How dare Nigel Latta use his critical faculties and his clinical psychology expertise to come to a rational decision!
I'm pretty much assuming anyone interested in this story will already be sick of the nitty gritty because it is getting saturation coverage.
So instead I wanted to draw attention to the End of the Affair between Latta and Family First.
In the beginning it appears Latta could be the saviour of the smackers, flawed only by his refusal to meet with
Family First NZ is welcoming the appointment of Nigel Latta to the s59 Review Process but is concerned by his comments that he will not be meeting with any lobby groups.“Nigel Latta has said ‘I did not agree with the original law change. I also voted no in the referendum. I do not believe that a parent smacking their child, in the ‘common sense’ understanding of what that means, should be subject to criminal prosecution or investigation’. That is a breath of fresh air, completely politically incorrect, and suggests that he will represent the concerns of NZ parents when he reviews the effect of the law,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.
...Family First is inviting Nigel Latta to meet parents negatively impacted by the anti-smacking law. [my emphasis]
Oh the irony - Latta, the independent reviewer on the panel, with Family First's backing, looked at all the evidence around the cases Family First highlighted and found Bob's version lacking in the critical area of veracity. The results are damning for McCoskrie, and I would hope fatally undermine any credibility he still had with the media.
Family First NZ is dismissing yet another report on the anti-smacking law which fails to address the real issues and concerns over the law change.So Family First are the Way, the Truth and the Light, and everyone else, including zillions of people with everyday practical knowledge of child abuse and parenting, is clearly Wrong.
“This is the eighth report in just over two years on the law change. There have never been so many reports in such a short time frame on a law change in an attempt to sell it,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “The police have done six reports, a report from the ministry of Social Development, and now this report commissioned by the Prime Minister in response to the overwhelming rejection of the law in the recent Referendum.”
Nigel Latta certainly won't be getting a Chrissie card from Bob McCoskrie anytime soon.
6 comments:
1 report could be accepted as a bit of spin. But EIGHT? Eight reports and they're still convinced they're the tail wagging the dog?
Jesus Christ on a Bicycle.
"It was a year ago Michael, let it GO." Time to admit that holy shit....human societal expectations can EVOLVE.
Latta talking about Family First being mislead - http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3135954/Family-First-often-not-given-full-story-from-parents-Latta
"In one case a parent prosecuted for hitting a child with a pillow "at face value ...an extreme over-reaction" turned out to have more than 70 convictions for violent offences."
I call bullshit on Family First not knowing this. They purposely mislead the public to help their cause.
I heard Latta talking about that on the radio too Boganette, it was pretty astounding.
I think Bob (and let's face it, FF largely is just Bob) is coming from a point of view that the police, the social agencies, indeed everyone is biased and is lying, except the individual parents who come to him.
Also: just noticed Act's media statement on the s59 review, which I think can be reasonably fairly labelled "frothing at the mouth."
Boscawen says, and I am not making this up:
"The report recommends the introduction of a parent support helpline, the publication of guidelines for social workers and a requirement for police and others to tell parents what to expect, what their rights are and what they can do when they want to question what is happening.
"Not one of these recommendations will do anything to address the serious problem of child abuse in New Zealand."
I think a journo needs to ask him what will address child abuse then.
I call bullshit on Family First not knowing this. They purposely mislead the public to help their cause.
I don't know about that, Boganette -- not doing your homework properly is bad enough if you want to be a credible activist/lobbyist.
One of the best lessons I took away from journalism school was that the story you should treat with the most extreme scepticism is the very one you're instinctively inclined to accept without question.
Then again, I was also taught not to put names in your contact book who have a track record of burning you like a crack-head pyromaniac. How many times does McCoskrie have to be exposed as, at best, someone who is careless with the truth before he gets taken off the rentaquote speed dial?
Craig - it drives me nuts that McCroskie is indeed Mr Rentaquote to most of the NZ MSM. I also get really pissed off at how he's quoted as Family First head or executive or any other title. Family First IS Bob McCroskie. There are no other members. It's just him. The media has to stop getting behind him and allowing him so much blanket coverage. It's lazy journalism. The bullshit stories from FF should never have been printed in the first place.
But the reason why I do put most of the blame on him and not the way the media covered his stories is because he put them to the public as full page ads in papers. So that is deliberately misleading the public.
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