John Key Concedes: Law Change Likely

John Key has begun conceding that the Anti-Smacking law needs ammending. Newstalk ZB reported yesterday,

The Prime Minister expects a resounding 'No' vote in the smacking referendum will lead to changes surrounding the law.

So far, nearly 1.4 million voting papers have been returned with the question 'Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?'

John Key is expecting more people to tick NO than yes. He says if the law does not work and good parents get criminalised for lightly smacking a child, the law should be changed.

But he says it is hard to put up a case to change the law when no one has yet been prosecuted. The smacking referendum closes in a week.

Whereas the Prime Minister has tended in the past to refer to the undesirability of seeing "good parents prosecuted for a light smack", he is now predominantly referring to "good parents being criminalised". It is clear that good parents are being criminalised in their hundreds of thousands, and John Key knows this. Sue Bradford's new law makes one thing crystal clear:

A smack for the purpose of correction is a criminal offence, making parents criminals if they use a smack for correction (no matter how light the smack is).