Teens urge vote for right not to be hit

MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail

STAND UP: Teenagers Johny O'Donnell, left, and Scott Miller are urging adults to vote yes in the referendum.

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A group of students campaigning against violence are asking adults to "speak for them" by voting "yes" in August's smacking referendum.

Students Against Violence (Save) founding member Johny O'Donnell, 15, said the smacking debate was focusing on the rights of parents to hit their children, and overlooked the rights of children not to be hit.

A postal referendum on the 2007 changes to the child discipline law, which removed the defence of reasonable force for hitting a child, takes place next month.

The referendum asks "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?"

It has prompted debate because of its near $9 million cost and the wording of the question.

Johny, a student at Nelson College, was one of five people who turned up to hear long-time child advocate Beth Wood speak on the referendum at the Victory Community Centre yesterday.

He said children deserved equal rights to adults but could not vote to have their views recorded. Every eligible voter had the chance to make a difference to children's lives by voting "yes", he said.

He said children and teenagers deserved the same protection as adults.

Save intended to have a stand at the Saturday market on the issue. It wanted to do more but was constrained by a lack of funds, he said.

"We are just planning to get the word out there as much as possible."

He helped set up Save in Nelson in March as he believed many young people were affected by violence, but was concerned work aimed to help youth wasn't reaching them.

Young people themselves needed to do more, he said.

Save has set up a website, savemovement.org and was running a campaign "Don't Stand for It".

Mrs Wood is part of the Yes Vote campaign by a coalition of agencies which includes Barnardos, Save the Children, Plunket, Unicef and the National Collective of Women's Refuges.

She said whatever the outcome of the referendum the law was likely to stay the same, but the group believed it was important to get as strong a "yes vote" as possible to affirm the law stating it was not okay for a child to be hit.

Mrs Wood said it was about changing the perception in New Zealand that it was okay to hit children or each other.

She said physical punishment was not discipline. Research showed that children who were hit hard and often grew up to be rebellious and were not going to behave any better.

They also grew up with a mindset that it was all right to hit others.

She said Sweden changed the law around smacking children in the 1950s and in 1979 introduced a specialist law saying parents could not use physical punishment.

"If you talk to people from Scandinavian countries they are amazed we are having this debate here. It represents that culture shift we are trying to achieve."

- © Fairfax NZ News