Royal commissioner Natasha Stott Despoja urges SA to end ‘double standard’ on parents smacking children
Smacking should be banned to stop parents abusing their children under the guise of discipline, a landmark inquiry into family violence says. Vote in our poll.
Smacking should be outlawed to stop parents abusing their children under the guise of discipline, according to a landmark inquiry into family violence in South Australia.
Children have told of being beaten or kept like prisoners by parents or carers who argue it is necessary to “correct” their behaviour.
Now royal commissioner Natasha Stott Despoja, who heard their heartbreaking stories, has called for an end to this “double standard”.
Among the 136 recommendations she has made in a long-awaited report released on Tuesday, Ms Stott Despoja is calling on the state government to “ban the use of corporal punishment” by parents and remove an outdated “defence of reasonable chastisement”.
This common-law defence allows parents to use “moderate and reasonable physical punishment” to correct their child’s behaviour or punish wrongdoing.
But Ms Stott Despoja said children giving evidence to her inquiry “consistently called out the double standard” this set, when compared with “widespread condemnation of the use of violence by adults against other adults”.
One 10-year-old girl told the commission: “I’m a child, not a punching bag.”
Corporal punishment of children by parents is banned in 65 countries, but remains legal across Australia, as long as it is deemed “reasonable in the circumstances”.
The reasonable chastisement defence can only be used if the punishment is “not motivated by rage, malice or personal gratification”, and is appropriate “for a child’s age, size and health”.
Queensland authorities are also considering removing the defence in that state.
In calling for a ban, Ms Stott Despoja said the government would need to also launch an parenting education campaign on “alternatives to physical punishment”.
Ms Stott Despoja’s report, titled With Courage: South Australia’s Vision Beyond Violence, reveals one in every 30 South Australian children experience physical or sexual abuse each year.
“That’s one kid in every classroom,” Ms Stott Despoja said.
An interim report prepared for the royal commission by Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon uncovered horrific abuse against young people.
Based on in-depth interviews with more than 50 teenagers, it told of children having their noses broken by parents, being beaten so badly they couldn’t walk and living like prisoners under surveillance at home.
Professor Fitzgibbon said young survivors of abuse “know what they need, despite largely never having received it themselves: They want to feel safe. They want to be believed”.
The $3m royal commission into domestic, family and sexual violence was sparked by the deaths of five South Australian women in a horror fortnight in late 2023.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said the stories it unearthed “make for harrowing reading”.
“But this is also a document filled with hope,” he said.
Mr Malinauskas said the government would commit the funding needed to deliver on the reforms, but would not say how much had already been put aside.
Ms Stott Despoja found the current response to domestic violence in SA was “fragmented” and “crisis driven” and warned “it will require significant investment” to fix.
She said some of the details that emerged while gathering evidence over the past year “will haunt me and my team forever”.
Her wide-ranging report also recommends:
RESTRICTING the sale and delivery of alcohol overnight and imposing a two-hour delay between ordering and delivery.
SETTING up “vulnerable witness suites” to prevent victims having to confront their alleged perpetrators in court.
AUDITING available emergency housing for victims.
CALLING on the Police Commissioner to create a “separate pathway” for reporting allegations of domestic violence or abuse by serving officers.
IMPROVED training for sworn police officers, family violence investigators and judicial officers, including in understanding non-physical coercive control.
CONDUCTING a ‘rapid’ review of how the government currently funds domestic, family and sexual violence services.
ALLOCATING a workforce fund to attract workers to the under-resourced sector.
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Originally published as Royal commissioner Natasha Stott Despoja urges SA to end ‘double standard’ on parents smacking children
