Its seems to me that there is a shocking failure by the government to address the real issue here.

The need for a bill like the anti-smaking one to be passed has undoubtedly arisen largely from NZ's high rate of Child abuse.

There is no denying we have a problem in this country, many children are being "hurt" to say the least, and "killed" to quote the extreme, by the people who are responsible for their welfare.

Reactionary measures to simply pass-a-bill-and-stop-the-smacking are a simplistic and highly unlikely solution to a very complex problem. It also fails to address the real problem at hand.

New Zealanders need to be taught, educated and advised on parenting. Its all very well to make smacking illegal. But where are the constructive offers of alternatives? To cancel out what may be deemed a culture of violence there must be borne a new culture of the opposite. New skills need to be learned and new attitudes adopted by many parents and parents to be.

This would be no easy task of course. But there is a real lack of resources, education, and practical example available to parents and parents to be in this country.

Everything from books, phamlets, courses, counsellers, in home services, internet information, 0800 numbers, specialised tutors and mentors, etc etc should be available to anyone and everyone. And they shouldnt have to look for it should be more than readily accessible.

These sorts of services do exist - www.kiwifamiles.co.nz or www.parentingskills.co.nz, but there needs to be more, and the already exist services need more support and funding, ie from the government.

Quite literally it is mandatory (encouraged by doctors/midwives and pushed in the public and private practice health sectors) to teach expectant mothers how to push out their babies, and a basic guide to caring for a newborn (birthing classes)... but the rest is grey matter.