The public have spoken. 87.6 percent of New Zealanders want the law that has banned smacking changed. They want to go back to the common sense situation that existed before Parliament saw fit to pass Sue Bradford’s repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act into law.

Over 1.6 million New Zealanders participated in the referendum. That is a 54 percent response rate, far more than the 40 percent who voted in the last local body elections. This response is almost the same as the turnout in the referendum which led to a change in New Zealand’s voting system from First Past the Post (FPP) to the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP).[1]

During the 1990 election campaign, in response to growing public concern over the voting system, the Leader of the National Party, Jim Bolger, promised to hold a referendum, pledging to hold a binding referendum at the 1993 election if there was majority support for change. On the 19th of September 2002, the promised referendum was held with voters first asked if they wanted to change the voting system from FPP, and then if they did, to indicate which voting option they would prefer: MMP, the Single Transferable Vote (STV), Supplementary Member (SM), or Preferential Vote (PV).

Some 55 percent of registered voters took part in the referendum and an overwhelming 85 percent voted to change the electoral system. 70 percent of voters favoured MMP.

This referendum result with a 55 percent response rate and an 85 percent majority vote was deemed to be conclusive enough to trigger the second referendum which changed New Zealand’s voting system. In fact, at the time, Mike Moore, then leader of the Labour Party said of the result, “The people didn’t speak on Saturday. They screamed.”

Well, Mister Key, the public have once again screamed! They do not want to be given “comfort”. They do not want a compromise. They want the government to stop telling parents how to raise their children!

More here: http://www.nzcpr.com/weekly194.htm