Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

It was second-time successful for the backers of a petition calling for a Referendum on Sue Bradford's Anti-Smacking laws.

An audit of signatures by the Clerk of the House found there were 310,000 valid signatures... 25,000 more than is needed to force a referendum. An additional 60,000 signatures were collected, after an earlier audit found too many were invalid (incorrect or incomplete details compared with the Electoral Roll, duplicates, or illegible).

Petition organiser Larry Baldock believes the vote should be held at the same time as this year's General Election (saving money as well as ensuring a large turnout), but the Labour-led Government doesn't want to remind voters in the polling booths of its support for the bill.

Labour claims "next year" would be the best time to hold the referendum, and to hold it as a postal ballot, costing taxpayers million dollars in extra costs.

PM Hillin Cluck incredulously claims it isn't possible to hold the referendum alongside the general election voting, "just in terms of sheer organisation". I struggle to believe this, given that an election date hasn't yet been set, and political parties are still sorting out their lists.

The anti-smacking bill was of course the idea of "Green" MP Sue Bradford, but Labour's fierce support for the unpopular bill was certainly noticed by voters. Opponents say the laws make criminals of parents who discipline their children, describing it as "a home invasion".

Bradford's bill was supposed to have been a conscience issue, but the Labour Party doesn't like the idea of MPs having consciences, and ordered all their members to vote for the bill.

The vote saw United Future MP Gordon Copeland quit the "family friendly" party, in protest at its support for Bradford's bill, along with Labour's wider "secret agenda" of social engineering.
National's Johnboy also caved in and ordered his MPs to support the Green MP's bill, as part of his me-too/Labour-lite philosophy.