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Three Kiwi high school students explain why they supporting voting YES in the Citizens Initiated Refereundum: “Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in NZ.” Also includes comment from UNICEF NZ Executive Director Dennis McKinlay.

It’s about sending a message to the next generation of families … that it’s not OK to hit children.

It’s less about a law change than it is about an attitude change.

Adults have a huge responsibility to stand up for us in this situation.

The rights of children have been largely overlooked … the referendum is about childrens rights.

The UN Children’s Fund in NZ is pleased that the Prime Minister has made an emphatic statement of the Government’s intent to do something about abused children.

“New Zealand’s grim record of child abuse is a national shame and needs urgent attention” says UNICEF NZ executive director, Dennis McKinlay.

“The Prime Minister has recognised this and it is heartening that he has shown leadership with his statement in the House yesterday that not enough has happened and that his government intends to do more.

“We need this commitment to support what communities and individuals are already doing. It is gratifying that he has acknowledged that it’s not enough and that more needs to happen.”

Mr McKinlay referred to the lack of public education following the amendment of S.59 of the Crimes Act in 2007 and believes that if New Zealanders had the opportunity to be well informed about the new legislation, there would be more understanding of and support for the amendment.

“Removing the defence of reasonable force is a step towards eliminating child abuse. Acts of abuse that were previously defended through the old legislation are no longer defensible.”

Mr McKinlay says that he will seek a meeting with the Prime Minister and offer UNICEF’s support in his efforts to deal with our unacceptably high level of child abuse.

“Our youngest citizens are at risk. Support for parents and education about constructive discipline need to be prioritised in the Government agenda to help eliminate child abuse.”

Note: Tuesday 23 June

Hon JOHN KEY: “I go back to the point I just made: members on this side of the House care about abused kids. We look in the hospitals of New Zealand and see thousands of abused kids, and Christine Rankin has spoken out about the damage that is happening to those kids. We are going to do something about abused kids, because not enough happened under the previous Labour Government.”

You can also download the presentation, so you can load it onto your laptop and show it round everywhere.

The list includes NGO’s, health care providers, blogs, professional organisations, private companies, religious organisations, concerned individuals, and others.

We update our list regularly, and we’d love you to register yourself and/or your organisation on our supporters page.

The striking thing about this list is that it is mainly composed of people who have to deal with the consequences of physical punishment, and thus have an interest in doing whatever they can to prevent it.  These are the ambulances at the bottom of the cliff who have built a fence at the top, and don’t want to see it torn down.

We’re interested in your own views and/or stories from your organisations that we can publish on yesvote.org.nz.  If you’d like to submit an item for publication, please contact us.

We’d also appreciate it if you linked to yesvote.org.nz from your own web sites and blogs – let’s get the word out as widely as possible among the best support group ever.

So far, the following organisations have recently registered their support for The Yes Vote Campaign 2009:

• 0800 WHATSUP
• Agender Christchurch Inc
• Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand
• Amokura
• Barnardos
• Early Start Project (Christchurch)
• Child Poverty Action Group
• Children on the Edge
• Childspace Early Learning Centres
• DIYFather Limited
• EPOCH NZ
• Every Child Counts
• Humanist Society of New Zealand
• Jigsaw
• Manaia Health PHO
• National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges Inc
• NZ College of Clinical Psychologists
• No Right Turn
• OLT Apparel Limited – Trading as Levi’s Stores
• Otago Pacific Peoples Health Trust
• Parent Help
• Parents Centres New Zealand Inc
• Public Health Association
• Relationship Services / Whakawhanaungatanga
• Royal New Zealand Plunket Society
• Save the Children
• Simply Families
• The Body Shop
• Te Kahui Mana Ririki Trust
• Te Kupenga Whakaoti Mahi Patunga – The National Network of Stopping Violence Services (NZ) Inc
• Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa / NZ Childcare Association
• Think Tank Charitable Trust
• Unicef NZ
• Volunteer Wellington
• Wesley Community Action

And the following individuals have also registered their support for the 2009 Campaign:

• Catherine Fletcher
• Rebecca Reveley
• Margaret Smith