Police Minister Mark Mitchell approved a change to the agencies' agreement to fix the issue. Photo / Marty Melville
A “monitoring gap” in New Zealand’s child sex offender regime presented a “significant risk to community safety”, according to briefings to ministers obtained by the Herald.
The issue was that police didn’t have direct access to Customs’ border alert management system for the purpose of identifying and monitoring foreign child sex offenders entering New Zealand. Their access was limited to offenders punished by a New Zealand court.
The documents state police wanted to be able to monitor the movement of foreign child sex offenders in and out of the country to promptly determine whether they are subject to various obligations to report information about themselves.
This “gap” has now been addressed, but previously there was a “resource-intensive” process whereby police had to rely on Customs staff identifying a traveller as likely meeting the criteria of one of these offenders and then disclosing this information on a “case-by-case basis”.
Police and Customs warned ministers that arrangement created a risk these individuals were able to “enter New Zealand undetected and reside unmonitored in the community”.
In response to questions from the Herald this week, both Police and Customs said they were “not aware” of any cases of offenders entering the country without being identified, noting there has always been the ability for Customs staff to stop these people.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Customs Minister Casey Costello have now approved a change to an inter-agency agreement allowing staff from police’s Child Sex Offender Registry to access the border system to make the process of managing these offenders more efficient.
“I’m pleased that this change will strengthen the protections in place to keep children and young people in our communities safe from harmful sexual behaviour,” Mitchell told the Herald.
Police and Customs have a direct access agreement, which was signed by ministers in 2018. It allows police to use the border system – known as CusMod – for various reasons, such as identifying and arresting fugitives crossing international borders.
However, according to a briefing to ministers last October, the agencies years ago found a hole in the agreement when it came to identifying and monitoring what are called “corresponding registrable offenders”.
These are people who have been sentenced to imprisonment in a foreign jurisdiction or required to report information about themselves to authorities overseas as a result of a conviction for a child sex offence.
If they enter New Zealand to reside here or show an intention to stay, they become a “registrable offender” and are required to report extensive information about themselves, which is contained in the Child Sex Offender Register. Police need to inform these offenders of their obligations.
The agreement allowed police to access the border system to monitor for child sex offenders sanctioned by New Zealand courts, but the briefing says this didn’t extend to those convicted overseas for similar offences.
This issue is described in the document as a “monitoring gap”, which the agencies said presented “operational risks for Police and Customs, and a significant risk to community safety”.
Police had to rely on Customs identifying people who could be a corresponding registrable offender. Customs staff had to hold a “reasonable belief” that sharing that information with police was “necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to public safety”.
This arrangement was “resource intensive” and meant both Customs and Police staff had to separately assess whether someone qualified as a corresponding registrable offender.
“The current arrangement places an unnecessary burden on Customs’ border staff to identify and monitor corresponding registrable offenders and notify Police accordingly.”
Another operational risk associated with that arrangement was that the offenders could enter New Zealand “undetected” and reside here “unmonitored”.
“Failing to correctly identify a person as a registrable child sex offender means such persons may not be identified and monitored by Police, which exposes our tamariki and rangatahi to an increased risk of serious violence and ongoing harm,” the document says.
The agencies said the register’s staff were “specifically trained and undoubtedly best placed to determine” whether someone met the appropriate criteria.
“Allowing Register staff direct access to CusMod to create, check, update and clear corresponding registrable offender alerts will reduce the risk that a corresponding registrable offender who is a registrable offender enters New Zealand undetected and without Registry monitoring.”
It was proposed to ministers that the agencies’ agreements be changed by adding and rewording some provisions.
They would allow the register’s staff to directly identify any foreign child sex offenders coming to New Zealand, ensure those who met the criteria were informed of their obligations and also check any who had no stated intention to reside here actually did leave the country.
“Varying the direct access agreement would enable Police to protect tamariki and rangatahi and keep New Zealanders safe,” a section of the briefing read.
This change was considered “essential” to keep New Zealand’s “borders and most vulnerable members of the community safe and prevent further sexual offending by persons who are at risk of reoffending against children”.
The Police and Customs ministers did agree to make the changes. But the documents show it took years to get to that point.
Back in February 2023, the agencies identified the “operational risks and inefficiencies” of the arrangement of the time could be addressed by changing their agreement.
The ministers at the time agreed to advance this work but were required by law to first consult with the Privacy Commissioner.
The commissioner responded in October 2023 confirming he was “satisfied with the consideration of privacy impacts and have no comments on the agreement”.
The fix, however, hit a hurdle when the agencies came to the view the proposed changes “did not clearly and consistently define the cohort of individuals who would be subject to direct access monitoring”.
This led to officials redrafting the changes and liaising with the office of the Privacy Commissioner.
In October last year, officials recommended to the ministers they approve more formal consultation with the Privacy Commissioner on the changes, which was completed by the end of 2024.
Again, the commissioner raised no concerns with the substantive changes and in February ministers were finally asked to approve the changes, which they did.
In a statement to the Herald, acting manager of the Child Sex Offender Registry Glenda Mitchell said the changes would improve “operational effectiveness”.
“Customs has always been able to stop and interact with persons covered under the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 through border legislation, but the actual management and assessment of any registerable offenders has then been handed over to the Registry.
“This and legislative changes have both been undertaken to make improvements to keep children and young people in our communities safe from harmful sexual behaviour. This variation will deliver practical improvements to further support the protection of our children.”
Simon Peterson, Chief Customs Officer for the child exploitation operation team, said managing these offenders was not a legislated function of his agency.
“It is more appropriate from a legal and resourcing perspective that those with the mandated function have the necessary access to our border management system and tools that they need to carry out their lawful functions.”
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.