By Angela Beswick
Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws has refuted claims he suggested offering the “underclass” money in exchange for sterilisation, in order to address the child abuse problem.
The
Dominion Post reported Laws claiming the children of beneficiaries, drug addicts and criminals had little chance in life.
The comments came five days after the death of two-year-old Wanganui boy Karl Perigo-Check – the son of a convicted murderer and gang member.
Critics labelled the suggestion “totalitiarian”, “draconian” and “reprehensible”, and questioned his appropriateness as a city leader, the
post reported.
Laws has fired back, labelling the story “inaccurate and misleading”.
“I did not say that and I have never said that.”
He says he has made his opinion clear – that the level of child abuse and child murder in this country is unacceptable and getting worse.
“There is a group within our society who give their children no hope nor opportunity from the moment they are born,” Laws said in a statement released today.
“These ‘parents’ are known to authorities, social workers, the police and CYFS – yet the authorities can only intervene after children have been harmed.”
Rather than suggesting paying people to get sterilised, Laws says he in fact suggested that “it would be far better for this appalling underclass to be offered financial inducements not to have children”.
“The consequent financial and social savings to our community would be considerable.”
Laws says all “liberal approaches”, including education, public awareness campaigns, and the anti-smacking legislation, have failed.
“Most welfare beneficiaries are good parents,” he says.
Sponsor of the anti-smacking bill, former Green MP Sue Bradford, said no-one had claimed the legislation would eradicate child abuse.
She said Mr Laws' proposed solution was draconian and totalitarian and would never be considered by Parliament. "People are trying their best to change what has been many generations of violence but a lot of that will need more resourcing."
3 News