This Government bill amends the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 to make it clearer, more consistent, and easier for registrable offenders to comply with, with the aim of improving child safety. It was enacted as the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Amendment Act 2026.
This bill amends the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016, which established New Zealand's non-public register of child sex offenders that police and agencies use to monitor people convicted of child sexual offences. The changes are largely administrative: clarifying the Act's wording, adding several offences to the list of qualifying offences that trigger registration, making reporting obligations clearer and easier for offenders to comply with, and helping agencies share information and manage the risk offenders pose.
It refines the 2016 Act rather than replacing it. Supporters say tidying the rules improves child safety by capturing the right offenders, closing loopholes, and making the register run more smoothly for the agencies that rely on it. Critics question whether widening who must register is proportionate, note that registration imposes long-term monitoring on people who have served their sentences, and raise privacy and rehabilitation concerns about ever-expanding databases.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.