Garrett David: Crimes (Reasonable Parental Control and Correction) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Garrett David: Crimes (Reasonable Parental Control and Correction) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13829] 
DAVID GARRETT (ACT) 
: 
 I have not been here long enough to play the silly game where I pretend that the vote will be anything other than what it is to be on the Crimes (Reasonable Parental Control and Correction) Amendment Bill. We all know what the vote will be so I will use my last 5 minutes to remind those who are listening to this debate of a few facts. 
The previous Labour Government cynically ignored the people who demanded a referendum on the question of smacking prior to the last election—more than 300000 of them. There was plenty of time to conduct that referendum at the same time as the election but Labour decided not to do so because it knew very well that although it would probably lose the election if it drew the attention of the public to its stand on this issue it would definitely lose it. So Labour cynically delayed the referendum. Labour cost the country $10 million to do a postal referendum 6 months later. But that delay did not work as 1.4 million people took the trouble to fill in their ballot papers go down to the post office or whatever it is called and post them. There were 1.4 million people who said a light smack should not be a criminal offence versus 100000 who supported the current law. I tell members to make no mistake about that. 
There is some truth in what we have heard from the other side of the House. Some good police discretion may well be operating but that is not the point. The law as it stands criminalises anyone who smacks a child for the purpose of correction. Labour cynically ignored 1.4 million people and this Government and those members over there are doing exactly the same as Labour did. I have not been here long enough to play the game so I am sorry if I am breaking some conventions. 
Throughout today member after member has called me or spoken to me to say I should make it stop. They have asked me to stop the emails that have been flooding into their offices today from thousands of thousands of people. I had nothing to do with that campaign. I did not know what members were talking about. There was nobody I could call to make it stop even if I had wanted to. 
Everyone forgot that section 59 of the Crimes Act had only ever been a defence. We have heard stupid speeches in this House since I have been here about defences and the defence of provocation was another one. There is a foolish idea that if we offer up a defence the legislation will work. The previous version of section 59 more often than not did not work. It was a defence. 
What will happen to this bill very shortly is a spit in the face of all the 1.4 million people in this country who took the trouble to vote by postal referendum to say they did not think it should be a criminal offence to smack a child for the purposes of correction. It is a case of 122 of us in this House saying we know better than all of them. That is just utter arrogance which I thought we had got rid of when we got rid of the sad lot of members opposite from Government. 
As I said in my first speech the current version of section 59 fails the second test of efficacy. Had the instances of child abuse plummeted since it was passed I think we would have quietly let the issue fade away but that has not happened. Since it was passed 20 children have been killed. Sue Bradford the author of the original bill said 18 months ago that she knew it would not stop one bad parent from bashing his or her child and she was right. That legislation has failed the test of democracy and the test of efficacy. It has not worked and it has not reduced child abuse at all. The nonsense frankly that came from Su’a William Sio and the way in which he said it was almost comical. In 18 months according to him we have become a wonderful loving non-violent society. I say if only that were so; it has not happened. We keep on bashing children because the people who bash and abuse children are not the good parents who wish to smack their children. 
I say to members that they should go ahead do what is going to happen and spit in the face of 1.4 million people but we in the ACT Party are putting it down in  
Hansard  
that we think parents know better than we do and decisions on parenting are better made by them than by us.