29 October, 2004

MPs present prostitution petition

Two MPs today presented 140,000 signatures to the Office of the Clerk at Parliament, placing them about halfway to their goal of having a citizens-initiated referendum on repealing the Prostitution Reform Act on next year's election ballot papers.

The controversial law was passed last year with a 60-59 majority, with one abstention. A two-month extension for the petition was confirmed this week.

"This is an issue that the two of us strongly support as individuals, and we are delighted with the response thus far and the fact that we now have a two-month extension to get the remaining signatures, United Future's Larry Baldock and Gordon Copeland said

With some 44,000 signatures gathered in the last week alone, the pair said they were confident that the petition was now gathering enough momentum to reach the 271,000 signatures required - 10 percent of eligible voters.

"The rush in the last week has been hugely encouraging - it appears to be a bit of a last-minute Kiwi thing, but we are now confident of getting the required signatures," they said.

"We both feel that this misguided piece of legislation was passed against the wishes of New Zealanders and was nothing more or less than a piece of social engineering."

Information and petition forms can be obtained at www.stoptheabuse.org.nz

ENDS

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