Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill - First Reading

Presented to Parliament by Sue Bradford, MP on 27th July 2005
Click here to view the whole speech
Here is a short excerpt that I found interesting:

"...The aim of this repeal is not to subject parents to prosecution for trivial assault [ie. light smacking]. In other countries where laws like this have been changed, there has not been a marked increase in such arrests and I certainly would not expect it to happen here, where the climate of public opinion is so manifestly not ready for a ban on smacking..."

Now let's have a look at Sue Bradford's bill that she wants to replace Section 59
Part two reads:
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) or in any rule of common law justifies the use of force [ie. light smacking] for the purpose of correction.

So does this piece of legislation here, - and Sue Bradford's initial speech before Parliament add up? No, they are contradictory

DID YOU KNOW?
When Jim Anderton proposed to Parliament that P be classified a Class A hard drug, the Greens were the only party to vote against it. Click here to view the full story

NB: I inserted the [ie. light smacking] into the two articles - they were not in the original articles.