In a 2011 online poll of more than 4,000 people, 85% of parents admitted smacking their children.
(Reported in news.com.au, 12 September 2011)
In a survey of over 300 young people carried out by the Australian Capital Territory Human Rights Commission Children & Young People Commissioner in 2010, nearly seven in ten (69%) of respondents thought that parents “smacking” their children maybe should or should be banned. Over half of respondents (52%) said it was “not OK” for parents to “smack” their children, 42% said it was “sometimes OK” and only 2% said it was “OK”.
(ACT Human Rights Commission, 2011, Children & Young People Commissioner Annual Report Summary 2010-2011)
The Victoria Education Department investigated 187 cases of “inappropriate discipline” in childcare centres between 2007 and 2009, including “smacking”, despite corporal punishment being prohibited.
(Reported by The Herald Sun, 11 April 2011, www.heraldsun.com.au)
A 2009 study looked at all identified child homicides in New South Wales from 1991 to 2005 (165 homicides by 157 offenders). It found that the most common cause of death was physical punishment, which accounted for 36% (59 deaths) over the 14 year period. In almost three in four cases, children had been beaten, thrown or shaken to death by their parents/carers. Children below the age of one are more likely to be killed than older children. The average age of the 59 children killed through physical punishment was 1.5 years. The researchers, backed by the Australian Childhood Foundation, have called for corporal punishment to be prohibited: “More lives could be saved by measures that reduce the incidence of child abuse, including the prohibition of corporal punishment of children.”
(Nielssen, O. et al, 2009, “Child homicide in New South Wales from 1991 to 2005”, Medical Journal of Australia, 190 (1), pp. 7-11, www.mja.com.au/public/issues/190_01_050109/nie10592_fm.html)
A review of “domestic discipline” cases under section 280 of the Criminal Code – which allows parents to use “reasonable force” on their children – was undertaken by the Department of Justice and Attorney-General in Queensland. The results were tabled in Parliament in November 2008. Of the 134 cases of “excessive discipline” in 2006-7, more than half (80 cases) involved the use of implements, including cattle prods. In 85 cases children were hit on the head, in 36 cases they were punched, in 13 kicked.
(Department of Justice and Attorney General, 2008, Review of Section 280 of the Criminal Code, www.justice.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/file/0013/21631/review-of-section-280-of-criminal-code.pdf)
A federal government funded survey of over 500 adults by the Australian Council of State School Organisations found that while most believed discipline in schools is too lax, few supported a return to corporal punishment.
(Reported in The Herald Sun, 10 October 2008)
A survey of parents in Queensland, conducted by the Parenting and Family Support Centre, University of Queensland, and reported in 2007, found that 71% smacked their children occasionally. When asked how likely parents were to use smacking as a punishment, 43% said they were likely or very likely to give a single smack with their hand; 10% said they were likely or very likely to spank their child more than once with their hand or another object.
(Reported in Herald Sun, 19 May 2007)
Telephone interviews with a representative sample of 720 adults aged 18+ were carried out in 2006 by Quantum Market Research on behalf of the Australian Childhood Foundation and the National Research Centre for the Prevention of Child Abuse at Monash University. The research found that 45% of respondents believed it was reasonable to leave a mark on a child as a result of physical punishment (representing a decrease from the 55% found in similar research in 2002). One in 10 believed that it was appropriate to use implements such as canes, sticks, belts, or slippers to punish a child (representing an increase in support for the use of implements compared with the 4% figure found in the 2002 research); one in seven (14%) supported the use of a wooden spoon. Two out of five (41%) believed that smacking a child is effective in shaping his or her behaviour, while one in ten believed that smacking a teenager is an effective way of discipline. When presented with the statement that it is sometimes necessary to smack a naughty child, 69% agreed, representing a decline in support for corporal punishment when compared with similar research in 2002 (75%).
(Tucci, J., Mitchell, J. & Goddard, C., 2006, Crossing the Line: Making the case for changing Australian laws about the physical punishment of children, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia: Australian Childhood Foundation)
A Senate inquiry into institutional and out-of-home care for children in Australia during the twentieth century found that punishments included beatings with straps, canes, cricket bats, and bunches of keys, being forced to perform additional and often repetitive tasks, food rationing, forced immobility for long periods, isolation and humiliation. Children were punished for “offences” including talking during mealtimes, laughing, not standing still, being left-handed, bedwetting and running away.
(Senate Community Affairs References Committee, 2004, Forgotten Australians: A report on Australians who experienced institutional or out-of-home care as children)