Mahuta Nanaia: Prostitution Reform Bill — Procedure Third Reading 
Mahuta Nanaia: Prostitution Reform Bill — Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:6603] 
NANAIA MAHUTA (NZ Labour—Tainui) 
: 
Tena koe tenatatau katoa. A ka tu au ki te mihi ki nga hoa rangapu katoa i roto itenei Whare Paremata e paana ki tenei take te mahi puremu te mahi kairau. A tuatahi ka tu au ki te hoki oku mahara ki nga kupu korero o ngamatua tupuna ko te wahine te whare tangata. Ko te wahine te whare korero ko te wahine te whare wananga. Koinatetehi o nga tohu rangatira ki a mataungawahine hei tiaki i o tataunei tamariki kia kore kia kore kia kore e warewarengatohutohu a koro a kuimano te mea kei a rataungawhakatupuranga kei a rataungakakano a tonawa ka puawai. 
[ 
Greetings to you and to us all. I stand to extend greetings to all colleagues in this House of Parliament in respect of this matter of prostitution. And firstly my thoughts return to the words of the parents and ancestors who said that women are the childbearers; that women are the house of knowledge and the house of learning. This indeed is one of the sacred vestiges belonging to women who watch over our children and never ever forget the teachings of our grandfathers and grandmothers because they are the forefathers of future generations and in time those seeds blossom in fullness 
.] 
Briefly I give greetings to all members of this House on this particular bill. I turn my thoughts to some of the sayings of our old people who say that women are the whare tangata and that they are the vessels of knowledge and wananga for our people. They say that because women have the gift of being life-bearers the gift of being nurturers and the gift of looking after that which is most important: our children within our families. I acknowledge that and that this is a difficult issue. It is one on which every member of the House has been challenged personally has been challenged politically and most certainly has been challenged by every constituent in his or her electorate. But I stand quite simply to reiterate that I will not be supporting this bill. 
This is the third reading of a bill that deals with a most difficult and challenging issue that faces us all. A number of issues have been raised in the context of whether this bill will achieve what it sets out to do and whether it will provide improved health and safety standards. Time and time again the people we are most concerned about are those who are most vulnerable in this part of the sex industry. I do not purport to know everything about the sex industry and I wish I did but what I have endeavoured to do is to try to go out and talk to people and to try to understand things. I have visited Australia and seen the models in Victoria and New South Wales and what has come up time and time again is that no amount of legislation will protect those who are most vulnerable in this industry. Those people will be those who work on the street—it is purely and simply that. It will be youth. And what are we to do? Speakers in this House have said that to do nothing is irresponsible. However I say that not to do more would be irreversible. 
What are we saying here? All those people who do not support this bill are not saying that the issue will stop here. We are not saying that if this bill is defeated tonight the story will end there. We are saying that we must make a commitment as parliamentarians in this House to show leadership to the current generation of young people and to show that we are prepared to tackle the hard issues—and we will do so. We will not turn a blind eye and I am disappointed in some of the statements that have been made in this House that imply that particular slant on the position that I represent. I have made no secret of my stance on this particular issue. Let me say something to people who are currently wavering or who are not sure where they stand on it. In every Maori community that I have visited the social service organisations alternative education organisations and health services have all asked how at a time when they find it really hard and struggle to provide good role models for youth the decriminalisation of prostitution will improve the already difficult messages that really affect their young people. 
We cannot let that situation continue. This is a serious issue. I ask any person in this House who has not yet made up his or her mind to think about the current and future generations of youth and to make his or her decision accordingly. No reira tena koutou katoa.