O'Connor Damien: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
O'Connor Damien: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:638;Page:8463] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 I stand in this Chamber as one of the MPs who was accused by the media of not supporting this bill. With the exception of one radio journalist last Saturday no media person has ever come to me to ask me whether I support this bill. I am now on the record as fully supporting this bill as it came back from the Justice and Electoral Committee. I had concerns when this bill went to the select committee. However as often happens in this House careful and wise consideration by a select committee has meant that changes have been made to this bill that in my view have presented us with a very fair and reasoned bill. 
It is important to remember one thing: it is currently illegal to hit anyone be it an adult or a child in this country. Section 59 of the Crimes Act allows a defence. When I was at primary school—and I was at school with some people in this Chamber—we were strapped we were hit around the legs with wickets and we had quite an amount of physical punishment exerted against us as the teachers had to keep us in line. At high school I received five on the backside quite a number of times for discipline reasons. Those forms of discipline are no longer legal. The education system has not failed because of that. 
We now have a situation where the defence used by individuals under section 59 has led to confusion about what one can and cannot do to a child. In my view the fact that a jury ruling upheld a defence that allowed a child to be whipped is something we cannot stand by and allow to continue. That is why I support the passage of this bill. In fact if there is any criticism it might be that this bill does not go far enough. Anyone reading the bill will see that performing the normal daily tasks incidental to good care and parenting will still be allowed. Some people might say that we have not banned smacking that we still allow it and therein lies a danger of allowing a defence when arguably some child has been abused. 
I think the select committee has done a good job to come up with a balanced bill that will move this issue forward. I cannot in all good conscience stand in this Chamber and not support a bill that will attempt to remove a defence that has time and time again allowed parents to abuse children to beat them and to stand in a court of law and say they are allowed to do that because of section 59. That is abhorrent. It is something that this Parliament has to do something about. This bill while not perfect will allow parents to discipline their children in order to prevent them from getting into harm to prevent them from harming others and to perform “the normal daily tasks that are incidental to good care and parenting”. 
The thing that really saddens me is the amount of energy that is being used up and down this country to demand the right to hit a child. If only we could turn that energy and demand that every child in this country be loved be cared for and be given a chance then we would be doing something. I cannot understand so much energy going into demanding the right to hit a child when the problems we have relating to child abuse are beyond comprehension for a country that tries to consider itself a fair and just society. 
I am happy to support this bill as a step forward to try to address the issue of child abuse up and down this country. It is not perfect; it does allow for smacking in the normal parenting of a child in this country.