KEY POINTS:
A referendum will be held on anti-smacking laws after parliamentary officials confirmed a petition calling for the ballot had enough valid signatures.
Clerk of the House Mary Harris said an audit of the petition found that about 310,000 of the 390,000 signatures were valid.
To trigger a referendum, 10 per cent of registered voters (285,000) need to sign it.
Petition organiser Larry Baldock said the vote should be held in conjunction with the election.
The Government has ruled this out, saying it would best be held as a postal ballot next year.
Ministers cited advice from electoral officials that the last time a referendum was held it had confused voters, slowed down the count and to so again would be a logistical nightmare.
They said there was little difference in cost between holding a postal ballot separately and the extra resources need to run a referendum on election day.
Ms Harris said the petition would be presented to Parliament on August 26 and the Government had one month to name a date for a referendum or say a postal ballot will be held.
The vote must be held within a year of its presentation to Parliament.
Mr Baldock said Prime Minister Helen Clark was trying to avoid the smacking laws becoming an election issue, but this would not work.
Mr Baldock, who is also the leader of the Kiwi Party, said today's announcement was "great news and a huge victory" that had taken far more effort than should be needed in a democracy.
When the petition was originally presented in February, there were 324,316 signatures, but many were ruled out during a checking process and the final tally was 269,500.
Organisers had another two months to gather more signatures.
The referendum will ask the question - `Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?"
The legislation, which was drafted by Green MP Sue Bradford, amended section 59 of the Crimes Act to remove the defence of reasonable force for parents who physically discipline their children.
It was backed by Labour and eventually National supported the legislation after an amendment gave police discretion to judge whether a reported offence warranted prosecution.
- NZPA
