Most Maori Voters Oppose Child-Discipline Bill

from www.newswire.co.nz 7:52 am, 29 Apr 2007

A poll suggests there is strong opposition among Maori voters to the child-discipline bill, which the Maori Party supports.

The Marae Digipoll surveyed 1,000 Maori voters on both the Maori roll and the general roll and found that 80 percent of those surveyed do not support the Green MP Sue Bradford's bill.

But party co-leader, Tariana Turia, says that shows a misunderstanding of what the bill actually represents.

She says during recent hui the party has made clear the bill is not anti-smacking, but aims to remove the defence of "reasonable force" when people are before the court on child abuse charges, but many still believe the bill is an anti-smacking one.

The poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.