Media Release
July 27 2009

Youth Against Child Abuse New Zealand rejects claims from anti-discipline advocates that the amended Section 59 of the Crimes Act is working. Green Party MP Sue Kedgley says “[the] bill aims to strike a blow at the culture of violence in our society, and at the abuse of children which is what Section 59 is about.”

YACA believes that Kedgely has not only confused our society’s culture of violence with the correction of children, but has also assumed that in taking away parental discipline rights, New Zealand’s “culture of violence” will begin to change.

“What Kedgley and many other advocates of the Section 59 amendment are saying is nonsense,” says YACA spokesperson Matthew Van Voorthuizen. “If the Government really wanted to tackle child abuse they would target the perpetrators of the crime: parents and caregivers who beat up their children in uncontrolled anger. These people are the criminals, and they should get the prison sentence, not good parents who love their children.”

“The first measure that must be taken to reduce child abuse in New Zealand is to get tougher on the criminals who commit horrific crimes against their children and our society while at the same time addressing the causes which lead to child abuse,” he says.

Many anti-discipline advocates also believe that because very few parents are being prosecuted, the amended Section 59 law is working well.

“This is a sadly misguided claim.”

“The real test for whether the anti-discipline law is working is if we are seeing the rate of child abuse dropping. We are simply not seeing a decrease in child abuse, and the reason for this is that the law is targeting the wrong people.”

ENDS

Contact: Matthew Van Voorthuizen
Cell Phone: 021 216 0885
Email: matthewmjvv@gmail.com