2009 New Zealand Child Discipline Referendum
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The 2009 New Zealand Referendum on Child Discipline was held from 31 July to 21 August, and was a citizens-initiated referendum on parental corporal punishment. It asked:
Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?
Voter turnout was 56.1%. 87.4% of votes answered 'no'. The result of the referendum was non-binding and the New Zealand government did not change the law in response to the outcome.


Background

The
petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...
for the
referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
was launched in February 2007 in response to the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill, which would remove parental correction as a defence for assault against children. The petition was organised by Sheryl Savill with support from Kiwi Party's
Larry Baldock Larry David Baldock (born 1954) is a New Zealand politician. Before entering national politics, he was involved with Youth With A Mission Youth With A Mission (typically shortened YWAM, generally pronounced ) is an interdenominational Chris ...
. The wording of the petition was approved by Clerk of the House David McGee on 21 February 2007.New Zealand Gazette, 1 March 2007. The bill, introduced by Sue Bradford, was passed its third reading in Parliament by 113 votes to 7 on 16 May 2007. Meanwhile organisations and individuals led by Larry Baldock continued to collect signatures to initiate a referendum. They fell short by about 15,500 signatures (many were invalid), and they were granted two further months to make up the difference. Eventually the petition attracted 310,000 signatures from voters, surpassing the 285,000 signatures, or 10 per cent of total voters, required to force a referendum. In June 2008, then prime minister
Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
announced that the referendum would not take place alongside the 2008 election as the organisers had been hoping. The decision was based on advice from the Chief Electoral Officer that holding such a referendum could lead to voter confusion. Instead, a postal ballot was selected, starting 30 July 2009 for eligible voters and closing on 21 August 2009. In June 2009, then Prime Minister John Key said that the government would change the law if it was not working, but that he believed the current law was working well.


Criticism regarding question wording

The wording of citizens-initiated referendum questions was ultimately the responsibility of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, David McGee. Under the referendum legislation, the wording of the question is required to "convey clearly the purpose and effect" of the referendum. The referendum question was interpreted by some to assume that "a smack" can form part of "good parental correction". Murray Edridge, Chief Executive of Barnardos New Zealand, claimed that the question "presupposes that smacking is part of good parental correction" which he described as "a debatable issue". Prime Minister John Key described the question as "ambiguous" and pointed out that it "could be read a number of different ways".
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand retired politician and former diplomat. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, le ...
expressed concern that the question "implies that if you vote 'yes' that icyou're in favour of criminal sanctions being taken against reasonable parents – actually nobody believes that." Both John Key and Phil Goff stated that they did not intend to vote in the referendum, with Key calling the question "ridiculous". The Prime Minister believed turnout would be low. Sue Bradford introduced a
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
, the Citizens Initiated Referenda (Wording of Questions) Amendment Bill, designed to prevent future citizens-initiated referenda from having poorly worded questions, and the National government considered adopting it. On this bill, she wrote:
An example of an approved referendum question that is both leading and misleading is the NZ Referendum on Child Discipline 2009 proposed by Larry Baldock. The question approved for that referendum "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" is leading in that the use of the word "good" before "parental correction" makes a value-judgment which predetermines the answer. People answering the question will be drawn to answer "no" on the basis that what is "good" cannot be criminal.
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has made this argument:
Mr Smith says the upcoming referendum will not provide clarity on the question of child discipline, because it is possible to support the 2007 amendment while voting either Yes or No to the referendum question: Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand? However, Caritas recognises that in the political context of the referendum, a 'Yes' vote is seen to be a vote for the status quo, while a 'No' vote is seen to be a vote against the 2007 amendment. "In this context, we recommend a 'Yes' vote, as we believe the status quo is close to the position that we recommended to the Select Committee. However, the wording of the question is so ambiguous, many New Zealanders who support efforts to reduce violence against children, may in good conscience still feel obliged to vote 'No'. It will be hard to understand what the outcome of the referendum may mean," says Mr Smith. He says Caritas will be writing to the Prime Minister and other relevant politicians, expressing concern that the ambiguous nature of the question will result in an outcome that cannot be understood as either supporting or opposing the 2007 amendment.


Campaigns


The "yes" campaign

Most front-line child welfare organisations, such as
Plunket Society The Royal New Zealand Plunket Trust provides a range of free services aimed at improving the development, health and wellbeing of children under the age of five within New Zealand, where it is commonly known simply as Plunket. Its mission is ...
, Barnardos,
Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...
,
Unicef UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
, Women's Refuge, CPAG, Epoch and Jigsaw, believed the referendum question was misleading, and encouraged their supporters to vote "yes". These organisations, along with many others, backed "The Yes Vote" campaign. Māori Party co-leader Pita Sharples and Green Party co-leader
Russel Norman Russel William Norman (born 2 June 1967) is a New Zealand politician and environmentalist. He was a Member of Parliament and co-leader of the Green Party. Norman resigned as an MP in October 2015 to work as Executive Director of Greenpeace A ...
wanted the current law retained, with Norman adding he would vote Yes.


The "no" campaign

The "Vote NO" campaign website was launched on 22 June 2009. The campaign was supported by Simon Barnett. ACT leader
Rodney Hide Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency ...
said he would vote no, believing parents have the right to lightly smack their children. Family First and The Kiwi Party also supported voting 'no'.


Results


Nationwide


By electorate


Aftermath


Government response

Prime Minister John Key promised to bring forward the planned review of the law.


John Boscawen's private member's bill

By coincidence, Government coalition and ACT MP John Boscawen had a
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
legalising smacking drawn from the ballot less than a week after the referendum. Prime Minister
John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as leader of the National Party from 2006 to 2016. Following his father's death when ...
said his National Party would vote it down, with the Labour Party and Green Party also opposed making it likely to be lost after the first reading of the bill. In September 2010 the Bill was in fact defeated 115–5 on its first reading in Parliament.


Binding referendum

Dissatisfied with the government's response, the Kiwi Party has put forward another referendum to make referendums legally binding. The question "Should Parliament be required to pass legislation that implements the majority result of a citizens initiated referendum where that result supports a law change?" was approved by the Clerk of the House on 17 December 2009. However, the petition failed to gain sufficient signatures and subsequently lapsed.


Public protests

A protest against prime minister John Key's response to the referendum was held on Saturday, 21 November 2009 in Auckland.
The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...
estimated that between 4,000 and 5,000 people attended.


2017 election

On 24 March 2017 it was reported that New Zealand First and
Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He has led the political party New Zealand First since he founded it in 1993, and since November 2023 has served as the 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), ...
would take to the election a policy of repealing the anti-smacking law passed by the last parliament despite overwhelming public opposition. They went on to state that they would not enter any coalition or confidence and supply agreement with a party that wished to ignore the public's clearly stated view in a referendum on that issue after the
2017 New Zealand general election The 2017 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 23 September 2017 to determine the membership of the 52nd New Zealand Parliament. The 51st New Zealand Parliament, previous parliament was elected on 20 September 2014 and was official ...
. New Zealand First went into government following the election and no changes were made to the law.


Opinion polls

''Note: Percentage figures are rounded.''


See also

*
Crimes Act 1961 The Crimes Act 1961 is an act of New Zealand Parliament that forms a leading part of the criminal law in New Zealand. It repeals the Crimes Act 1908, itself a successor of the Criminal Code Act 1893. Most crimes in New Zealand are created by t ...
, the Act that was amended * Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007 the amending Act * Crime in New Zealand * Corporal punishment in the home


References


External links


Elections New Zealand
– 2009 Citizens Initiated Referendum
The Yes Vote campaignThe Vote No campaign
{{New Zealand elections Corporal punishment referendum, 2009 Referendums in New Zealand Corporal punishment referendum, 2009 Cor Cor Corporal punishment law Youth in New Zealand Spanking August 2009 in New Zealand