8 Comments so far:

You said it yourself: "90% of voters either didn't understand the question, or got hung up on the wording, or couldn't find the middle ground, or are ignorant morons who think it's ok to hit children." This doesn't mean 90% of voters are ignorant morons who think it's ok to hit children. No it's not a victory, but it's not a sad reflection on our society. It's a sad reflection on the framers and the political process that allowed the referendum to be put in that form.

You're right, it's not society. Actually I think the media need to take some of the responsibility for this one too. They came up with the 'smacking law' term, when that's not what it's about. And it's irresponsible lazy journos who write things like this in today's paper:

It's embarrassing to be a NZ'er on this day - this sets us immeasurably backwards on a world stage.

We are already becoming known around the world as a nation of drunken, aggressive, racist fools - and now this too. 

Scary, very scary.

I couldn't agree more with you Brenda. The referendum should never had happened in the first place using that particular wording, and the political process to allow such sh*t to happen is obviously massively flawed.

For anyone right in his mind it unfortunately must be embarrassing to be a NZ'er, yes. I find it embarrassing and I'm not even a citizen. It leaves the impression that NZ'ers are just bushwackers - but hang on - are we maybe? NZ is still a rural society and not quite an urban, industrialized place. 

I still can't believe this outcome - can it really be right that one should be allowed to "correct" the behaviour of their children with physical force? Arrgs, maybe we should start a referendum on:

 "Should a good beating as part of good marital correction (denial of marital sex obligations or not providing a full proper dinner at night) be a criminal offence in New Zealand?"

Seriously people, it's time that NZ moves on towards the 21st century, htf could it anyway have happened that there was no proper child protection law before the 2007 amendment.

But this is a victory. A slam-dunk actually. And the victor is...

 STUPIDITY

Hoorah the stupid idiots who drafted such a dumb question.

Hoorah the stupid drafters of the referendum laws that allowed tax-payer funded opinion polls (rather than referenda requiring concise law changes or actions that gives the ruling Governement a clear view of what voters intend).

Hoorah the stupid Government for spending $9m blindly following democratic process while undemocratically all but ruling out taking any action following the referendum.

Hoorah the fucking idiots who voted 'No'.

Kia kaha Aotearoa - you are the undisputed champion (of stupidity) of the world! 

Since you lot are in the 12 % who think the smacking law is a good law, please tell me how it helped these kids?

If anyone can find any reason why many of the people in the list below shouldn't face the death penalty, much less be allowed to breed or "parent", please let me know. Because I can't find one.

AUGUST 20, 2009

A three-year-old Palmerston North girl dies from what's thought to be extensive, non-accidental head injuries at the local hospital. She was named today as Kash McKinnon.

AUGUST 11

A 17-month-old toddler from Kamo, Tinisha Walker, is flown to Starship with serious injuries, where she remains in a critical condition. Police were tight-lipped about who assaulted Tanisha but they were "talking with her family". Subsequently, a 39-year-old man is due to appear in the Whangarei District Court next month charged with assaulting her. He has name suppression.

AUGUST 8

A two-year-old Kaitaia girl, Jacqui Peterson-Davis, dies in Starship Hospital. Police confirm there are "bruises on her body" and head injuries but won't elaborate. A woman (name suppressed) in her early 30s is charged with assault, and more charges may follow. The family of the woman, showing her full support, admit they are "struggling to come to terms" with the incident. It is then revealed that the little girl had been the subject of at least one CYFS notification during the months leading up to her death.

AUGUST 2

A four-month-old boy from Papakura is taken to Starship with "non-accidental brain injuries" and remains in a critical condition. His teenage parents are cooperating with police but the family home becomes the scene of further police investigation of other criminal activity.

JULY 27

Foster carer Karen Alice Robinson stands trial in the Rotorua High Court for the murder of 14-month-old Melissa Hale in 2005. Melissa died of a traumatic brain injury and had extensive bruising on her face and at the back of her eyes.

JULY 22

Motueka mother Cassandra Albert, who gave her four-month-old baby severe brain damage by shaking him, is sentenced to three years and nine months. Albert and her partner Newton Samuel Moki were jointly charged with failing to provide the necessities of life after failing to get the boy help for nine hours during which he had seizures and profuse sweating.

JULY 15

Rotorua man Frank James Brown, who punched his 14-month-old at least twice in the head, is sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. The injuries put the child in hospital for three nights.

JUNE 29

A depositions hearing reveals that Kerikeri beneficiary Kyle Skerten is to stand trial for the murder of his 16-month-old stepson Riley Justin Osborne. Riley died after four days at Starship Hospital from his injuries - a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and eye injuries - so serious that a pediatrician told the court that he'd last seen the like when a child fell 11m on to bare concrete. Skerten will stand trial in September.

JUNE 15

The mother of a wheelchair-bound (then) eight-year-old appears in the Manukau District Court on assault charges. Some of the injuries inflicted on this boy include being beaten, burned with cigarettes, and starved. Two children still live with her. From the Herald, "[his] school found bruising and swelling around his genital area and he had blood-stained urine. Fears grew when the previously overweight boy lost around 25kg in a short period". [His] teacher claims the boy told her he sometimes was not given dinner or breakfast and was arriving at school teary, tired "and even lifting a pencil took great effort".

JUNE 5

One-year-old Trent Matthews is found dead in his family lounge in Rotorua. He had been taken from his mother soon after his birth and placed in the care of his uncle Joe Matthews. Matthews' partner Sasha Pene is charged with assaulting the boy.

MAY 14

Mary Joachim, 28, is sentenced to three years in the Auckland District Court for failing to provide the necessities of life to her son, seven-year-old Duwayne Pailegutu, who died in 2008 eight days after being savagely beaten by his step father Johnny Joachim. Duwayne was given a beating that left him partly paralysed and semi-conscious because he'd left a jumper at school.

MARCH 7

JayRhis Ian te Koha Lock-Tata dies in Auckland's Starship Hospital after suffering severe head injuries - either having been beaten or having had his head knocked against something. His father Adam Christopher Lock, 22, is charged with his murder.

Mike - the 'law' to which you refer removes the right to use 'it was reasonable force within the bounds of parenting' as an excuse for violence against children.

The people challenging that law want to be able to smack their kids without it being illegal. They want the law to be more lenient, not less.

The question is not if the current law is enough, the question is why do people feel they should be allowed to hit children.

I don't think we're on opposite sides here. 

Well said! Couldn't agree more. It's just bang your head on the desk bullshit.

And the media's coverage of it is just so appalling. 

I was part of the nearly half that didnt vote and Im not even a parent so you can start ignoring me now.

My stumbling block is why is it criminal? Why arent there other options? If people are whacking their kids because they see it as the only way to control them couldn't they be offerred parenting lessons or anger management if that was a better option. If we could help some people wouldn't we be helping some kids?

Maybe after all helpful options then harsher penalties.

Im not talking about people who put kids on the clothesline or any cruelty like the listed above as they are clearly criminals but they always were with or without this rule.