Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown—Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors, and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault) (16:22): It is almost unthinkable that anybody would want to hurt a child. For decades, the unthinkable was also unspeakable; the crimes horrific and yet hidden, kept secret by victim-survivors out of shame or the thought that no‑one would believe them. This silence was all too often perpetuated by societal pressure, institutional inertia and a willingness on the part of so many in positions of power to turn a blind eye to suffering. The suffering was compounded by the silence. How can we try to fix a problem if we cannot bring ourselves to acknowledge that there is a problem at all? Yet, as we all know, there is a problem. We all know that these crimes happen. Most of us in this place—if not all of us—have over the course of our work as parliamentarians, in our professional lives before we entered this place or in our personal lives come into contact with someone whose life has been impacted by the commission of a violent or sexual crime against a child.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse put into stark focus just how frighteningly common the unthinkable can be. This has helped to end the silence. We can name the problem; we can talk about it. And now we are taking steps to fix it. There are two elements to this, which must be balanced. On the one hand, it is incumbent on us, as parliamentarians, to ensure that criminal actions are met with appropriate sanctions. On the other hand, we must ensure as best we can that we reduce the risk of these crimes happening at all. The Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Amendment Bill 2024 achieves that needed balance by ensuring that those found guilty of these heinous offences have fewer chances to reoffend.

I am proud to be part of a government that is working to address the scourge of violence against the most vulnerable members of our society. I am pleased to speak in support of the bill. A key part of the way our State manages the risks associated with those who have offended against children is the child protection offenders registration scheme, which applies to certain registrable persons who have been convicted of sexual offences against or in relation to children, some violent offences against children and offences for the production, dissemination or possession of child abuse material. The Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act requires these offenders, once convicted, to register certain personal information with the NSW Police Force and to update that information should it change.

The bill will strengthen that scheme, ensuring that the Act remains fit for purpose in 2024 and can better meet its statutory obligation to protect children from serious harm. New section 2D sets out in detail the offences that are registrable, the circumstances in which the offences require registration and for how long a person is to remain on the register. Additional offences under both New South Wales and Commonwealth law relating to the safety of children have also been included under the proposed amendments. For example, the bill will make an offence under section 45 of the New South Wales Crimes Act, which relates to the genital mutilation of a female child, a registrable offence. It will also add certain crimes against humanity set out in Commonwealth legislation —including sexual slavery and enforced prostitution—to the schedules of registrable offences.

The bill also strikes a balance between the need to punish offenders and the need to protect potential future victims. It recognises the need to offer rehabilitation where the offender is themself a child by granting more discretion to the courts in these instances. For instance, under new section 3C (1), when a person under the age of 18 is sentenced for a registrable offence, a registrable person order will only be required when the court is satisfied that the "order is necessary because the person poses a risk to the lives or sexual safety of one or more children or of children generally". In an era when a poorly thought-out selfie might constitute child sexual abuse material, this updated approach strikes a balance between ensuring that serious offenders are still subject to registration requirements if needed while also making sure that young people who commit a crime but pose no ongoing risk are not unduly burdened.

Under new section 3CA, a registrable person order will not be considered part of the sentence imposed for the offence that gave rise to the order. This means that an order will remain in place while a conviction is being appealed. If an appeal against a conviction or sentence is successful, the same section enables an appellate court to revoke an order if it was not required to be made under the Act, if the decision of the appeal court was the original decision at the sentencing. The bill also tightens the reporting requirements for what are called "corresponding registrable persons", which is to say a person required to register under an equivalent scheme in a different jurisdiction. Previously, those who were required to register in a different jurisdiction were given seven days to report their details to New South Wales police upon entering the State. Under the bill, they will be required to do so within five days. They must report before leaving the State, even if their stay is less than the five-day cut‑off. This will allow New South Wales police to have a better picture of where there may be threats to the safety and wellbeing of children.

The bill also provides for the regulations to prescribe locations outside New South Wales where residents who are corresponding registrable persons will only need to provide this new report if they are in New South Wales for a period of 24 hours or more, such as border towns where residents may enter New South Wales frequently. The bill further requires that registrable persons from outside the State are informed of their obligations under the Act in writing if their stay in New South Wales reaches or exceeds 14 days in length. This section requires that a person must comply with reporting obligations under the Act for whichever is longer between the longest reporting period that they are subject to in another jurisdiction or the period that would apply to them if they had been sentenced in New South Wales.

Under new section 10, the bill requires registrable persons to give the Commissioner of Police a personal information report each year during their reporting period. Section 10A requires changes to the personal information captured by the scheme to be duly reported, and section 11 requires the reporting of certain kinds of contact with children to the commissioner within 24 hours of the reportable contact. That includes supervising or caring for a child, visiting or staying at a household where a child is present, exchanging contact details with a child, befriending a child or attempting to establish further contact with a child.

New section 16D (1) of the bill strengthens the powers of New South Wales police to conduct inspections of a registered person's residential property. It provides that inspections can happen up to two times a year at each residential premises identified or required to be identified in a personal information report. Subsection (2) allows for further inspections if they are authorised by a senior office ranked superintendent or above, so long as they have a reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed under the Act and has not previously been dealt with. Reflecting advice from police and the nature of communications in 2024, registrable persons are required to report web-based services, platforms, apps and games that could potentially be used to contact and groom targets. However, the bill provides that the use of these services and apps, such as the Service NSW app or a banking app, are not required to be reported, as the use of these apps poses much less or no risk to potential victims.

Under section 11G, the bill requires that a registrable person may apply to the Commissioner of Police for approval to travel outside Australia, bringing the Act into line with the Commonwealth Criminal Code. For the purposes of oversight, section 23 of the bill requires that the Child Protection Register be audited at least every two years. That will ensure that the register is being properly administered and is meeting the goals set out for it by this Parliament. The bill includes commonsense reforms that will ensure the children protection offender registration scheme is fit for purpose in the twenty-first century. It is, as I have said, a key part of the State's child protection system. I acknowledge that the improvements outlined in the bill come via comments from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission's Operation Tusket final report in 2019 and a subsequent review of the Act by the NSW Police Force. I thank those involved in the review and all of the committed officers who enforce the system. I am pleased to be part of a government that is working to protect the most vulnerable people in the State. I commend the bill to the House.