a counsellor in this work, as well, and a care and protection social worker, so I know stuff about this which I wish I never knew. Then I set about to teach children how to protect themselves in schools across the Eastern Bay of Plenty. We did a lot of work to educate—which is always a tricky matter, actually, for many, but mostly for our children, because they are the most vulnerable, but, in fact, if we give them the right tools in the right way, they get to understand how to protect themselves, actually. So I just want to make those comments—including a care and protection coordinator in a family group conference setting.

Sadly, many more victims and survivors will never tell. They will not tell, terribly, because the trauma that is again rolled out over and upon them is, sadly, even worse than their—I mean, this might be a funny thing to say or a terrible thing to say, but many of them live and die with that trauma. So, yeah, I think we do have to get better at how we help and support our whānau to tell their story. The amendments to this bill will never undo the harm that has already transpired, and it will not heal our already affected tamariki, but it will work to protect. So mihi atu ki a koe, e Greg, nā tō kaha ki te mahi i ngā mahi ki tēnei wāhi nei. [So I salute you, Greg, your indefatigable efforts to do the necessary work here at this place.]

The protection through the prevention of further harm to tamariki that may occur at the expense of already registered offenders who travel outside of Aotearoa—this I absolutely support, and so do we as the party: the protection of tamariki and their oranga. Prevention and protection are our key drivers, especially in the context of our mokopuna.

Tamariki have, in these last weeks, sent a discourse in Parliament, as they do today, often illuminating colonial regimes and colour-blind theories masked under the term “democracy”. This very discourse brought forth in the third reading of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill requires the recognition of our tamariki, in partnership with those outside of our shores. When we are willing to protect others, we must also be willing to protect ourselves and our own mokopuna. It is disappointing that the Government protection is only offered when so-called colour-blind theories are permitted under ill-advised definitions of “democracy”.

I intend to call out this Government on their inconsistencies when it comes to the care of tamariki. I do this as it is tamariki Māori who disproportionately suffer from this Government’s failings. The current attempt to remove section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act is yet another example of this. So how can we provide better care and protection of tamariki overseas and not do the same of our own? Perhaps it is the term “Māori” that Government are desensitised too. Should I say the “indigenous children of this country”? Would it resonate better with this House?

Tamariki Māori, who make up near 70 percent of those in State care, are also victim to sexual crime and to abuse in care. What protection do they now have without the likes of section 7AA, without a Government who are willing to put protective legislation in place for others but not our own? Inconsistent care and protection of tamariki in and beyond this country are highlighted in this discussion today. [Bell rung] And there we go. I have mentioned prevention in this kōrero, but it feels almost reckless to use such a term in this space.

This bill should inspire how prevention may present itself in other pieces of legislation and law that directly impact our tamariki. Better care and protection of our tamariki may then be realistic when given attention to prevent the real suffering endured here in Aotearoa. I want to make this discussion with my opening comments to say: I get this take [topic], I understand it deeply—and more than most, probably; probably similar to Greg—and I’m talking to this and supporting it but saying: what about our mokopuna Māori and what about 7AA? In that context, it’s screwing it up majorly, right? I commend your mahi and this take to the House. Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, thank you. Today, we are all here because we stand united in our pursuit of protection of children in Aotearoa and across the world, and we have to hold on to that unity and everything that unites us.

The Greens know that our tamariki are our taonga. They are the future of our Aotearoa, and we must use all the knowledge and tools we have to protect our tamariki. We know that there is so much more that our Government can do, and must do, to protect children than just this bill. And, of course, all my learned colleagues here are invested and committed to Te Aorerekura—the all-Government, prevention-focused, Tiriti-centred, strength-based, community-led, and whole-whānau embedded strategy to eliminate violence over the next couple of generations.

Again, we can hold on to the unity that everybody across Government believes in, Te Aorerekura, and all of the communities, all of the agencies, all of the experts who came together and collaborated to make this incredible document that will guide us.

The Green Party remains strongly invested in that enduring work to ensure that children are safe. Now, before the committee of the whole House, we were informed that member Erica Stanford’s amendment to strengthen the bill and provide clear improvements to the bill were accepted. We were really happy to hear about this because at the Greens, we welcome robust and considered debate when we’re making decisions, and our caucus was able to take those amendments and consider the arguments to change our position, which does leave our House united today.

Everybody in this Chamber wants to protect children from any kind of harm. With these amendments, which clearly lay out how this bill will operate and be effective—basically, allowing for more information sharing between Customs and Police—adds the substance needed for us to support the bill. The Police will now tell Customs when a child sex offender is travelling, and Customs can use the resources and tools at their disposal to alert the other country or to monitor the offender closely. This makes the bill more effective at achieving its intent to reduce harm and prevent the horror of child sex tourism.

My colleague and I listened closely to the member’s answers in committee of the whole House and heard arguments from across the House. Our caucus agreed to change our position to support, and we are satisfied with these amendments and we will be supporting this bill. In committee of the whole House, the member provided more information, particularly around rehabilitation. We know rehabilitation is a vital part of protecting children and ensuring members of society are functioning, and we have to believe that people can improve. We have to believe that people can get better, that they can become better versions of themselves and then make the world a better place. The Greens will always advocate to prevent violence and keep children safe. Kia ora.

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. 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. This member’s bill, I believe, is a really good example of what often is the case with members’ 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 Greg 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.

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—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 are 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. Of the sexual abuse that takes place in New Zealand, 90 percent 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.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. It’s a pleasure to speak on this bill. My congratulations to the member for both getting this bill drawn and to this late stage in the House. I know that he would want me to thank everyone who’s worked on this bill, but especially the officials. I think he might have been a bit flustered because he was so busy discharging other duties and rushing to his seat, that it might have slipped his mind, so I’m passing on that message from Greg O’Connor that he’s very grateful, as am I and all of the committee members, for the diligence and assistance of officials advising us on this bill.

I do, really, only want to touch on one aspect, because other speakers have very articulately gone over the nature of the bill and exactly what it does, and its objectives of extending the register to the movements of child sex offenders to overseas travel and the details of that. But I do want to just touch on the human rights aspect, because I do think this House should absolutely pause when the Attorney-General says, “The proposed measure, in my independent and considered opinion, is not a justified limitation on human rights.”, and it should be only with the utmost gravity that this House puts that to one side and adopts that measure anyway.

As the member who just spoke, Rima Nakhle, noted, the key consideration there was the suggestion that for a person who has been convicted and sentenced, a harsher sentence is now being imposed, but because there is now this additional measure that didn’t exist when the crime was committed, I think that there is something we need to examine there. One of the observations or one of the statements or reasons of the Attorney-General in the report was that there is actually modest evidence of a strong link between prevention of child sex offending and this register, and I think that’s a gap that we need to fill. We should only infringe on liberties where there’s evidence that we’re doing the right thing. I understand that Waikato University is doing work on that; I look forward to seeing that.

But, I guess, the reason I am happy to see this bill progress is because I do believe it will prevent harm. But I think we need to carefully examine—and I know I’m disagreeing with the Supreme Court on this, and I don’t do that lightly. The Supreme Court did find in, I think it’s, “D” v Attorney-General, that the child sex offender is part of a punishment or a penal regime. I think we need to kind of reframe what goes on in the Corrections framework, because some of what Corrections do is punishment. It’s that kind of marking out conduct as entirely unacceptable and imposing things like imprisonment or home detention or whatever to say, “That’s so bad, we’re going to make your life more uncomfortable.”

Certainly the purpose of this register is not punitive; whatever the court sentenced, that has happened. This is to protect children from people, and that’s the primary objective, but also to put a framework around offenders and their behaviour—in a sense, protect them from themselves. I think we need to recognise that as abhorrent as the historic offending is, what we’re really doing here is saying, “We want to not have future victims.” It’s not about saying, “Because you were a bad person, we’re going to make your life more uncomfortable.” In fact, I hope the police make this as easy and seamless as possible, so that it is complied with absolutely by child sex offenders who then recognise that their movements are monitored in some degree, and don’t put themselves in situations where other people are at risk. The outcome of that is that there will be fewer victims of child sex offending—fewer children who are victims of sexual offending. That’s a good thing. That’s not part of a punitive regime; that’s part of a careful community that protects its children, and also, at the same time, assists people with problems to not offend. I think that’s how we need to reframe some of what we’re doing in Corrections, is to say that there’s always going to be a punishment aspect, but let’s not conflate punishment with protection and improvement of everyone’s lives.

That is why I am very happy to support this bill. I did want to talk about the rights issue because I certainly didn’t want it to be glossed over, and I wanted to make it absolutely clear that the Attorney-General’s view is not lightly disregarded but it was very carefully thought about at committee and, of course, I’m sure it will be considered by other members in this House as well. Kia ora, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We are in a situation where sex offending against children is rampant, it is global, and it takes very many forms, from organised and sophisticated large-scale planned offending, which surely feeds into individual offending, to offenders who are opportunistic because they find themselves in close proximity to their victims for some reason, maybe by authority or by relationship, being a family member or being in a relationship with a family member in charge of children.

It is fitting that the member across the House Greg O’Connor, having been in law enforcement himself and having had a lot of experience dealing with situations like this, is the member who brings this amendment bill into the House. Surely, he would have seen the very situations where offenders would have disappeared into the darkness when they moved to travel overseas. This gap is what has been identified—surely through experience and the knowledge of what happens in this space of child sex offending. This is the very gap that this bill seeks to close down: that when offenders travel overseas, they walk into the darkness and become invisible.

So the specific requirements of the amendment bill aim to keep registered offenders in the light, and visible. There are mainly three steps. Additional information—when offenders intending to return to New Zealand leave the country, they must report where they’re going, where they will be living, and when they will be coming back or departing from the country that they are headed to. Offenders must also provide information if they do not intend to return to New Zealand, where they will be staying. The information that offenders carry that help identify them will need to be provided—the passport, the addresses, the full names, place of issue, expiry—so their identities are able to be kept in the light.

It is a great advantage to offenders that after they leave, they are not able to be followed or sought, and that brings opportunities for them to reoffend. Child sex offending is known to be very difficult to reform, and with the opportunity of being in proximity to someone else, particularly in cases—which the member across the House Greg O’Connor has identified—where family travel to be with family overseas, then the opportunity for offending continues. In New Zealand, we want to be able to show our determined effort to prevent child sex offending and to put in place protection measures that we can in this country that will help other countries prevent harm as well.

So the bill seeks to ensure that we in New Zealand demonstrate our determination to protect children from sexual exploitation. By highlighting this move to reach out and be ready to provide information that is critical to protecting other children overseas, it establishes our clear intent to collaborate and cooperate with overseas jurisdictions to prevent offenders from walking into the darkness and disappearing.

With this bill, we also demonstrate our dedication to democracy and providing that extra protection that our day and time allows us to provide—so innovation and smart use of information and technology, which may not have been available in former times. The bill tracks offenders’ movements in ways that we could not have done before. Armed with this new technology and data sharing, we want to show the world that we are determined to stop or to make it more difficult for offenders to keep on offending in other jurisdictions.

We also show the world that we are very concerned about our children and the safety of other children in the world. The strict reporting requirement of the bill shows that we hold zero tolerance on child exploitation, and that we are prepared to assist other law enforcement in other countries where we know our registered child sex offenders may be travelling to. So it is essential and natural for us to be concerned about others. Again, the hideousness of the possibility of a child sex offender who has offended against children in his proximity, possibly within his family, travelling overseas to be with other family members is a frightful concept that we must exert every effort to ensure that we do not allow this to progress as easily as it could have in the past, without the smart data and technology that we can use in terms of information sharing.

With the awareness that this law change could impinge on human rights of registered sex offenders in terms of exposing them to more punishment, there have been steps proposed and accepted by the Justice Committee to ensure that all registered offenders are aware that this bill is going to happen. So there will be a delayed commencement time to allow police to fully inform everyone affected by this change. By allowing the bill to explicitly retroactively affect all registered offenders, there can be no one staying in the darkness. We commend this bill to the House.

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: This call is a split call—Dr Tracey McLellan.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think the House is relatively in tune tonight, and all of the previous contributions have clearly outlined what this bill does. So I’m not going to take my full allocation—I think it would be quite fitting and a nice gesture for this bill to pass its third reading before we hit the dinner break. So in acknowledgment of that, can I just say a couple of quick remarks.

I too, like many other people, would like to acknowledge Greg O’Connor—affectionately known as “Greg O”—who has done a lot of work to ensure that this bill has been shepherded with very much care through this process. As has been said, it’s only a small change, but it is definitely impactful and that is not to be overlooked. I think that’s testament to the breadth of knowledge that the member who has shepherded this bill through has via his professional life, and the acumen to recognise when something small can be changed that makes an impactful difference and can actually, therefore, prevent harm. So I heard Mr O’Connor mention earlier on that this is the first member’s bill to pass through the 54th Parliament. So I’d like to acknowledge again the work that he’s done to ensure that that has happened, also the submitters, the officials, and the two Justice Committees who have done the work.

I think one of the enduring pieces of contributions that were made tonight was a reminder to us that sex offenders almost exclusively, but certainly to a high proportion, are known. That’s not the “stranger danger” that we may have grown up with a couple of decades ago. It’s something that, when we acknowledge that, we can make those small changes and we can do something that is meaningful and prevents harm. So I have no hesitation in commending this bill to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s a privilege to rise to speak on this bill, and I’d like to commend Greg O’Connor and the Hon Erica Stanford for the work they’ve done in getting this bill to the House to date and to the stage that we have. I listened with a great interest to Greg O’Connor’s contribution to this bill. Given his background in law enforcement, he obviously brought a lot of knowledge and experience to the table.

To me, it’s also great to see the level of unity across the House on this occasion. It’s relatively rare that we get everybody agreeing, and it’s just great to see that the Greens have reconsidered their position and have rejoined and made it unanimous. This helps send a strong message that New Zealand takes its responsibilities in terms of child sex offenders very seriously.

One of the things that I don’t think has been touched on quite as much tonight has been the whole aspect of the victims in these horrible crimes, because this is one of the things we’re trying to prevent: more victims. I know somebody who, in their younger years, was affected by an offender. To this date it still effects them; it impacts them regularly. You see it when they bring it up and you see it in things and the way they deal with issues and the way they deal with life. So anything we can do—which is what this bill helps to do—to help prevent any further sex offending is, I think, to be taken; it would be really well accepted and I think it’s a really good thing.

So, I think, having made that point and saying what a great thing it is that we do this—[Refers to notes] getting lots of instruction here—and the importance of getting this right so that we have people when they travel, we know where they are and where they’re going is really important. With that, then, I’d like to commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will also take a short call because I would like my friend Greg O’Connor’s bill to go through tonight. What I would like to do is acknowledge that those stories that have come up from people in the House who’ve had a direct and personal connection with this issue will be the tip of the iceberg. This is a significant issue that, basically, takes away many children’s childhoods.

It is really nice in this bill to see and acknowledge that that is not something that we can “other” when it comes to places like Thailand and all the places that people go to use children in this way. So I am extremely pleased to see this. I’ve recently spent a journey with Greg—a bus journey—and it’s always interesting, but it’s also rather traumatic because you hear many a story of the real life of somebody who has earned the right to be here through doing very hard work and actually having to face the reality of evil. It is something that we can never forget about. We might want to, but we cannot forget about it.

So I thank him for putting such a pragmatic bill to this House that will, hopefully, help some of the children that are in the world. It will not be the only step that we have to take. I would love to see, in the Budget tomorrow, some money go into making our net safer for our children, and stopping a lot of the stuff that comes into New Zealand by putting money into the safety of our net—and let’s see whether it happens; it’s the kind of thing that should be cross-party.

I thank the Greens for coming around on this bill and supporting it. I think it’s very significant that we are doing this in a way that is united across this House. It shows that we take the impact on children of this kind of behaviour extremely seriously, and it’s been a sober and interesting debate. I thank you all.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Well, it appears that the only thing standing between this bill passing before the dinner break and putting Mr O’Connor through an hour and a half of the most heightened tension we’ve seen all day will be how long I take in my speech. So in the interests of collegiality and “Kumbaya” and the avoidance of future terrifying bus trips with Greg O’Connor—through Mākara or Ōhāriu, wherever we’re going—I will keep my contribution relatively targeted and timely so that Greg O’Connor can celebrate what is a very, very good bill and an excellent effort by the member to progress it through the House.

I had a whole list of acknowledgments here for you, Mr O’Connor, but I wanted to say that I think the way you turned up to our select committee and the way you contributed, and your knowledge in this area is just exceptional. I’m not sure if you can refer to the absence of yourself, but I was at one of my select committees noting the start of the debate in the third reading, and I noted that Mr O’Connor outlaid his history and his experience in this area and the fact that he had established child sex abuse teams in Masterton as part of his career and that he has one of the most lengthy and storied histories in this area. So it’s only appropriate that it falls to a member like him to not only bring this bill before the House and see it pass through but also to do it in a way where he has articulated a purpose of the bill—which is to protect children—and advocate for that purpose so strongly that he has convinced other members across the House to change their position.

I want to acknowledge the members of the Green Party—Tamatha Paul and Kahurangi Carter—for their decision to listen to the submissions, to hear the arguments, to review the evidence, and to balance that against the strongly held views of their party and their principles, and to, I guess, come to the conclusion that, on balance, it is a bill worth supporting. So that’s a testament to the member and a testament to how the select committee process and how Parliament can work and how we can tease it out in the committee stage.

Can I also just acknowledge the work of the Justice Committee. We are, of course, known as the “busy and effective Justice Committee”, and it’s nice to see one of our bills out of the room on to the floor of the House and, hopefully, passed into law. One down; only about 11 to go. So, Greg O’Connor, if you’re ever looking for some spare time to fill on a Thursday, you’re more than welcome to join us again for one of the many pieces of legislation we’ll be debating over the next 2½ years.

Look, I just wanted to touch on a couple of other contributions by members in the time we’ve got remaining—mainly the contribution by Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, who talked about her own history in this area. I want to reflect on some of the work that I’ve done as counsel in the royal commission into abuse, and some of the horrific stories that I’ve been privy to, and I’ve heard about child abuse—and the realisation that it is not, as we’ve been taught growing up, “stranger danger”; it is often those that we know and we love who are the ones who are committing abuse.

That is what this bill is designed to do: it is designed to make sure that those travelling overseas—we are aware of where they’re going and we are aware of the situation they’re putting themselves into and that we are putting the interests of the children in those potential locations first. So it’s a very good day for Mr O’Connor; it’s a very good day for the people of Ōhāriu, who get to see their member pass a bill into law; but it’s also a very good day for the children of New Zealand, who can add one small but significant protection to the list of protections that we provide in our statute book.

So, saying that, I will very happily, on behalf of the National Party, and, if I can say, on behalf of the Justice Committee, commend the bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a third time.

The House is now suspended for the dinner break. The committee will resume after the dinner break. Sorry, I forgot to call on members’ order of the day No. 2. That will be the committee stage after the dinner break. Thank you.

Sitting suspended from 5.59 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.