Right: In an episode of the popular animated TV program, The Simpsons, Homer Simpson seeks psychiatric help after realising the harm constant corporal punishment and humiliation is doing to his son Bart. Homer's therapist decides to give the new patient a dose of his own medicine.
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Further implications
The debate surrounding the effects of using corporal punishment on children is a long way from being resolved. Part of the reason for this seems to be that research is not pointing legislators in a clear direction. There are research findings which suggest spanking and other forms of corporal punishment harm children through into adulthood. There are other research findings which appear to contradict this view. The difficulty is that not all researchers share the same definition of corporal punishment while there are a host of other variables that can complicate research findings.
Making any change to the law in Victoria to prohibit the corporal punishment of children by their parents seems highly unlikely. The media treatment of the issue was prompted by the Presbyterian Church lodging a submission with a Victorian Parliamentary committee charged with the review of the Victorian Human Rights Charter.
The impact of the Charter on the rights of children is not the focus of the Committee's deliberations. The Committee is undertaking a general review of the operation of the Charter and at this stage it seems likely that the Charter will either be substantially modified and wound back if not actually removed from Victorian legislation. In this context, the question of corporal punishment of children is very much a side issue. Therefore the Charter will almost certainly not be used to support any attempt to outlaw parental corporal punishment of children in Victoria.