Many New Zealanders know her as the compiler of a register of sex-offenders which aims to publicly identify those convicted of sex-crimes. This register, first published in 1996, generated considerable criticism from those who alleged it breached the rights of criminals named in it. She has also published a registry of convicted child molesters in Australia. Coddington has also had a high amount of media interest in her personal life – early in 2004 journalists widely canvassed the financial problems of Alister Taylor, her partner (and her subsequent split from him), and later the same year, the media reported Coddington's distress about attention received from Roger Kerr, the executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable. Kerr allegedly chased her drunk, across the grounds of parliament. Coddington described the media's portrayal of events as "wildly overblown".