SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Prostitution Reform (Control of Street Prostitution) Amendment Bill

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Moving prostitutes off New Zealand streets is the only solution to the problems of prostitution – compromises will not work, said NZ First Party Spokesperson for Social Policy/Welfare and Manukau East Asenati Lole-Taylor in a media release on 31 July 2014.

Lole-Taylor failed to retain her seat in parliament at the recent election held on 20 September 2014, so her private member’s bill – Prostitution Reform (Control of Street Prostitution) Amendment Bill – which she submitted to the ballot while a List MP, will need to be re-submitted in the name of another MP, presumably one of the current 11 NZ First Party members, if it has any chance of ever reaching the select committee stage for consideration. It was not selected from the ballot while she was as MP.

The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 and prohibit street prostitution in New Zealand. The Bill restricts the locations where the business of prostitution or commercial sex services may occur to licensed or small owner-operated brothels. [Read more…]

Street prostitution bill moves forward

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South Auckland local politicians are set to release a booklet outlining why a by-law giving them power to restrict street prostitution should be passed.

The politicians want to pass a law which gives Auckland Council the power to remove street prostitution in mixed residential areas like Manurewa, Otahuhu and Hunter’s Corner in Papatoetoe.

The campaign takes another step on Monday with the release of the booklet, which is aimed at convincing MPs and the public of the merits of their case.

Prostitution was legalised in 2002 but although councils had some power to enact by-laws restricting it, Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board chairman John McCracken says it would likely be successfully challenged in court as a breach of human rights.

An earlier bill was defeated 73-46 at its second reading in 2006 but Mr McCracken says there are major differences in the new bill.

“The previous bill was effectively a blanket ban on street prostitution within the former Manukau area. In hindsight that was too severe,” he told NZ Newswire.

“This bill is not giving council the ability to blank out the entire area or make Auckland street prostitution-free. It is very specific.”

He said they were especially trying to protect the rights of residents in areas like Hunter’s Corner.

“Where the circuit is that they operate now we’ve probably got 15 or 20 residences that are directly affected every single night of the week,” Mr McCracken said.

“We’ve got a pensioner village right there now.”

Auckland Council agreed to pick the bill up once Manukau Council was subsumed by the Super City and Mayor Len Brown will be among those at the launch of the booklet.

Former Manurewa MP George Hawkins, the original sponsor of the bill, said last year that soundings from the previous parliament said there was little chance it would be passed.

Source:

http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8499391/street-prostitution-bill-moves-forward

Sunday July 15, 2012 by AAP

NZ Newswire

NZ Newswire

Bill to ban street prostitution – registered charities disagree on bill

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A bill aimed at clearing prostitutes off the streets in trouble spots around Auckland is stirring up debate among supporters and opponents.

Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission headed by Trevor Garrett, has been urging families around New Zealand to make submissions supporting the zoning bill to the select committee, before the deadline passes on February 29, 2012. But ECPAT Child ALERT, also a registered charity with the Charities Commission, has been opposing the bill because it believes it would not solve the problem.

The Bill, which passed its first reading last September was drafted by the Manakau City Council in response to constant complaints from the community and retailers about negative activities of prostitutes in areas such as Hunter’s Corner and Manurewa.

The Auckland council has now picked up the bill, which bans street prostitutes in specified places in the city and gives police powers of arrest.

Family First NZ has been campaigning for a ban on street prostution and also residential brothels to be eventually extended to cover all areas of New Zealand.

For full article see: Cleaning up the streets: Is banning street prostitution the answer?

by Lavinia Ngatoke

Challenge Weekly. February 27, 2012. Vol. 70 Issue 6, p. 1.