Bradford Sue: General Debate 
Bradford Sue: General Debate 
[Volume:632;Page:4219] 
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
: 
 I hope any of my fellow MPs who read the front page of the  
Dominion Post 
 this morning were as horrified as I was by news of the latest booklet teaching parents how to physically discipline their children. I hope those MPs who still think it is a good idea to retain section 59 of the Crimes Act or to reform it so that the method of violence against children is further defined and refined might take a quick look at this booklet to get an inkling of the kind of thing they are endorsing. 
The most outspoken critics of my member’s bill Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill have come from Christian organisations not the Churches themselves. They come from special-interest groups that claim to represent Christianity such as Garnet Milne’s Reformation Testimony the Maxim Institute Family First and Family Integrity. The booklet referred to in the  
Dominion Post 
 this morning called  
The Christian Foundations of the Institution of Corporal Correction 
 is a Family Integrity publication written by Craig Smith. What does Family Integrity have to say about the rearing and discipline of our children? “children are not little bundles of innocence: they are little bundles of depravity … and can develop into unrestrained agents of evil unless trained and disciplined. Smacking does so much good for the child and for you. It deals with all the issues. With older children from perhaps 18 months or 2 years onwards smacking may be a 10 to 15 minutes process. If the child is angry after the smack you have not smacked hard enough. After the smack there are cuddles and prayer.” Finally Smith goes on to admit: “I do not understand the connection between a physical smack on the bottom and a rebellious spiritual condition of the heart nor how the first drives out the latter. But the scripture declares it is so therefore I am obliged to believe and practise it.” Others use perhaps more conventional language to justify the use of reasonable force in disciplining their children. Spare the rod and spoil the child runs the argument. Children need boundaries. Parents need to enforce them. Parental authority must be backed up by the right to use physical force. To them the repeal of section 59 is just another example of political correctness further undermining Christian society from a secular out-of-touch Parliament. 
But are these voices representative of the wider Christian Church? Perhaps surprisingly not according to the overwhelming number of submissions we have received from the mainstream Churches of Aotearoa New Zealand. These include submissions from Anglicans Methodists Presbyterians Churches of Christ the Quakers Wesleyans and some Catholics. Collectively they are calling for a full repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act. Their counterarguments are based both in theology and in what is actually best practice in parenting. What they are saying is that theologically speaking the core of the gospel message is that God is a God of love not of punishment. God as heavenly Father does not punish us as we deserve but chooses rather to offer us the path of grace and forgiveness. Christian parents should apply the same principles to their children. The authority of Christian parents should not depend on an Old Testament sanction of physical punishment if one can even be made. Rather it is founded on love respect and relationship. These have to be earned even by parents rather than enforced. 
I do not believe that the Bible does give a mandate for beating children. I believe that it is up to each of us as MPs to think really hard no matter what our faith background or non-faith background about what is going on in our society today where babies and children are beaten and sometimes killed because parents think it is OK to use physical force against them. I stress that this leaflet talks about using physical force not just against children but against infants and toddlers and is actually teaching people how to use that force for up to 15 minutes at a time. That message is reinforced by booklets such as the one I have been talking about and it is also sanctioned by section 59 of the Crimes Act which states that reasonable force is OK if we are parents and if we use it to punish our children. I call on all MPs in this House no matter what their political party or faith background to think deeply about this question to read the Family Integrity booklet and to consider what is more important: to bring up our babies and children free from violence or to continue with a law that actually legitimises its use by people such as the booklet’s author. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.