Should Australian parents be legally prevented from physically punishing their children?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: On October 13, 2022, 7 News televised a report on calls from Australian child psychology experts for parents to be legally barred from smacking their children.What they said...
'Corporal punishment triggers harmful psychological and physiological responses. Children...experience pain, sadness, fear, anger, shame, and guilt...'
United Nations World Health Organisation
'Properly understood and administered, spanking is most effective as a deterrent to undesirable behavior for younger preschoolers...'
Clinical psychologist Dr Jared Pingleton
On November 24, 2022, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) recommended that Australia should 'explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in law in all settings, including in homes...and [that it should] repeal the legal defence of "reasonable chastisement".'
On October 13, 2022, the Parenting & Family Research Alliance (PAFRA) released a briefing paper titled, 'Corporal punishment of children in Australia: The evidence-based case for legislative reform', which argued for Australia to make the physical punishment of children illegal.
On September 9, 2022, Anne Hollonds, the National Children's Commissioner, also called for smacking to be made illegal. Commissioner Hollonds referred to the preliminary findings of Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS) which suggests that the corporal punishment of children prompts intergenerational family violence.
Despite this, some prominent media spokespeople have voiced their opposition to any further restrictions on how parents rear their children.
It also appears that many parents continue to physically punish their children. A 2019 report found that between 50 and 80 percent of Australian parents reported using corporal punishment to discipline their children.