Boscawen John: General Debate 
Boscawen John: General Debate 
[Volume:656;Page:5898] 
JOHN BOSCAWEN (ACT) 
: 
 From listening to the debate in the House over the last 2 days one would think that Parliament lives in a vacuum. On Friday we had the result of the referendum on smacking. On Friday night we were told that just on 1.5 million people had voted No in the referendum—87 percent—but has anyone raised that issue in Parliament? Have any other parties raised this issue in Parliament? No they have not. Only the ACT Party has raised this issue in Parliament. It was an overwhelming No vote of 87 percent. Fifty-six percent of people voted in the referendum. More people voted in that postal referendum than voted in the MMP referendum in 1993. The question was very simple: should a light smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand? The answer was an overwhelming no. As the Family First organisation pointed out the percentage of people who voted No in that referendum was higher than the percentage who voted for the Labour National and Green parties combined in the general election last year. The figures were National 45 percent; Labour 34 percent; and Greens 7 percent. Eighty-five percent voted for those three parties and 87 percent voted No in the referendum. 
That vote was achieved against a background of a massive campaign of misinformation. We even had the Prime Minister no less talking about the Dr Seuss question. What it showed is that New Zealanders are not fools. I say to Carmel Sepuloni that New Zealanders are not fools. They are not fooled by politicians. They knew exactly what they were voting for. We owe it to them to listen. My colleague Heather Roy quoted John Key when he spoke at a function at the Salvation Army just on 2 years ago. John Key said: “in reality no one is ever going to be prosecuted for lightly smacking their child. But if the reality is that no one is ever going to be prosecuted for lightly smacking their child then don’t make it illegal. Don’t make it a crime. It’s poor law-making to write a very strict law and then trust the police and the courts not to enforce it strongly.” That is what John Key said. He said that we should not pass laws if we do not intend to enforce them. I say to this Parliament that the people of New Zealand have spoken. Eighty-seven percent of those who voted have said to us that we should not pass a law to make this illegal. 
I tried to get an urgent debate on this subject yesterday and you ruled against me Mr Speaker. I stood here at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon and I moved the adoption of my member’s bill. The voices of opposition came from throughout the House. At 12 noon today my member’s bill was drawn. I say to all members of this House and in particular to the National and Labour members to listen to the people of New Zealand. Very shortly my bill will come up for first reading and they will have a chance to send it to a select committee. I say to the Labour members that they should not ignore those 87 percent of New Zealanders who voted in the referendum. But to those in the National Party I say that they can do better than that. They can make this a Government bill and refer it to a select committee. The Prime Minister and Cabinet can vote to make this a Government bill. We cannot afford to ignore that 87 percent of people. When I moved the adoption of my bill yesterday the ACT Party stood alone as the only party in this House that was prepared to represent the 87 percent of New Zealanders who were not fooled by the people from Barnardos and the Green Party who tried to dismiss this referendum. 
The people who supported the yes vote knew overwhelmingly that the law was opposed by the great majority of New Zealanders. They sought to dismiss this referendum and to undermine it before the first vote was ever cast. What New Zealanders have said is that they are not fools. I say to members and in particular to National members that they should listen to those people. This issue will not go away. The timing of my bill being drawn from the ballot could not have been better. If National members think that this issue will go away I say that they should look out for the 2011 election. The people of New Zealand are not prepared to be treated with contempt.