Thursday 12 October 2006

Lack of support on street prostitution bill disappointing

Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis says he is very disappointed that the Manukau City Council (Control Street Prostitution) Bill has not passed its second reading in Parliament, and will not proceed further.

He says, “This was a genuine opportunity for Parliament to respond to a major community concern. I had hoped the legislation would have acted as a trial to determine its effectiveness, recognising that Parliament is committed to reviewing the existing prostitution legislation in several years time.

“The Bill was a genuine call for help by our community and the MPs who voted against it yesterday have let the community down. Manukau City Council has employed just about every other means at its disposal to cope with this issue but without success.

“The legislation would have enabled the police to effectively manage the anti-social behaviours associated with street prostitution. But that opportunity has now been lost.

“Those problems are not going to disappear. Manukau will still have an issue with street prostitutes, the associated ant-social behaviour and the unacceptable situation of very young people prostituting themselves on the streets of our town centres.

“But we will do our best to deal with it. We will continue to work with the Police and other agencies to look at ways to encourage sex workers to get out of the industry or to work in legally-run brothels. We will also participate in the review of the Prostitution Reform Act.”

ENDS

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