Hayes blasts ?PC police

Wairarapa MP John Hayes has come out swinging in support of corporal punishment after taking fire for advocating "a thick ear" for unruly children.
Mr Hayes drew sharp criticism for his comments from Sergeant Mike Sutton, head of Masterton community police, but defends the physical reprimand of children to curb misbehaviour.
"Sergeant Sutton seems unable to tell the difference between discipline and violence. The kids we are talking about need discipline. Badly."
On Monday Mr Hayes, speaking of the alarm he shares with other Bannister Street business tenants in Masterton at the uncontrolled behaviour of youths in and near their premises, said a valid solution to the problem is corporal punishment.
"The best thing you can do for them is a thick ear. It's something I occasionally got and it didn't do me any harm," Mr Hayes said then.
Mr Sutton said in response that he was "disappointed with Mr Hayes' comments that go against everything we're doing in the region with our violence-free campaign".
"Sergeant Sutton is disappointed in my comments" Mr Hayes said.
"He thinks I am undoing the work of the Wairarapa violence-free campaign. He needs to know that the public does not want cringing political correctness from him or others in the police force."
Mr Hayes said "a group of young girls" spread excreta on the changing room of the public toilet and harassed the custodian before they left.
"This behaviour is unacceptable. We need parents to know where their children are. We need a community constable presence on the streets and we need to move to quick justice where the police deal with the problem as they used to and let parents know their children are out of control.
"There is a difference here between bad behaviour and violence and the police, including Sergeant Sutton, need to get real and address it," Mr Hayes said.
"The police are bogged down with paper work and political correctness. They have lost touch with community sentiment.
"The truth is we rarely see police in our area. As things stand, what we do regularly see are 10 to 14-year-olds in Bannister Street, screaming and using the foulest of language.
"It is disgusting and it would be better if the police held fewer meetings, engaged in less paper work, and spent more time on the streets."
Mr Hayes said he has conducted a survey of Wairarapa constituents to gauge support for a bill before Parliament, put forward by Green MP Sue Bradford, aimed at repealing Section 59 of the Crimes Act. The section allows a defence of "reasonable force" for parents who hit children.
"The passing of this bill would make even such everyday disciplines as smacking naughty children illegal. Sixty-eight per cent said no. Two in every three constituents said no," Mr Hayes said.
"Plain commonsense says that parents must retain the right to discipline their children, and this is the sort of thing I was talking about. Violence and abuse are being confused with discipline, and it is past time they were unconfused," he said.