Dear Mr McCully,

Madeleine — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:06:00 +0000

The law criminalises smacking, the best and most faithful reading of the law deems any use of force for the purposes of parental correction criminal; experts in legal interpretation agree on this. The people have objected loudly and all you have done is issue a promise to not enforce the law; a promise that can only be kept for as long as you govern, a promise that offends the duty of a government to ensure that the law is enforced.

Your so called “safeguards” offer no long term protection. What happens to those safeguards in the future if the Greens hold the balance of power? Or is that what is really going on – you won’t change the law because you want it to be easy to eradicate smacking long term in New Zealand?

I am not fooled. Courts are primarily directed by the black letter of the law not promises to not enforce it made by past governments. This government has a chance to offer parents protection that a future government will find harder to undo and it will fail if these “safeguards” are all it does.

Promises to not enforce a law that criminalises smacking are not good enough. If the government does not wish for parents who lightly smack their children for the purposes of correction to be prosecuted then it must change the law now, before the possibility of a new government arises.

Regards,

Madeleine Flannagan

The Hon Murray McCully emailed me (I suspect generically) this morning in response to my first email, Dear Cabinet,. The above is a response, sent to all members of Cabinet, to Mr McCully’s email to me which is pasted below,

The Prime Minister has announced that the Government is introducing safeguards to give parents comfort they will not be criminalised for lightly smacking their children.

The safeguards follow the Citizens Initiated Referendum on smacking. The referendum result reinforces the message that New Zealanders do not want to see good parents criminalised for a light smack.

To give parents comfort that this will not happen, Cabinet has agreed on a number of measures. These are:

The Police and Ministry of Social Development chief executive will lead a review of Police and Child, Youth & Family policies and procedures, including the referral process between the two agencies, to identify any changes that are necessary or desirable to ensure good parents are treated as Parliament intended. The Commissioner of Police and Ministry of Social Development chief executive will seek an independent person to assist in the conduct of the review and will report back by 1 December 2009.

We will be bringing forward the delivery of the report from the Ministry of Social Development chief executive on data and trends and the effect of the law change from the end of the year to late September/early October. The Minister of Social Development will table the report in Parliament.

The Government will invite Police to continue to report on a six-monthly or annual basis for the next three years on the operation of the law, and invite Police to include data on cases where parents or caregivers say the force used on the child was reasonable in the circumstances.

If future Police data indicates a worrying trend, the law will be changed to ensure that good New Zealand parents are not criminalised for lightly smacking.

The Government believes the law is working as intended, but we want to give parents an assurance that a National-led Government will continue to monitor the way the law is being implemented.

Dear Cabinet,

Madeleine — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:25:00 +0000

I am a mother of 4; I am currently doing the last few papers of my law degree at Auckland Uni, I voted “no” in the referendum, I voted for you to govern at the last election. I am sure you are getting a lot of emails, however, as you deliberate as to how to respond to the results of the recent referendum, please take a moment to consider my thoughts.

It used to be clear in New Zealand that a light smack for the purposes of parental correction was lawful. Then s59 of the Crimes Act was amended.

Whether a light smack was lawful or not became confusing. Experts in legal interpretation agree that, as worded, the new s59 could be read either way. I have been in the same room as John Key and I have heard him concede that the new s59 was poorly worded. I have sat in the same room with Sue Bradford and heard her give contradictory answers, as to whether she intended to make smacking illegal or not and whether it is or not. When I read the law, even with my legal training, I cannot decipher it clearly – I can run conflicting arguments as to what it means. Small wonder the populace was confused.

The government would not listen. A referendum was successfully called and the result is in, 88% of those who voted want it made clear that a light smack is not illegal; had the entire voting population voted I doubt there would have been a significant variation in that majority and I doubt that you doubt the truth of this. The majority of voting adults in this country feel very strongly about this issue and they have sent you a message.

Now not for a moment do I expect you to simply follow the whim of the majority; as MPs I helped to elect you to parliament because I expected you to do what you, hand on your heart, truly believe is right and I recognise that sometimes that might mean standing against the majority. That said, in considering what is right, I would hope you would rely on solid research, well reasoned arguments and consider the concerns of the people you represent. If you ignore the referendum message or pretend you do not understand it, you will not only become the epitome of what was despised about the government before you but more importantly you will leave us confused as to what the law is.

The state has a duty to ensure that the law is clear enough for the citizens to be able to understand it; if it is not then it is not just to demand their obedience to it. It is not enough to issue a clarificatory statement or guidelines to the public, police and relevant state agencies as to what the law really means as that affords us, the citizens, no certainty as to what it might mean in the future when you may no longer be governing us. If I find myself before a court or investigated by the police or a state agency it is the black letter of the law I should be able to reach for to know whether I stand on the side of guilt or innocence not some pamphlet or tv campaign or media release.

You didn’t write this law, you tried to save it, yet it still came out poorly drafted; now you have the power to make the law clear. In doing so I would hope you would consider the peer reviewed studies that differentiate between a light smack and abuse which show the former is not child abuse as this would enable you to listen to the referendum result and act on it.

With great respect for the very tough job you do and many kind regards,

Madeleine Flannagan

MandM » Search Results » label/Smacking

Dear Mr McCully,

Dear Cabinet,