Parents not being criminalised, no need to change law - Key

Parents disaplin children to better a child behaviour, I have seen children used the Law to misbehaved towards parents because they know the Law punished parents..
Mind you some parent do over react on a child by there own frustration..

fine line between discipline and abuse, but i agree parents need to have the right to give their kids a wallop every now and then without the fear of prosecution

I will fight for my children's rights to discipline my grand children!

Surely the point of giving your child a smack is to have a consequence. that is to stop your child from repeating thier bad behavour. So as long as the word inconsequential is ingrained into law anyone trying to teach/correct your children with even a light smack should be charged under this law.
Oh hell i think im more confused than i was before?

Congradulations to the National you won the smacking debate. But I'm still not compromising democracies right to discipline their children how they wish. You're worse than the last government what are you going to control next our privilege to eat! National will feel the comprimise of denying parents their birth rights privilege far beyond their decisive smoke screen word 'ambiguous' at the next election. Nationals honeymoon is over, it's not Labour you have to grease up now, it's your old constuents GOD bless democracy. Vote for The Family Party to wrestle with educated clowns!
Patients will tell the story!

Don’t be fooled. Repealing section 59 was never about creating a safer environment for children. It was all about the first step in disempowering parents in their attempts to teaching them their traditional values and morals. The greatest threat to the Elite left’s cause is the humble kiwi family and especially those kiwis that live true to their principles.

These Bradford type of pathological narcissistic bullies who desire to Lord over the families of this country and who endeavour to reach into my household to influence the way I teach, educate and take care of my family can go and take a flying leap off the precipice of their fancied altruistic ideology and fall head first into their own moral cesspit from whence they sprang.

The notion that a smack is not synonymous with physical abuse just will not be entertained by them. How could it? It simply does not fit with their long term goals. They seem hell bent on perverting our society so it conforms to an ideology where complete moral relativism dominates all way of life. However, their strongest resistance to this change is the traditional family unit.

A good number of these kiwi families adhere faithfully to a way of life taught to them by their parents. Many of these families have religious backgrounds i.e. the Christian, the Jew, the Muslim etc. These parents and caregivers, along with many other kiwis, desire to teach their children right from wrong in the hope of raising them to be upstanding citizens and productive members of society. But more than that, parents simply want their children to be safe and happy, making the most of the legacy that they leave them.

Along the way these families are sure to be met with difficult situations where their efforts to teach values and principles can be quite challenging. Before section 59 was repealed, abuse of children was considered assault and offenders were prosecuted. If they claimed that they were only using reasonable force for the purpose of correction then the jury would determine if the force used was reasonable or not. The amended section 59, if used to its full capacity, can forcibly remove much of the effectiveness of the efforts of these parents. According to the new Section 59, unless a parent's efforts are "inconsequential" they may be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The new s 59 allows "force" in 4 situations (pretty open) for parents, but then says you cannot use force for the purposes of correction. This is confusing to say the least, and legal opinions confirm this. It is the outcome of a minority party deal with the greens, and then john key put his big foot in it and brokered a deal (i still don't know why...). so now he can't back out. While the country may be divided on parenting, you have the right to bring your kids up how you like under the law. This piece of law was not a welcome change. I use smacking along with time out/naughty mat, a good telling off, and other measures for "correction" of my children. This is similar to the way i was brought up, and I was not traumatised by it, I love my parents, and want only the best for my kids. So why am I second guessing myself? I want to stand up against this silly law, but don't want the labelling, investigation and interrogation into my family. So the vote was our chance to exercise our democratic voice. 87% says it all. If you didn't vote - you can't complain. The law is confusing, smacking is legal in some occassions, but generally not - you need an investigation and probably a legal opinion to decide. Smacking is not abuse. Lets tackle abuse, and put the law back the way it was, and if there was a problem with common law interpretation of reasonable force provide some more guidance around that. While I respect all those opposing opinions the right to their own view, the vote was clear - NZ wants a it made clear that smacking is not a crime. It is not the cause of abuse. It is not the root of problems in our society. Afterall this is a democracy.

What a waste of 9 million dollars, what a silly move that referendum was, and these people are in charge of our country?

it has been said that maybe this has been engineered by UN to NZ. That comment is easier to understand. Now we know how Helen got her job at the UN. "Change the law or no job" now it all makes sense. Now we do what everyone else wants us to do. So what is next? Nuclear!!!!!!! We all need stand up for what we believe in. Sue must have smacked her kids when they were young, I wonder how they feel about all this!