MEDIA RELEASE
16 May 2009

Call for Independent Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse

Family First NZ is repeating its call for an official Inquiry into the unacceptable levels of child abuse in NZ.

The call comes after the revelations of details over the ‘systematic torturing’ and killing of Duwayne Pailegutu by his stepfather.

“The ban on smacking was simply an admission by politicians that they could not and would not tackle the real causes of child abuse as identified by recent CYFS and UNICEF reports,” says Bob McCoskrie of Family First.

“The 80% plus of NZ’ers who opposed Bradford’s bill are not people who were demanding the right to ‘assault’ and ‘beat’ children. They were simply kiwis who were exasperated with the fact that politicians and supposed family welfare groups were more interested in targeting good parents than tackling the tougher issues of family breakdown, drug and alcohol abuse, violence in our media, poverty and stress, and weak family ties.”

“The anti-smacking bill has been a spectacular failure because it has failed to identify and target the real issues. It was simply about a political agenda rather than practical solutions.”

“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 new law,” says Mr McCoskrie.

“This latest case is yet another wake-up call, following on from other high-profile cases like the Kahui twins and Nia Glassie, 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

More details www.stoptheabuse.org.nz

ENDS

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