A citizens-initiated referendum on the issues surrounding the law was held between 30 July and 21 August 2009, asking "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?"

It was subsequently renamed to the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill at the Select Committee stage.

'[11] The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) also put pressure on the New Zealand Government for education and promotion of changing attitudes and parenting practice.

[12] In the 2008 Budget the then Labour Government said it was 'providing $446.5 million over the next four years to improve our partnership with community-based social services to help deliver essential services to support children and families, including parenting and family violence programmes, and mentoring at-risk youth.

[21] Most public opposition to the bill came from conservative Christian groups, who believed that it made even "light smacking" of children illegal.

[25] The survey, carried out by UMR Research for the Office of the Children's Commissioner, polled 750 people, of whom 91% were aware of the law change and 72% professed to know "a lot" or "a fair amount" about the legislation.

Results of the questions were: Two petitions for citizens initiated referendums related to the bill were launched in February 2007.

[27] The first petition was presented to the Clerk of the House of Representatives on 29 February 2008,[30] who vetted the signatures along with the Chief Electoral Officer.

[31] The petitioners were required to collect and confirm the requisite number of signatures within two months,[31] to be presented to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

This occurred on 23 June 2008, when Kiwi Party leader Larry Baldock handed over a petition which claimed to have over 390,000 signatures.

The referendum was non-binding (as specified by New Zealand's Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993), and thus did not compel the government to follow its result.

Prime Minister John Key and Leader of the Opposition Phil Goff said the results of the referendum would not commit them to repealing the law.

However, during the post-election negotiations with the Labour Party, NZ First agreed to drop its demand for a referendum on this law.