Two polls and a back-down

First the back-down. The Government and the Greens have dropped their plans to ram the smacking ban bill through Parliament under urgency. I still expect it is likely the committee stage will be completed on Wednesday, but the third reading would not be until Wednesday 2 May.

The key though is the committee stage. Getting the Borrows, or similiar amendment passed will insert some rationality into the bill. In fact if the Borrows amendment was passed, I suspect there would be over 100 votes for the bill.

Now the two polls – both random scientific ones. The One News/Colmar Brunton poll found 83% support smacking and only 15% disagree. A Research NZ poll found 73% disagree with the bill and 72% thought it was unenforceable. The One News poll also found 78% did not think the bill would help abused children.

So this bill is massively opposed by New Zealanders, and in fact is opposed by a majority of MPs. The Borrows amendment will be defeated purely because Helen Clark will not allow Labour MPs a conscience vote on it.

For MPs like Darren Hughes and Steve Chadwick who have marginal seats, this bill may well see them lose their seats. And all because their leader won’t let them support a common sense amendment to make it clear a light smack won’t be a criminal offence.