Family Integrity

Tag: Family First NZ

  • Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse Essential

    MEDIA RELEASE

    29 October 2009

    Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse Essential

    ‘How many more children have to die before we do something?’

    Family First NZ is repeating its call for a Commission of Enquiry into the unacceptable levels of child abuse and deaths in NZ.

    The call comes following the suspected child abuse death of Wanganui toddler Karl Perigo-Check Junior which is the 18th case since the passing of the anti-smacking law.

    “We must take pro-active action and tackle head-on the difficult issues of family breakdown, drug and alcohol abuse, violence in our media, mental illness, low maternal age, and other key factors identified by UNICEF, CYF and Children’s Commissioner reports,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First.

    “Over the past 30 years we have allowed a succession of policies to diminish the importance of family structure and marriage. We have watched as politicians have given adults the right to silence, bail and parole while the rights of children to be safe have been ignored. We have allowed children to be raised in homes with an unacceptable level of drug abuse, family dysfunction and physical and emotional harm. And we’ve allowed the media to fill our minds with increasing levels of sexual and violent images in the name of entertainment and freedom of speech.”

    “The 88% of voters who oppose the anti-smacking law are not people who are demanding the right to ‘assault’ and ‘beat’ children. They are simply kiwis who are exasperated with the fact that politicians and supposed family welfare groups are more interested in targeting good parents than tackling these much tougher issues.”

    “Since the passing of the anti-smacking law, there has been a continual stream of child abuse cases and the rate of child abuse deaths has continued at the same rate as before the new law with at least 18 deaths since the law was passed,” says Mr McCoskrie. “Sue Bradford was right when she said that her law was never intended to deal with the problem of child abuse.”

    “These latest cases are yet another wake-up call that children will never be safe until we are honest enough as a country to identify and tackle the real causes of child abuse.”

    “An independent Inquiry free of political correctness and agendas would be an important first step,” says Mr McCoskrie. www.stoptheabuse.org.nz

    HALL OF SHAME

    Since Anti-smacking law was passed

    1. 16 month old Sachin Dhani June 2007

    2. 28-year-old woman charged with murdering a newborn baby found dead in the backyard of a Te Mome Road property in Alicetown – June 2007

    3. 22-month-old Tyla-Maree Darryl Flynn June 2007

    4. 3 year old Nia Glassie July 2007

    5. Ten-month-old Jyniah Mary Te Awa September 2007 Manurewa

    6. Two-month-old Tahani Mahomed December 2007 Otahuhu

    7. 3 year old Dylan Hohepa Tonga Rimoni April 2008 Drury

    8. A 27-year-old Dunedin mother of five admitted infanticide. On May 26 she lost control, banged the baby’s head repeatedly against the couch, choked her, then threw her on the bed and covered her with a blanket. May 2008

    9. 7-year-old Duwayne Toetu Taote Pailegutu. July 2008

    10.  16-month old Riley Justin Osborne (Kerikeri) boy Dec 2008

    11. Three-year-old Cherish Tahuri-Wright (Marton) Feb 2009

    12. Five-week-old Jayrhis Ian Te Koha Lock-Tata (Taupo) Mar 2009

    13. One-year-old Trent James Matthews – aka Michael Matthews Jun 2009

    14. Two-year-old Jacqui Peterson-Davis Kaitaia Aug 09

    15. Three-year-old Kash McKinnon Palmerston North Aug 09

    16. Baby death arrest Green Bay 26 Aug 2009

    17. 22 month old Hail-Sage McClutchie Morrinsville 27 Sep 2009 

    18. Karl Perigo-Check Junior Wanganui 25 Oct 2009

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie JP – National Director

    Tel. 09 261 2426 | Mob. 027 55 555 42



    Sign up now to received FREE email updates of issues affecting families – be informed! http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/Sign_Up

  • Family Integrity #483 — We Need Your Feet!

    A special request.

    We need you! – your energy – and your networking ability – to get the message out!

    The March for Democracy will be held
    1.30pm Sat 21 November, Queen St Auckland


    and will be calling on the government to amend s59 of the Crimes Act so that the law does not treat light smacking for the purpose of correction as a criminal offence, and to respect the democratic voice of NZ’ers.

    Please mark this date in your diaries as we make a stand for families and for democracy in New Zealand.

    Would you please consider distributing this info amongst your contacts and spreading the word?

    Colin Craig, an Auckland businessman who is funding the march, says “I find it deeply disturbing that such a clear message from the people of this country to government has been ignored. My forefathers fought for a democracy and in a democracy the government does not pass and retain laws that nearly 90% of the people don’t want. It is my turn to help fight for the rights of ordinary New Zealanders.”

    He’s absolutely right – but he’s not just moaning about it.

    He’s putting his money where his mouth is. He wants to host the biggest public march NZ has seen – and we need to get in behind him.

    When families speak with such a loud and united voice, as they have on the issue of the anti-smacking law, the politicians must not be allowed to ignore it. It is significant that politicians are willing to accept democracy when it is to their benefit but are willing to blatantly ignore it when it highlights wrong decisions. Voters clearly called for a law change – not comfort and more reviews of a rejected law change.

    An average of 83% in the polls over the past 4 years have consistently opposed the anti-smacking law. The high threshold of 285,000 signatures was met for having the Referendum (in fact 310,000 valid signatures in the end), 87.4% of those who voted supported the law change, and yet within a couple of hours, the result was completely dismissed.

    A Private Members Bill by ACT MP John Boscawen drawn just 3 days later, against all the odds, was then unilaterally ‘kicked for touch’ by the Prime Minister.

    This is now far greater than just the smacking issue. It’s an issue of democracy in New Zealand, and the dismissal of the views of an overwhelming majority of voters by our elected representatives.

    It may not be the smacking issue that ‘presses your button’. But imagine if an issue you were passionate about – that had the overwhelming support of the public – was simply ignored, belittled, and dismissed by the politicians. Is that the kind of representative democracy we want?

    It appears that political parties are keen to accept petitions in their favour – United Future on daylight saving,  Labour on night-classes – and support binding Referendums – National on MMP, Labour on the Super City, and the Greens on the Monarchy – but when it’s a Citizen’s Initiated Referendum, they suddenly go deaf!

    Families need to speak up for democracy – and this is our opportunity.

    Official Website : www.themarch.co.nz

    Thanks for your consideration.

    Sign up now to received FREE email updates of issues affecting families – be informed! http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/Sign_Up

  • PUBLIC MEETING in Hamilton TONIGHT: ‘The way forward on Section 59’

    PUBLIC MEETING TONIGHT


    ‘The way forward on


    Section 59′


    Tonight in  Hamilton , (and next week in Dargaville) you’re invited to a continuation of a series of meetings around the country….


    Speakers
    * Bob McCoskrie – Family First – Target Real Child Abuse, Not Real Parents ( HAMILTON ONLY )
    * John Boscawen – ACT MP – Promoter of the Boscawen amendment, previously the Chester Borrows amendment
    * Larry Baldock – Kiwi Party     – Promoter of the Referendum
    Also invited are the local Members of Parliament.


    HAMILTON
    TONIGHT     7.30 p.m.
    Hamilton Central Baptist Church, 33 Charlemont Street, Hamilton
    CLICK HERE FOR MAP OF LOCATION


    DARGAVILLE
    Monday 12 October, 7.00 p.m.
    Dargaville Town Hall, 37 Hokianga Road, DARGAVILLE
    CLICK HERE FOR MAP OF LOCATION


  • Campaign4Democracy

    Campaign4Democracy

    Meetings coming up

    with John Boscawen, Bob McCoskrie and Larry Baldock

    in

    Tauranga, Hamilton, Dargaville, Lower Hutt and Bucklands Beach

    We are still working on finalising many aspects of the Campaign4Democracy and therefore do not have our logo and templates for communication ready as yet. This short update will give you some useful information though I trust.

    Two weeks ago at the Family Forum hosted by Family First, John Key accepted questions from the floor and you can hear those and his replies by clicking below. Don’t worry about a little feedback noise at the beginning as it comes right after a minute or so. My question to him is about number 3.  John Key Q & A

    Two quotes from his answers are interesting.

    “There is 13 prosecutions where there has been some form of physical abuse but in those cases the advice I have had is that even if the old sec 59 law was in place those prosecutions would still have taken place.” John Key.

    If you are familiar with the cases you will know that this is nonsense, but if his advice was accurate, it begs the obvious question, Why did the law need to be changed then?

    “All I can tell you is if we went back and changed the law this is what I think would happen. There would be a very intense debate in NZ and those that are opposed to smacking could run a very ferocious campaign and at the end of that process right or wrong, some people would feel quite differently about it.” John Key

    This quote indicates that the PM is well aware of how violent, intolerant and agressive the non-violent positive parenting types can be when they don’t get their own way. A bit like children really!

    More meetings coming up with John Boscawen, Bob McCoskrie and myself will be;
    Tauranga Monday 5 October, 7.30 p.m at the Redwood Room, Bureta Park Motor Inn, Otumoetai

    Hamilton Thursday 8 October, 7.30 p.m at Hamilton Central Baptist Church 33 Charlemont Street.

    Dargaville Monday 12 October 7.30 p.m Venue TBA (not including Bob)

    Lower Hutt Thursday 15 October 7.30 p.m Venue TBA

    Bucklands Beach Monday 19 October 7.30 p.m Venue TBA

    Perhaps you can recomend them to your friends if they live in those areas.
    Warm regards,

    Larry Baldock

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  • Smacking Panel Must See the Real Evidence

    MEDIA RELEASE

    8 September 2009

    Smacking Panel Must See the Real Evidence

    Family First NZ is welcoming the appointment of Nigel Latta to the s59 Review Process but is concerned by his comments that he will not be meeting with any lobby groups.

    “Nigel Latta has said ‘I did not agree with the original law change. I also voted no in the referendum. I do not believe that a parent smacking their child, in the ‘common sense’ understanding of what that means, should be subject to criminal prosecution or investigation’. That is a breath of fresh air, completely politically incorrect, and suggests that he will represent the concerns of NZ parents when he reviews the effect of the law,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

    “However, we are hugely concerned that he ‘will not be meeting with, corresponding with, or entering into discussions with, any lobby groups’. Family First has been documenting substantive evidence of good families being investigated and prosecuted as a result of the law, and it is essential that Latta meet these families and view the evidence.”

    “If the Review committee is simply going to view reports of the police and CYF, which have attempted to mask the real effect of this law, then nothing will be achieved and we will be back to square one – a flawed law rejected by NZ’ers but marketed by government groups.”

    Family First is inviting Nigel Latta to meet parents negatively impacted by the anti-smacking law.

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie – National Director

    Mob. 027 55 555 42



    Sign up now to received FREE email updates of issues affecting families – be informed! http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/Sign_Up

  • ACT: Key’s ‘huge mistake’ will cost National

    ACT: Key’s ‘huge mistake’ will cost National

    Tue, 25 Aug 2009 5:17a.m. Prime Minister John Key has made “a huge mistake” by refusing to change the so-called anti-smacking law and National will suffer for it at the next election, the ACT Party says.

    “He is making exactly the same mistake as Helen Clark made – he is putting himself above the overwhelming wish of the majority of New Zealanders,” MP John Boscawen told NZPA.

    “I think he’s making a very stupid mistake”.

    Mr Key yesterday said he was going to ensure parents were not prosecuted for an inconsequential smack but he wasn’t going to change the law in response to the referendum result.

    Voters faced the question: “Should a smack as part of good parental correction by a criminal offence in New Zealand?”

    About 1.6 million ticked the boxes and nearly 88 percent said “no”.

    Mr Key said changes were likely to the way welfare officers handled complaints about light smacking and police would be asked to review their procedures to make sure good parents weren’t treated like criminals.

    “I am not going to allow that to happen to them and if the law shows, through its application, that New Zealand parents are criminalised or their children are taken off them in some bizarre case for what could only be described as minor or inconsequential smacking, then the law has to be changed,” he said.

    But the facts showed people were not being prosecuted and he wanted to find ways to assure parents that was not going to start happening.

    Mr Boscawen said the referendum result was a clear, emphatic vote for the law to be changed.

    “I think he’s taking a very grave risk in ignoring such a massive mandate for a change to the law,” he said.

    “I think he’s being very foolish, his response is totally inadequate and he’s making a huge mistake.”

    Mr Boscawen said National’s poll ratings would drop and the impact would carry through to the next election.

    Family First, one of the referendum’s main promoters, said MPs and ministers were receiving floods of e-mails demanding a law change.

    “The referendum wasn’t about recommendations, guidelines or comfort – it was about a law change,” said Family First director Bob McCoskrie.

  • More Window Dressing on a Rejected Law

    MEDIA RELEASE

    25 August 2009

    More Window Dressing on a Rejected Law

    Family First NZ says that the government has done more ‘compromise’ on a ‘compromise’ law but the window dressing is a cynical attempt to ignore the overwhelming majority of NZ’ers who reject the anti-smacking law.

    “The Police have already been doing regular reviews and they show good parents being prosecuted under the law – 14 at last count,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “But they also show a huge number of non-abusive parents being investigated – 94% of all investigations. Police may say business as usual, but families don’t see it that way.”

    “And CYF checking on themselves is completely unacceptable. A review by the Ministry of Social Development will be a one-sided bias affair endorsed by government-funded lobby groups like Barnardos who oppose smacking. That’s why we have been demanding an independent CYF Complaints Authority.”

    “The Prime Minister is showing incredible ill-will towards the 80%-plus of NZ’ers who have consistently opposed this law and want light smacking decriminalized. Cabinet Ministers received around 1,000 emails yesterday calling on the government to listen to families but they have ignored them.”

    John Key says “If the law shows … that New Zealand parents are being criminalised, or their children are being taken off them in some bizarre case for what could only be described as minor or inconsequential smacking, then the law has to be changed.”

    “We have already put this evidence before the Prime Minister including parents prosecuted for an open hand leg smack, arm smacks, bottom smacks, and even a ruffling of sheets to get out of bed. Many of these cases have resulted in the parent being discharged without conviction, sent to a parenting course, or receiving a suspended sentence.

    Other parents have been referred to CYF and had children removed while an investigation takes place. This is highly traumatic for any family.”

    “The bottom line is that you can put lipstick on a pig – but it’s still a pig,” says Mr McCoskrie

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie – National Director

    Mob. 027 55 555 42

    Sign up now to received FREE email updates of issues affecting families – be informed! http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/Sign_Up

  • Cabinet Ministers Swamped With Emails

    Keep your emails going into the Prime Minister and his cabinet.

    Two links to help with this:

    Here are the addresses to write to:

    https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/the-message-is-clear-decriminalise-light-smacking/

    Here is an idea about what to say: we totally endorse Larry Baldock’s suggestion of merely repealing two clauses of the current act, rather than pass a new Bill

    https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/referendumsection-59-the-way-forward/

    MEDIA RELEASE

    24 August 2009

    Cabinet Ministers Swamped With Emails

    Family First NZ says that almost 800 emails have been sent in the past 24 hours to Ministers in Cabinet requesting that they decriminalise light smacking, and they continue to pour in.

    “The Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers have been asked by families from all over New Zealand to vote to decriminalise light smacking in accordance with the wishes of the 88% who voted NO in the Referendum,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

    “The Referendum wasn’t about ‘recommendations’, ‘guidelines’ or ‘comfort’ – it was about a law change.”

    “As the law stands, a light smack is a criminal offence subject to whether the police agree it was ‘inconsequential’ and then whether CYF agree that you’re not an abusive parent (only after an investigation that may require your children to be removed temporarily).”

    Grant Illingworth QC said in a published Op-Ed that “it is a serious thing to say that someone has committed a crime, irrespective of whether the person is prosecuted. Surely we should reserve that kind of condemnation for situations that really warrant the intervention of the criminal law.”

    And Jim Evans, Emeritus Professor of Law at Auckland University said “this is not clear legislation. In creating this law, Parliament abandoned its constitutional responsibility to say with clarity just which conduct is criminal. The section results from a political fudge.”


    Family First continues to plead with Cabinet to decriminalize light smacking and then to establish a Commission of Enquiry to target the real causes of child abuse.

    ENDS

    For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:

    Bob McCoskrie – National Director

    Mob. 027 55 555 42



    Sign up now to received FREE email updates of issues affecting families – be informed! http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/Sign_Up

  • The Message is Clear…Decriminalise Light Smacking

    The Message is Clear…


    Decriminalise


    Light Smacking


    WOULD YOU CONSIDER TAKING 2 MINUTES TO SEND AN IMPORTANT EMAIL?

    Tomorrow morning, and in response to the whopping 88% who voted NO in the Referendum, John Key will be going to Cabinet to recommend ‘increased safeguards’, guidelines and ‘a level of comfort’ for parents under the anti-smacking law. But the Referendum wasn’t about ‘recommendations’, ‘guidelines’ or ‘comfort’ – it was about a law change .

    As the law stands, a light smack is a criminal offence subject to whether the police agree it was ‘inconsequential’ and then whether CYF agree that you’re not an abusive parent (only after an investigation that may require your children to be removed temporarily). We’ve documented many cases where this interpretation would be completely different to what you and I would think ( see here).

    PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO EMAIL THE MEMBERS OF CABINET

    Almost all of these Ministers were in Opposition when the law was passed and actively lobbyed against the law change until they were ‘whipped’ to support the compromise – some even helped collect signatures and promoted the need for a Referendum! It’s not about John Key’s view – it’s about Cabinet listening to the almost 90% who voted NO in the Referendum

    Here’s the emails…
    john.key@parliament.govt.nz ; bill.english@parliament.govt.nz ; gerry.brownlee@parliament.govt.nz ; simon.power@parliament.govt.nz ; tony.ryall@parliament.govt.nz ; nick.smith@parliament.govt.nz ; judith.collins@parliament.govt.nz ; anne.tolley@parliament.govt.nz ; christopher.finlayson@parliament.govt.nz ; david.carter@parliament.govt.nz ; murray.mccully@parliament.govt.nz ; tim.groser@parliament.govt.nz ; wayne.mapp@parliament.govt.nz ; steven.joyce@parliament.govt.nz ; georgina.teheuheu@parliament.govt.nz ; paula.bennett@parliament.govt.nz ; phil.heatley@parliament.govt.nz ; pansy.wong@parliament.govt.nz ; jonathan.coleman@parliament.govt.nz ; kate.wilkinson@parliament.govt.nz ;  mail@hef.org.nz; admin@familyfirst.org.nz
    (we’ve added our email address simply so we can monitor how much email traffic each Cabinet Minister is receiving)

    Step 1 : Simply highlight all emails, copy and paste in a new email.

    Step 2 : Write a simply message which starts with something like
    “Decriminalise Light Smacking – Please hear the voice of the 88% who voted against the anti-smacking law….” And then, if you want, add any additional comments – but at all times, PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL!

    Use this as a guide:

    (Write to John Key now: https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/family-integrity-473-write/_)

    Step 3: Press SEND!

    Thank you. Your voice really does count.

    Kind regards

    Bob McCoskrie
    National Director

    http://www.familyfirst.org.nz

  • Write to John Key NOW

    Key signals protection for parents

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2778529/Key-signals-protection-for-parents

    By GRAHAME ARMSTRONG, COLIN ESPINER – Sunday Star Times

    Police and Child Youth and Family officials will be warned to not prosecute parents for lightly smacking their children. Prime Minister John Key told the Sunday Star-Times in Sydney yesterday he was planning to introduce "increased safeguards" to prevent parents who gave their children "minor" or "inconsequential" smacks from being either investigated or prosecuted. Write to John Key now: https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/family-integrity-473-write/ Key's move is designed to appease the "Vote No" campaigners, who were yesterday celebrating an overwhelming win in the citizens-initiated referendum asking: "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" Of the more than 1.6 million New Zealanders who voted (a 54 percent turnout), 88 percent said smacking children should not be a criminal offence. The "Yes" campaign attracted 12 percent of the vote. "What I am wanting to ensure," Key said, "is that parents have a level of comfort that the police and Child Youth and Family follow the intent of parliament, and that they can feel comfortable that in bringing up their children they are not going to be dragged before the courts for a minor or inconsequential smack." Write to John Key now: https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/family-integrity-473-write/ Key said that although police had statutory independence from the government, cabinet had some options to direct them, which would be outlined tomorrow. Given the referendum results, campaigners are baying for the law to be changed back or at least amended, allowing parents to use an open hand to smack their children on the bottom or hand. Write to John Key now: https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/family-integrity-473-write/ Key got himself into an awkward political position on the issue after cutting a deal in 2007 with then Prime Minister Helen Clark to ban the use of force as a "corrective" measure. He has repeatedly said he does not believe police are prosecuting parents unnecessarily and that he remained comfortable the law was working. Four police reports had said the law change in 2007 has had "minimal impact on police activity" and another was due for release early this week. Key said that report would also show a similar result. Sending the issue back to parliament would consume the country at a time when there were bigger issues to deal with, he said. Write to John Key now: https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/family-integrity-473-write/ Family First, which led the "Vote No" campaign, said the result was clear-cut and justified changing the law "so that good parents are not treated as breaking the law for light smacking". It also wants the government to establish a Royal Commission into child abuse to identify and target the real causes. "The 87.6% of New Zealanders who voted no are not people who are demanding the right to assault and beat children," says Bob McCoskrie, national director of Family First. "They are simply Kiwis who want to tackle the tougher issues of family breakdown, drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, violence in our media, poverty and stress, and weak family ties."
    McCoskrie also urged the Families Commission to represent the voice of families, not politicians, and call for the anti-smacking law to be amended. Write to John Key now: https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/family-integrity-473-write/ Although McCoskrie personally thinks it is OK for a parent to use a wooden spoon to discipline their children, he believes it would be clearer if it was written into the law that it was all right to use an open hand to smack a child on the bottom and the hands. "I've always thought it would be better to give parents certainty and just say use your hand, and then you know exactly what the force is. At the same time, I hear mums say they prefer the wooden spoon and sometimes that has the same effect as an open-hand smack. I do have a problem with belts... we should stay right clear of that level just to avoid any doubt." McCoskrie said the "Vote No" camp spent $49,100 on its campaign, within the legal $50,000 cap for a referendum. Write to John Key now: https://familyintegrity.org.nz/2009/family-integrity-473-write/