Hon Mark Mitchell
Minister of Police

The Government is delivering on its commitment to tighten reporting requirements for child sex offenders, with the passing of the first reading of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Amendment Bill in Parliament today, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell.

“The Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 established a register to reduce sexual reoffending against child victims and the risk posed by serious child sex offenders. The harm caused to children by sexual offending is significant and despicable.

“The Bill improves the effectiveness of the Child Sex Offender Register and will help registry staff assess and manage the risks presented by child sex offenders living in the community.

“Offenders will be required to provide more information about their location and activities, as well as the likelihood of their contact with children,” says Mr Mitchell.

“The changes will improve the clarity of and enhance the consistency of the Act to support registry staff, assist offenders in complying with the requirements placed on them and update the Act to reflect evolving technology and address gaps.

“This Bill will provide further support to Police and other agencies to keep our children and communities safer and is another example of this Government’s focus on law and order.”

Notes:

Amendments will improve the effectiveness of the Child Sex Offender Register

• The Bill makes a range of administrative, but nonetheless important, amendments to the Act.
• The most substantive amendments are to:
  • require offenders to report if a child is going to be living at the same address as them 48 hours before this occurs (rather than 72 hours after)
  • require offenders to report if they are attending education or training courses and clarify that voluntary work must be reported
  • clarify how “locality” is defined for offenders with no permanent address in New Zealand
  • enable notices to be served to offenders by electronic means (as well as by post)
  • require offenders travelling out of the country to report this information at least seven days in advance (rather than the current 48 hours in advance)
  • require offenders to report their return to New Zealand no more than 72 hours after re-entering, electronically or by telephone (rather than the current 10 day in-person requirement)
  • clarify that where there is a successful appeal against registration, that information contained on the Register that relates to the offender must be removed
  • remove the requirement for an application for review to be made within 28 days of registration.
• The amendments will support Police and the Department of Corrections to keep children safe from harmful sexual offenders by:
  • requiring offenders to report additional personal information to help inform risk management approaches
  • requiring some information to be provided within different timeframes to better enable Registry staff to manage and monitor risk
  • making it easier for Registry staff to contact the principal caregiver if it is necessary to make a disclosure about a registrable offender who may pose a risk
  • making it easier for offenders to comply with reporting obligations
  • providing Registry staff more time to make the necessary international notifications and border alerts.
• The new reporting requirements and changes in reporting timeframes will create additional obligations on offenders currently on the Register.
• Taken together, these amendments seek to:
  • keep children safe from harmful sexual behaviour
  • balance individual rights and freedoms with additional reporting requirements
  • make it easier for offenders to comply.

New qualifying offences have been added to address omissions and ensure alignment with existing qualifying offences

• The Bill adds seven additional qualifying offences to the Act.
• These are offences that cause an offender to be placed on the Register.
• The seven additional offences are:
  • four Prostitution Reform Act 2003 offences which were unintended omissions from the original Act
  • two Crimes Act 1961 offences and one Customs and Excise Act 2018 offence, which closely align with other offences already covered by the Act.

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