Audio: Linley Boniface on Radio NZ Afternoons

June 10, 2009

Linley Boniface speaks particularly well about the referendum in yesterday’s Afternoons with Jim Mora on Radio New Zealand.

Key points:

• Calling it the “anti-smacking legislation” is wrong – the purpose of the legislation is to protect children from being beaten up by their parents.  It’s aimed at changing the culture of violence against our children that we clearly have in NZ.
• $10m is being wasted on the upcoming referendum on a ridiculously worded question.  We’ve had the debate already, and the Child Discipline Law was passed by a margin of 113-8.
• The legislation anticipated an education programme that never occurred. The $10m being spent on the referendum would have much better been spent on the education programme.
• The real referendum question should have been, “Should we be able to beat our children with a horse whip or a piece of wood and get away with it in court”, as happened before this legislation was passed.