MP behind anti-smacking bill farewells politics

Photo / Mark Mitchell

Green MP Sue Bradford bowed out of politics today saying her most important achievement in a decade in Parliament was to never sell out.

In her swansong speech to Parliament this evening the long-time activist acknowledged she would go down in history for her controversial bill amending section 59 of the Crimes Act which divided the country.

The so called anti-smacking bill removed the defence of reasonable force when an adult was charged with assaulting a child.

The bill, for which Ms Bradford received death threats, was her most significant achievement and she thanked supporters for backing it.

She also acknowledged Prime Minister John Key and the National Party for not buckling under pressure to repeal the change.

The debate would continue to rage but Ms Bradford said she was sure in future people would look back on it and wonder "why on earth our country tore itself apart over whether there should be a legal defence for assaulting children or not".

She was also proud of achievements in helping beneficiaries and low income workers and extending the time some mothers in jail could keep their babies with them.

"But finally, I think the achievement that counts most to me is that from the perspective of my own personal and political core values, and those of the Green Party, I have never sold out."

Ms Bradford said when she lost a contest for the party's co-leadership to Metiria Turei in May, after Jeanette Fitzsimons stood down, she found her heart was no longer in the job.

"And that it was time for me to move on, despite the fact that so much remains to be done."

Among those she thanked for their help was Ms Fitzsimons and former co-leader the late Rod Donald.

She also thanked her colleagues and party members, former Speaker Jonathan Hunt for mentoring her and former Labour leader Helen Clark.

Looking to the future Ms Bradford, who as a teenager was a member of the Progressive Youth Movement, the youth wing of the Communist Party, said capitalism was not providing the answers.

"There will be no safe and secure future as long as we have a system which supports and encourages inequality rather than being serious about addressing root causes."

An economic crash was on the way she said, but the same mistakes were being made while people deluded themselves with talk of green shoots.

"I am going back out into the world, determined to contribute what I can to raising peoples' awareness of the power we hold in our hands if we really want to change the world - and to help as best as I am able with the never ending task of working to help make our country a better place for all of us to live, not just some."

The Green Party's new MP will be Aucklander Dave Clendon, a sustainable business advisor.

- NZPA