Smacking petition delivered

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1609488

Related Video Smacking petition delivered (00:34)

Feb 29, 2008 3:49 PM

The anti-smacking law is back on the agenda with two petitions presented to parliament on Friday that aim to force a referendum.

And the organiser of the petition says uniformed police officers have been among the more than 600,000 people to sign two petitions organised by Larry Baldock.

The new Kiwi Party arrived with more than a dozen boxes of signatures calling for the government to address the problem of family violence and child abuse. The other petition asks whether a smack should be a criminal offence.

Both petitions appear to have the signatures of 10% of voters, making it likely to result in a citizens initiated referendum which would probably be held during the election.

Baldock says police officers are among those to put their signatures on the petitions because they don’t like the thought of arresting people who have smacked their children. He says it is regrettable that they had to go this far but Sue Bradford knows that her anti-smacking bill never had the support of the people.