Letters: NZ will be better if anti-smacking law repealed

Dawn Picken's article (Opinion, June 8) saying that physical discipline just doesn't work is so unbelievably wrong.

That is from my experience after being whacked by loving parents, strapped in primary school and caned at college.

Dawn quoting a US health study 2016 and NZ's Social Development Ministry giving the results of their studies, highlights one of the major problems in our world.

First, many studies start from the wrong base and therefore the conclusions are invalid. Second, Government head office people and academics need to produce endless reports and studies to keep their jobs.

Quoting a study saying children should not be corporally punished for being late for school, implies that some other punishment is okay.

These studies fail to realise that corporal punishment is only a minor aspect of a wide range of disciplinary tools.

Some teachers were known as strap happy, others rarely or never whacked. This aspect was only a minor feature of children's respect or otherwise for each teacher.

Quoting unjust whacking is heavily biased if the child is then punished in some other manner.

The unjust part has not been addressed.

I can tell you from my life experience that New Zealand will be a better place if the law banning corporal punishment was repealed.

Bill Capamagian
Tauranga

Get peopl;e onto trains

The $1 billion investment in KiwiRail recently announced by Winston Peters is an excellent proactive start by the Government towards reducing carbon emissions and congestion, and developing a safer transport system nationwide.

Rail needs to play a much greater role in moving people and freight around the country, and the network needs to be extended into forestry regions that have no lines, along with new suburban lines in Auckland.

The proposed line to NorthPort at Marsden Pt needs to be supported with extending the northern railhead to Kaitaia, in conjunction with upgrading the line south from Whangarei into a new main trunk route linking the Golden Triangle of Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga, with a new line to Rotorua and Taupō for forestry, freight and new passenger services.

Isaac Broome
Pukekohe
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