The NZ ‘anti-correction law’ and the referendum – your ‘unemotional’ guide to Section 59’.

Canada to Criminalise Smacking

The Suburban from Quebec, Canada reports on the passing of an Anti-Smacking bill.

"Recently, the Senate passed a bill that will eliminate the section of our criminal code that allows the use of “reasonable” force in order to correct a child’s behaviour. In the media it’s been dubbed the anti-spanking law and judging from the comments on websites that are reporting this development, many Canadians are livid about it.

I’ve read comments saying if the bill becomes law it will be a waste of government resources and will lead to a generation of wild children with no respect for authority. More than a few people seem to think this bill is over-the-top government interference and that spanking is an acceptable, non-abusive disciplinary tool. Some lawyers warned the Senate about a possible onslaught of criminal prosecutions that would label competent parents as child abusers.

I believe there is a difference between hitting a child in a controlled manner as a predictable consequence to unacceptable behaviour and letting loose on a child out of rage. Perhaps it’s because I’m old enough to have grown up at a time when getting spanked was an ordinary, though exceedingly unpleasant, part of childhood...."

Click here for the entire article

Anti-Smacking Law, One Year On

One year ago, on 2 May 2008, Sue Bradford's Anti-Smacking Bill passed it's third reading. The bill had the numbers to pass, however the entire National party turned 180 degrees and all National MPs were forced to vote in favour of the bill.

Just hours before, John Key and Helen Clark had come to an agreement for a "compromise" on the bill. ACT Party leader, Rodney Hide had this to say, on 3 May:

"I arrived back in the country jetlagged and flew onto Wellington to learn that an historic peace had broken out with Helen Clark and John Key agreeing to a compromise on the smacking bill. Good on John Key I thought. He's taken the high ground and made a difference. That's what I thought. Until I saw the amendment. It makes no difference. Of course, the police have the discretion whether to prosecute. If anyone knows that, it's Helen Clark!! This
amendment just confirms it and then adds the confusing terms "inconsequential" and "public interest". - Rodney Hide: "Ammendment makes no difference"

The ammendment was the new subsection 4 of Section 59 of the Crimes Act, 1961, and reads:

(4) To avoid doubt it is affirmed that police have the discretion not to prosecute complaints against parents of any child, or those standing in place of any child, in relation to an offence involving the use of force against a child where the offence is considered to be so inconsequential

However, the ridiculous thing is that this "inconsequential" clause was already a part of the law in New Zealand, and applies to all cases where police are considering prosecution.

Sue Bradford's bill to repeal Section 59 of the Crimes act
Criminalises parents who elect to lightly smack their child(ren) occasionally.

...Everyday mums and dads.

The bill for repeal passes with

113 votes for. 93% of the members of Parliament. 17% to 32% of New Zealanders
Labour, National, Maori, Greens, Progressive, Peter Dunne (United Future), 4 members of NZ First

8 votes against. 7% of the members of Parliament. 68% to 83% of New Zealanders
ACT, Gordon Copeland (ex United Future), Taito Philip Field (ex Labour), 3 NZ First, Judy Turner (United Future)

And on 21 May 2008, the Governor General abandoned his duty of protecting New Zealand citizens from bad law that had managed to get through the parliamentary process - and gave consent to the bill becoming law.

On Thursday 21 June 2007, the law came into effect.

New Zealand has not forgotten this dark moment in her history. This will make itself evident at the 2008 election.

Give your party vote to The Kiwi Party, or ACT, as these are the two parties who care enough about the voice of the people of New Zealand, to bring about a change in this draconian home-invasion law.

Anti-Smacking Bill Hits California

The latest news in from California...

A proposal in the California Legislature that would define a well-deserved spanking administered in love by a concerned parent using a rolled-up newspaper as child abuse – and could send that parent to jail – now is facing a delay.

The plan, AB 2943 by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, is a rerun of her same plan that was defeated a year ago. She has stated that her proposal only addresses "child abuse" but she also defines any spanking at all as child abuse.

Several California organizations that support traditional family values and parenting rights have raised a red flag over the issue again this year. Now the Campaign for Children and Families confirms that the plan has been delayed, and it credits a flood of telephone calls and e-mails from those concerned about the issue.

"It the last two days, Assembly Appropriations Committee members have received hundreds of phone calls and e-mail messages from Californians opposed to the notion of criminalizing parents who lovingly and infrequently spank their children to correct misbehavior," the organization said in a statement today.

- "Attack on Parenting Facing Delay" 1 May 2008 (click here for full article)

More contradictions

Click here to read Sue Bradford's bill.

Part two of her bill reads:

"Nothing in subsection (1) or in any rule of common law justifies the use of force for the purpose of correction."

(Subsection (1) of the bill outlines the cases where force may be used, ie. removing a child from danger, or preventing the child from engaging in offensive behaviour).

However, Sue Bradford has been recently saying...
"My bill doesn't ban smacking" and...
"the intention was never to criminalise parents who occasionally or lightly smack their children."

Helen Clark said in an interview with Bob McCoskrie, before last election,
a ban on smacking would "defy human nature". She also said "This is not a bill which outlaws smacking"

Our Prime Minister's statements do not agree with her vote on the bill however, because it is obvious that if section 59 is repealled, parents will be prosecuted. Maybe not in the first year - or two, but after that they will be.