Australia - Country Report

Summary of necessary legal reform to achieve full prohibition
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
Prepared by EPOCH
Is there a legal defence for corporal punishment which must be repealed?
The near universal acceptance of corporal punishment in childrearing means that legal provisions against violence and abuse are not interpreted as prohibiting corporal punishment and provisions confirming a right to use “reasonable” punishment provide a legal justification for the use of corporal punishment. The following legal defences for the use of corporal punishment should be repealed/amended and the law clarified to state that all forms of corporal punishment are unlawful: New South Wales Crimes Act (s61), Northern Territory Criminal Code Act (s27), Queensland Criminal Code Act 1899 (s280), South Australia Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (s20), Tasmania Criminal Code Act 1924 (s50), Western Australia Criminal Code 1913 (s257) and the relevant common law defences in Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.