Gallagher Martin: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Gallagher Martin: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:639;Page:9303] 
MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) 
: 
 I commend the people who have spoken in this debate on the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill. When I first came to this House and gave my maiden speech back in 1994 a significant part of that maiden speech was to observe the obvious and to express my concerns about how in many cases we treat the most vulnerable people in our society—our children. Thirteen years later I stand in this Chamber and acknowledge the work of Sue Bradford in bringing an amendment to section 59 of the Crimes Act that I believe will give greater protection to those vulnerable children in our society. I also commend the select committee process and the job that the Justice and Electoral Committee did under the leadership of Lynne Pillay. I commend them for the hours and hours of time they spent on trying to bring back into workable form a bill that basically was going to give protection to the youngest and most vulnerable in our society but was certainly in no way—as has been claimed by some of the opponents of this bill—going to criminalise good law-abiding parents who are doing their best. 
Like many people in this House I have the privilege of being a parent—of four children from 18 to 7—and I can say very clearly that there is nothing in this bill that should make me and my wife Gillian in any way afraid of the law intervening in our household. People talk about their own history as children and upon reflection of my own history of upbringing I reflect in terms of my own parents—my late father and living mother; I hope they do not mind my mentioning them. There is nothing in this bill that would have endangered them as loving and excellent parents. 
I particularly commend the contribution made by Katherine Rich. I will not repeat the very excellent points she made but I commend her courage and focus and the real issues she summarised. The repeal of section 59 is not about criminalising and going after good law-abiding loving parents; it is about raising the bar of those parents who historically have been inclined to basically beat their kids to within an inch of their lives. Katherine Rich said—and it was a wonderful saying—“goodbye to horse whips jug cords hose pipes vacuum cleaners pieces of wood and all sorts of other implements that have been regularly used on children in the name of discipline.” As of tonight the legal bar will be raised in those areas. 
I also commend the contribution of former ACT MP Deborah Coddington. I do not often agree with her contributions I have to say but I acknowledge the sincerity with which she has addressed this issue. I also acknowledge the personal pain for her that that involved and her long-time history of campaigning against child abuse in this country. I acknowledge Brian Donnelly for some of his excellent early work and for articles he has written about this bill being anti-hitting. This bill is against the hitting and beating of children. I acknowledge my good colleague from the Waikato Doug Woolerton for his contribution to the debate. 
In the time I have left in the short call I have been allocated I particularly wish to acknowledge the work and guidance I have received from wonderful campaigners for child welfare in my own city of Hamilton. I acknowledge particularly former Parentline Director Maxine Hodgson and the Director of the Institute for Child Protection Studies Anthea Simcock; also the wonderful work done by the Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project; they have politicised the issue of child abuse in Hamilton and are supportive of this bill tonight. I acknowledge the former mayor Margaret Evans for her very positive leadership along with many others in my community. I went to them for guidance. They gave a very clear message along with other groups working in the area of child welfare. 
I commend this bill tonight. The bill will not criminalise ordinary law-abiding parents but it raises the bar against those who have previously used horse whips and blocks of wood etc. to correct and hit their children. Thank you Mr Speaker.