English Bill: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
English Bill: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:638;Page:8457] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 I was interested in what the previous speaker the Hon Brian Donnelly said because he was quite honest I think in his exposition about why he has come to the position he has. He has honestly expressed the contradiction at the heart of the argument of the proponents of the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill which is that we pass a law on the basis that it will not be enforced. Of course those of us who are against this bill believe that that is a silly position but he expressed it honestly. 
However another member of this Parliament has set out to deliberately and calculatedly mislead the public on this matter—that is the Prime Minister. When we are talking about the purpose of this bill we should remember that the Prime Minister has now made a sequence of public statements that deliberately mislead the public about the purpose of the bill. The Prime Minister has said to the public that she is not interested in banning smacking. Then she said that this legislation will not make criminals out of parents who give their child a light smack but that it will stop what she calls “child bashers” whom she referred to in question time today. 
Well the Prime Minister is known for being an intelligent and a hard-working person—even when she is completely wrong—and she knows that that is not what the bill states. She knows that. We might expect to excuse a new member of Parliament who stands up in one of these debates has not read the bill and therefore gives a misleading impression of its content. But the Prime Minister has read the bill. She has more access than anyone in this country to high-quality policy and legal advice about what the bill means yet she still misleads the public. 
This is an anti-smacking bill—that is the purpose of it. The purpose of the bill is to criminalise anyone who uses force for corrective purposes. That is stated in clause 3. I defy the Prime Minister to get on the radio and the TV and to tell the truth. She is misrepresenting this bill to the public not because she cares very much about the issue but because support for the Labour Government is going through the floor because her voters—her good conservative Labour voters—are defecting en masse. 
I repeat the comment that I heard today from someone whom I met in the street who is not a political person but who asked: “Does she think we are stupid?”. The parents of New Zealand know the purpose of clause 3 which states “… abolishing the use of parental force for the purpose of correction.” That is what it is. 
So if our child touches the hot element—as I saw a child do tonight—and we pull the child’s hand away that is legal. If the child does it again and we pull the child’s hand away again that is legal. But if the child goes to do it again and we give the child a smack on the hand that is a criminal offence. If the child goes to school and tells the teacher that is what happened the teacher’s professional ethics oblige the teacher to report it to the police and the police— 
Hon Member 
: Rubbish! 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Well it is a criminal offence and the police are obliged to investigate it. The Prime Minister should stop telling the public lies about her bill. She should stop deliberately deceiving the public about the content of this bill. 
Sue Moroney 
: I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. The member just made an unparliamentary remark about the Prime Minister and I believe that he should withdraw and apologise. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: The member knows very well that he cannot say that. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: Thank you. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I would like the Prime Minister and the proponents of this bill to have the courage of their convictions—particularly Sue Bradford who has been manipulated by the Prime Minister into changing her description of this bill.