Labour's U-turn on Anti-Smacking law welcome

The Kiwi Party
Press Release
12 April, 2009

Kiwi Party leader and anti-smacking referendum petition organiser Larry Baldock welcomed the Labour Party’s back down on the controversial law.

“With Helen Clark now on her way overseas perhaps we can hope common sense on this whole debate will finally emerge,” said Mr Baldock.

When the referendum is held on Aug 21 this year it now seems that Phil Goff will be voting along with about 80% of all Kiwis who will say NO, a smack as part of good parental correction should not be a criminal offence in NZ!

"I am still disappointed to hear the leader of the opposition say he does not think the law needs to be changed. For a minute I thought he was going to start listening to the people of New Zealand he is elected to serve.

"It is really quite simple Mr Goff. If good parents should not be prosecuted for using appropriate discipline then the law should not make them criminals. The constant argument about prosecutions is irrelevant!

"The challenge now is for the Prime Minister to show his willingness to listen as well. The last bi-partisan deal John key agreed to with Helen Clark angered the nation. Perhaps a press conference with the PM and Leader of the opposition agreeing to abide by the result of the referendum could help heal the damage that has been done.

"I am sick of hearing the weak argument from politicians that it does not seem that very many are being wrongly prosecuted. Even one prosecution is one too many, and we can present absolute evidence of many more than just one good parent being affected.

"What is obscuring the real facts in the statistics is that many parents faced with prosecution under the new law are being advised to plead guilty by their lawyers to avoid further potential interference from CYFS.
Once these good parents enter a guilty plea they can no longer be counted as innocent parents can they?

The flip side to this argument is the more important issue. If the old sec 59 of the Crimes Act was hindering the police in their prosecution of real child abuse then we should have seen a great increase in prosecutions of those who do not know the difference between a smack and a beating. That is clearly not happening!

"No evidence has been revealed as yet that the real abusers are being prosecuted more now with our child abuse rates still appalling.

The Kiwi Party’s opposition to Sue Bradford’s ill-conceived law has always been motivated by the concern that the new law would result in good parents being put under more pressure while they attempt the toughest job in the country. Having your 5 year old come home from school and tell you that police came to their class and told them they should tell their teacher if they got a smack for being naughty at home, does not send a message of support for parents and does nothing to reduce real child abuse at all.

"The vast majority of Kiwis knew this two years ago on May 16 when 113 MPs thought they knew better," Mr Baldock said.

ENDS

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