Nats vow tougher laws on child abuse

National's leader, John Key, is promising tough laws to deal with child abuse if his party comes to power.

Mr Key today described the Nia Glassie case as "barbaric and disgusting" and said he did not doubt that all MPs and New Zealanders were united in believing child abuse had to stop.

"But the debate isn't about whether you're revolted by that kind of behaviour, it's about what you're doing to do about it," he said on TV One's Breakfast programme.

"I can talk about what National will do – we need to deal to people extremely seriously when they start treating kids like that," he said.

"The full force of the law has to be shown, and if the Crimes Act isn't strong enough then it needs to be changed to send a very strong message."

Mr Key said he did not think government-sponsored "advertising campaigns" would work.

"We've got to get into those communities and the message has to be crystal clear – you start abusing children in this barbaric way, and you will be dealt to."

Mr Key said strong laws linked with counselling might work, but TV messages telling child abusers they were doing wrong would not.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has called on people to act when they know about child abuse and the Green Party wants more money for community groups who support problem families.

United Future says all that has been achieved since the death of the Kahui twins last year has been "handwringing and navel gazing" while the ACT Party thinks welfare dependency is a root cause.

- NZPA