Ongoing problems with Street workers in South Auckland no surprise The Kiwi Party

Kiwi Party leader Larry Baldock said it was no surprise that there were ongoing problems in South Auckland with street prostitutes making life miserable for nearby residents.

Responding to the latest attempts by the Manukau City Council to take action on the problem, Mr Baldock said it was disappointing to hear the Minister of Justice saying that a full review of the Prostitution Reform Act was not on the Government’s agenda.

Firstly the Minister should be aware that the problem created by street workers can be fixed with a simple amendment and does not require a complete review of the PRA. Making the purchase of sexual services on the street an offence would deal with the problem overnight. No matter what your view of the sale of sexual services, there is simply no good reason why sex workers should be allowed to sell their services anywhere at anytime. No other business is given such freedom. Imagine the chaos if salespersons could set up on the sidewalk anywhere and sell anything from watches to bananas!

Since the PRA and the establishing of legalised brothels, not to mention the vast array of advertising opportunities in the personal notices section of the newspapers there are no reasons why street soliciting should be tolerated.

Not only is there a problem with the mess, and noisy disturbances at all hours of the night and morning that local residents with their families have to cope with, but we should also be reminded that street sex work is a dangerous occupation. Since the PRA was passed there have been three street prostitutes murdered in the vicinity of Manchester St in Christchurch.

There are a number of countries and cities now adopting or investigating adopting the Swedish laws introduced a decade ago with excellent results that criminalised the buyer and offered employment retraining to the sex workers.
Catherine Healy’s response from the Prostitutes collective suggesting the council supply more rubbish bins is typical of the lack of concern the NZPC has for decent families and the rights of ordinary citizens.

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