MEDIA RELEASE
13 JULY 2006

Yet another poll supports parents who smack

Yet another poll has shown that a huge majority of NZ’ers understand that there is a difference between smacking and child abuse.

In a TVNZ website poll today (13 July), 78% of kiwis support parents who use a smack to provide boundaries, care and good parenting practice for their children.

This is consistent with every other poll including NZ Herald Polls in 2003 and 2005 which recorded 70% and 71% support for parents respectively, and a Dominion Post poll in February recording a whopping 82% support for parents. Other public opinion polls have found similar results including the Stuff website, Colmar Brunton for the Ministry of Justice, and even polling done by supporters of a ban on smacking, revealed at their conference in February this year.

“It seems that most NZ’er’s can tell the difference between smacking and child abuse,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First, and also a Spokesman for Coalition Section 59, a group of over 150 concerned Community and Lobby groups and families, including Family Integrity, For the Sake of our Children Trust, Family First Lobby, Sensible Sentencing Trust, NZ Centre for Political Debate, Society for Promotion of Community Standards, PANIC, section59.org, and others.

“The only groups who are out of step with NZ opinion are government-controlled or government-funded organisations like the Children’s Commission, Family’s Commission, Human Rights Commission, and groups like Barnados, Plunket, Save the Children, UNICEF and others.”

“It is ironic that UNICEF won’t acknowledge that banning smacking is not the solution to our unacceptable child abuse rate, and won’t heed their own research that says that family breakdown, stress and poverty, and drug and alcohol abuse are the key contributing factors to child abuse.”

“It is also significant that of the countries with the lowest child abuse rate in the world, 4 of them have not banned smacking!”

Family First calls on MP’s to support good parents doing a great job by rejecting Sue Bradford’s bill and tackle the real contributing factors to child abuse like drug abuse, family breakdown, domestic violence and poverty.

ENDS

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