Pettis Jill: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Pettis Jill: Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:637;Page:8022] 
JILL PETTIS (Labour) 
: 
 As I listen to the debate from those who are not in support of the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill I am reminded of that saying of the senior retiring clergyman as he gave advice to the new young preacher: “Argument weak here—shout like hell!”. That is a bit like what is going on amongst those who are not in support of this bill. When people have to resort to personal attacks on other members of Parliament over an important bill like this it means that their argument is very weak. 
 The commencement of this legislation cannot come soon enough if we are sincerely and genuinely concerned about facilitating attitudinal change towards the care of our children in this country. It is not a comfortable thing for New Zealanders to say that we do not care for our children as well as we should. Statistics in New Zealand—which are independently gathered; they are not gathered by people who have a political axe to grind—show that our care protection and support of children is not as good as it should be. The commencement of this legislation as soon as legally possible will facilitate a significant attitudinal change towards the way we care for and protect our children. 
I have never been the victim of domestic violence but I am emphatically opposed to domestic violence. One does not have to be a parent to be emphatically in support of care and protection legislation for children. I resent any implication that people who support this bill but who do not have children are not entitled to a view. We are entitled to views on a whole range of matters purely and simply because we have been democratically elected and to abrogate that responsibility is not what we were put here to do. 
The rights of parents have been mentioned a great deal during the debate. What about talking about the rights of the child? We hear the statement that all should be equal under the law; why are we saying that children should be less equal? I do not understand that. Children should be more equal because they are precious and important to us. Some of us have had the gift and the privilege of being grandparents—and it is a gift and a privilege. When our precious little bundle was born I said to my husband that that little girl would never ever be hit. It was lovely as a grandparent to be able to say that with absolute confidence. Our precious little bundle will never ever be hit because her parents have moved on from the beliefs of previous generations in New Zealand when physical discipline was the norm. We used to do things to children in generations past that are no longer acceptable. People know there are alternative methods and they are using them. 
We want to use this bill as a vehicle to provide more and more support for parents and to give them the information and power to be better parents. Every parent wants to be a good parent. Every parent wants to be the best possible parent he or she can. Finally I say that the passing of this legislation and its commencement cannot come soon enough.