Nats question Clark's take on 'smacking ban'

Judith Collins

The National Party said today Prime Minister Helen Clark was wrong to claim repealing Section 59 of the Crimes Act would not ban smacking.

Helen Clark re-entered the controversy during a speech this morning to a child abuse conference in Wellington, when she said those attending were well informed about the debate over Section 59, which provides a defence of reasonable force for assault of a child.

"Suffice it to say, some of the case law precedents set are less than edifying, and have contributed to calls for the legal defence to be removed," she said.

"This ends up being crudely and wrongly represented in the media as calls for a ban on smacking, which it is not."

She said Parliament would debate this again shortly. "It is not clear at this time where the balance of opinion will lie. My personal hope is that more can be done to protect children through change to the law," she said.

National's families spokeswoman, Judith Collins, said Helen Clark was flying in the face of legal opinion.

"She is wrong. The Office of the Police Commissioner has confirmed that smacking would be illegal if Section 59 is repealed," Ms Collins said.

She quoted a letter from the legal services department of the commissioner's office: "If Section 59 was repealed in its entirety parents would not be authorised to use reasonable force by way of correction ... smacking of a child by way of corrective action would be an assault."

Ms Collins said Helen Clark was at odds with the police.

"National favours an amendment to better define reasonable force rather than a complete repeal which, as the police have confirmed, would make criminals out of many honest parents," she said.

- NZPA