Prime Minister John Key has been warned he could take a serious credibility hit if he continues to endorse the Latta Review on smacking before he's seen the Investigate magazine article published today.

Responding to the PM's comments to NZPA this morning, where Mr Key said the Latta Review had examined "all" the evidence, Investigate editor Ian Wishart said the Prime Minister will probably regret saying that by the end of the day.

"That comment's the perfect example of a political knee-jerk reaction - circling the wagons because some advisor has told you it's the best course of action. But John Key has just shot himself in the foot, because CYF and Nigel Latta have both admitted in writing that they did not consider 'all' the evidence at all.

"So who's right? Do we believe the Prime Minister when he tells the media his reviewers looked at everything, or do we believe his reviewers when they admit they didn't?"

The documents covered in Investigate's special report clearly show the reviewers failed to examine "all the available information", because if they had they could not honestly have published the comments they did.

ENDS

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