FI381- Urgent TV interview this morning 21 May 2008

21 May 2008 Hi Barbara, Just letting you know….

1. Bob McCoskrie from Family First NZ is appearing on TV One’s Good Morning show this morning (Wednesday) just after 11am, debating the anti-smacking law one year on. Supporting the law are former Children’s Commissioner Ian Hassell and EPOCH’s Beth Wood.

2. Also of interest is comments made by National party leader John Key in an interview with Investigate Magazine (just released)
INVESTIGATE: Assuming the smacking referendum petition does get the signature it needs, would National be willing to look at the whole referendum issue? At 10% of electors, it’s more people than voted for Greens at the last election. It’s one of the highest hurdles for a referendum in the western world. Is there room for the government to look at giving citizens better access to the political process

KEY: I haven’t considered the issue in detail yet, but it’s not lost on me that you need 10% of the voting public to get a referendum and five per cent to get into parliament, so there’s something interesting in that as you pointed out. My view, just purely from the smacking point of view and I think the referendum will get the numbers (well let’s make sure of that DOWNLOAD petition forms here!) , is that the litmus test is a pretty simply one: If I see good parents getting criminalised for lightly smacking their children for the purposes of discipline, I’m going to change the law if I’m in a position to do so . It’s as simple as that. It doesn’t matter if there’s a referendum or not. I want the law to work properly. It wasn’t a good law in the way it was passed, but the compromise has hopefully provided some proper guidance to police. But if we start seeing that situation breaking down – good parent being hauled before the courts – then I’m going to do something about it.
Investigate Magazine June 2008

We are building up a file of families that have not only been investigated, but also some that have been put before the courts.

If you have been affected by the new anti-smacking law, please email your details in confidence to admin@familyfirst.org.nz

Remember – parents don’t need to be prosecuted to be persecuted!

Kind regards

Family First Team

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