The MP who thinks abusive parents should be offered a $5000 incentive to get sterilised has gone to ground.
Act list MP David Garrett expressed the personal - not Act party - view on a blogsite after reports on Wednesday into family violence deaths and into measures to tackle abusive parents.
Garrett has had some controversial ideas and a reputation for loose lips ever since arriving in parliament. He has previously been in trouble after admitting making lewd comments to women.
"The whole idea is an incentive to, you know, stop producing children that they're clearly not fit to bring up," Garrett told Radio New Zealand.
The idea is being rubbished by the Prime Minister.
"It sounds like a very radical idea. It's not on the government's agenda, nor do I think it's likely to work," John Key says.
Garrett says he is deeply concerned about how many children are abused and killed every year.
But his sterilisation idea has been slammed as reminiscent of Nazi Germany when hundreds of thousands of people were compulsorily sterilised because they were mentally ill, had physical deformities or were simply quote feeble-minded or weak.
Garrett says he is not suggesting forcing people into it.
"I recognise that any kind of compulsion or state involvement in the decision is just riddled with serious problems," he says.
But he does favour an incentive system, like he says in India when men were offered radios as a reward for having a vasectomy to control the population.
His colleagues are not so keen on expressing their opinion.
"I've got no comment on David's views, those are his views," says Act MP John Boscawen.
Act leader Rodney Hide says the party is full of strong people who express their opinions strongly.
"I've explained to David that's good, but be careful," he says.
Clearly hoping he will take that advice when expressing private opinions publicly in future.
