The Yes Vote

So our man Larry Baldock and all his supporters have got their silly questionnaire. Not that the issue is silly, just that the question is really silly. It is badly worded. The fact is that no parent has been prosecuted for smacking their child. The change in the Act meant that children were afforded the same protection under the law as adults. Nearly every major group working with parents and children supported the change in the Act. A pity our media went for the line of most scaremongering and sensationalism and pushed the anti smacking line.

So while it seems silly to vote yes, it is important to vote yes. The change in the Act protects children from violence. It means violent adults cannot use disciplining these children as a defence for using violence in court (which they did and jury's agreed that using a horse whip and hose pipe was reasonable - go figure), which they we able to. If we are serious as nation about reducing the appalling statistics around violence on children then we need to keep this Act as it is. Simply put, Larry got it wrong! Vote yes in Larry's 9 million dollar referendum.

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