Thankyou to all of you who helped collect signatures on the petition calling for a referendum on the question..."Should a smack as a part of good parental correction be a criminal offense in New Zealand?"
We now have 322,752 signatures on this petition, meaning that there will be a referendum.
When Sue Bradford realised that we were going to make the target, she told the media that she would be watching carefully to make sure that no parties attempted to support the referendum. Now that we have the numbers, she has said...
"it is unlikely that any government would go back to a situation where the law promotes the hitting of children and babies."
And she's absolutely right. Firstly, if the law was repealed back to it's initial state, it would not be "promoting" anything, merely allowing it. Secondly, she brings out the tired old phrase "hitting of children and babies". I am utterly opposed to anyone hitting a child or a baby, however I am able to tell the difference between a hit - a beating, and a loving smack. So can 83% of New Zealanders.
A word from Bob McCoscrie of Family First who has tirelessly worked for the referendum.
"Thanks to the efforts of people like you, there IS going to be a Referendum at the upcoming general election on the extremist anti-smacking bill which has targeted good parents and has failed miserably to target the real causes of child abuse.
The reason we have 'upped' the target?
In the last petition demanding a referendum (Norm Wither's 1999 law and order referendum), almost 60,000 signatures were disallowed by the Clerks who check the validity of the signatures. While we don't expect anywhere near as many disqualified signatures, it is beneficial to have a 'buffer' of signatures! Submitting well over the legally required 286,000 signatures would also drive the point home that this legislation is hugely unpopular and ineffective. (that's why we originally set the target as 300,000)."
1 comment:
Andy,
A BIG Thank you to all the work that you have done in making this happen. You have spent a HUGE amount of your own time to fight against this terrible piece of legislation.
Well done.
Regards,
Simeon
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