Prime Minister John Key is brushing off criticism that Christine Rankin is defying him and undermining the Families Commission.
When Ms Rankin was recently appointed a commissioner, Mr Key said she should not campaign against the anti-smacking law in an upcoming referendum as the commission's position was to support it.
But in an interview published this week in Investigate magazine, Ms Rankin spoke strongly against the 2007 law change, which removed the defence of reasonable force when charged with assaulting a child.
The magazine hit shops as a campaign by opponents of the law urging voters to vote "no" to the question "should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" was launched yesterday.
Ms Rankin did not attend the launch despite earlier being listed as appearing. Organisers said her inclusion was an error.
Mr Key said Ms Rankin had not crossed the line into campaigning.
But Labour leader Phil Goff said the appointment was a bad one and Ms Rankin was defying the Government.
"The prime minister has stated his expectation... and once again she has defied him. How many more times will she do that before the prime minister acts?" Mr Goff asked today.
Ms Rankin was undermining the commission and making "bizarre" claims, including that Child Youth and Family (CYF) were ignoring child abuse to pursue minor matters.
"I think that kind of serious allegation needs to be backed up," Mr Goff said.
Mr Key said he did not believe Ms Rankin had defied him.
He told MPs the controversial former boss of Work and Income had offered her perspective on issues and while Labour was saying Ms Rankin was defying the Government, others were saying she was being "muzzled".
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said she had spoken to Ms Rankin about the interview and she reiterated the Government's position to her.
"She [has] certainly been made very clear that we don't expect her to be actively campaigning on the no vote," she told reporters.
Ms Bennett said the interview was Ms Rankin's personal opinion.
"I think it's pretty clear that Christine Rankin was speaking as Christine Rankin and not as families commissioner and in that case I thought it was quite acceptable."
Ms Rankin was entitled to her own opinion, she said.
In the interview Ms Rankin said the law change was traumatic for families and had had a "huge" psychological effect on New Zealanders.
"I think parents are afraid of how to discipline their children now."
She said parents were being reported to police for incidents such as grabbing a child's arm. Damage was done even if charges were not laid.
Agencies failed to get involved in cases of serious abuse while minor smacks were followed up, she said.
On child abuse, Ms Rankin said sentencing was pathetic.
"You abuse a baby but you can go on and have other babies and they'll stay in your care and CYF will watch and see what happens."
She also questioned whether conditions should be put on benefits.
