The folks at The Yes Vote point to a hilarious exchange this morning between Sean Plunket and Larry Baldock on Morning Report. Challenged repeatedly to come up with one single example of a parent who has been criminalised for smacking a child, Baldock fudged, then fudged some more, and then rounded it off with some more fudging. Take a look at this:
Baldock: It is absolutely clear that if a parent uses any reasonable force right now to correct their child right now they are breaking the law
Plunket: Can you give us an example of that having happened?
Baldock: There are examples that we’ll have available
Plunket: Can you give us a single example of that having happened, please?
Baldock: There was a grandfather for example, who tipped his grandson out of a chair because the grandson refused to obey his grandfather to turn down the television and so on.
Plunket: Was he convicted and was that a smack?
Baldock: He plead guilty
Plunket: Was that a smack?
Baldock: No, he tipped him out of a chair .
Plunket: Can you point to anyone who has been criminalised for smacking a child?
Baldock: Yes we can.
Plunket: Please, could you give me an example?
Baldock: Well, I’ll have to go to my list of examples.
Plunket: Can you give me a single example off the top of your head?
Baldock: No, not off the top of my head, I can’t.
and so on.
It got so bad in the end that Baldock was forced to dredge up old “punch in the face dad” Jimmy Mason as an example. That only made things worse. Honestly, to think this farce is going to cost us $9 million. I guess accomodating these clowns is the price we pay for living in a democracy.
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