NZ Public Wiser Than Dumb Elites

Idiotic Revolutionaries and Overreaching Zealots

Just on ten years ago, New Zealand passed an anti-smacking law.  Parents were thereafter committing a criminal act if they used corporal correction upon a child.  This egregious piece of legislation has not just resulted in the state removing children from their parents without just cause.  It has produced a climate of fear amongst many parents.

The law was rammed down the throat of NZ parents by an elite who believe they understood better than parents how to raise their own children.  When it passed, the new law was wildly unpopular.  Time has not changed that view.  But the elites knew better than ordinary, dumb parents--or so they claimed.

Almost a decade on from the passing of the controversial anti-smacking law, a poll has found continued widespread rejection of the law and an admission that 2 out of 3 NZ’ers would flout the law if they believed it reasonable to correct the behaviour of their child. …

In the independent poll of 846 people undertaken by Curia Market Research, only 23% of respondents believe a smack that is reasonable and for the purpose of correction should be a criminal offence – similar to levels in a 2014 poll. 72% disagree with the current law (72% – 2014) and 5% were unsure / refused to say. Opposition to the law was highest in provincial and rural areas, amongst current parents of children under 18, and National and NZ First supporters.

In a further question, 65% of respondents say they would smack their child to correct their behaviour regardless of the anti-smacking law. 28% said they wouldn’t, and 7% were unsure or refused to say. NZ First supporters were most likely to flout the law.  [Family First]

Bob McCroskrie of Family First goes on to say:

An analysis of the law in 2014 by Public Law Specialists Chen Palmer said that statements made by politicians to the effect that the new section 59 does not criminalise “good parents” for lightly smacking their children appear to be inconsistent with the legal effect of section 59 and the cases they analysed.

“New Zealanders predicted all of this before the law was passed, but their concerns were ignored. The politicians and anti-smacking lobby groups linked good parents who smacked their children with child abusers, a notion roundly rejected – and still rejected – by NZ’ers. The anti-smacking law assumes that previous generations disciplined their children in a manner that was so harmful that they should now be considered criminals,” says Mr McCoskrie.

Family First NZ continues to call for the government to adopt the ‘Borrows amendment’ which allows non-abusive smacking and which the National party had previously lobbied and voted for.

We have no doubt that most parents in New Zealand are actually committing criminal acts, as they responsibly, lovingly, and patiently discipline their children.  But it all takes place out of the public eye.  The law, in this case, is an ass and the NZ public is far wiser than our politicians and the anti-smacking revolutionaries.