Children's Commissioner noisy on smacking, silent on child abuse

Last week, more than 600,000 signatures were delivered to Parliament, with 330,000 petitioning the Government to allow parents to freely smack their children – all because the Government did not listen to the people.

The petition has been loudly criticised by child advocacy groups and the Children's Commissioner, while these same people silently observe children being abused.

“They, and the Government, know that lightly smacking kids is not child abuse,” says the Free Smack Coalition, “So there was no need to make light smacking a criminal offence. The Government needs to realise that 80 percent of parents are not going to be smacked into submission when they consider that they should be free to freely smack.”

Another petition, “Should the Government give urgent priority to understanding and addressing the wider causes of family breakdown, family violence and child abuse in NZ” was signed by more than 270 000 New Zealanders and delivered to Parliament the same day as a man was granted a reduced sentence for bashing his partner – and mother of six children - to death.

“Why didn`t Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro publicly express her disgust on this abuse and reduced sentence in stead of criticising a petition calling for a non binding referendum? The effect on these children is a lot worse than a light smack ”

Dr. Kiro is well known for her criticism of a case where a woman disciplined her son with a riding crop after the son swung a baseball bat at his stepfathers head. Yet in the case of three-year-old Ngatikaura Ngati, who was beaten with an oar and an aluminium baseball bat for days, leaving him bloodied and bruised, our Children's Commissioner had nothing to say.

“ Where was her outrage at this child abuse and this sentence – his mother and stepfather will be eligible for parole in a few years. Dr. Kiro would rather criticise parents for smacking their kids than parents who administer child abuse - because it fits with her ideology that a light smack is as bad – if not worse – than child abuse.”

This is as unacceptable as the current anti-smacking law. "A smack is not a whack. Rather than taking a stand against parents who do a good job parenting their children, the people should be listened to and parents should be given the legal option to smack their children while addressing our our horrific child abuse”.

The Free Smack Coalition is calling for a law change and a new Children's Commissioner to ensure that New Zealand's children have the rights, support, love and and direction that only good parents can provide. "The Government should be supporting parents, not directing parenting to fit in with the state".