Sex register bill shut down

A parliamentary committee has shut down a bill that would have set up a register of serious sexual offenders.

The private member's bill was introduced by Act's Deborah Coddington in 2003 and spent a long time in front of the justice and electoral select committee.

In a report presented yesterday the committee recommended unanimously that the bill, transferred to Rodney Hide, should not proceed.

Mr Hide said he was sorry, but believed that the Government had taken its message on board.