Hughes Darren: Prostitution Reform Bill — In Committee 
Hughes Darren: Prostitution Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:608;Page:5757] 
DARREN HUGHES (NZ Labour—Otaki) 
: 
 I support the bill and in doing so I do what a number of other members have done—I acknowledge that this is a bill on which people have very deeply held beliefs. I do not challenge those but I recognise that there is that difference of viewpoints in the Chamber. I sat on the Justice and Electoral Committee so I share the view that was stated in the report. I neither condemn nor condone prostitution but I do acknowledge its long existence and the enduring nature of that existence. Even members who are opposed to this bill have said that as well. So I approach the current debate with the view that at the moment in our law we have a double standard. 
As Dr Mapp noted prostitution in itself is not illegal but the other laws we have mean that it is almost impossible to work as a sex worker without infringing some law. One of the laws that is on the books however does actually criminalise a woman—it is normally a woman—selling sex but does not criminalise a man—and it is normally a man—purchasing sex. I do not believe that that is fair. 
 At the moment the law is making a moral judgment. The law is saying that it is OK to buy sex but that it is not OK to sell it and that is why I believe this bill asks how we can address that situation. Some people say we should go for the Swedish model and criminalise everybody. I do not believe that going for that model and criminalising everybody would do anything to address the concerns that opponents of the bill have—that prostitution is a bad thing that exploits people. I do not believe we would abolish or eliminate prostitution if both parties were being criminalised. 
So we come then to the next step and ask what the legal framework should be for prostitution. There are I think a number of important points that have not necessarily come out in the debate. The bill is being held up as being one of the most immoral pieces of legislation to come into the Chamber yet it does not endorse or morally sanction prostitution in any way. That is an important statement. We are not with this bill trying to normalise prostitution. We are also saying that no one should be induced or compelled into prostitution. When Judith Collins was speaking earlier she said we would be encouraging young people to work in this industry. The bill states that it is illegal to force somebody to work as a prostitute. At the moment on streets around our cities people are being coerced and forced into prostitution and all the people who have concerns about that cannot do anything about it. This bill gives us the chance to make it illegal for people to be coerced into prostitution and it gives us the chance to give the police the weight of the law to stop it and I think that that is actually a very good thing. 
I think it is a very good thing that the bill states that prostitution should not be promoted by schools or by the Accident Compensation Corporation or by Work and Income and that people are not encouraged to work in that field. Judith Collins has said there will be career days advertising prostitution. Nobody who reads this bill could say that that was the case. We are not going to try to force people into that profession at all. 
The most important provision that I as a younger member argued for at the select committee is that no one under the age of 18 be allowed to work as a sex worker. Everybody in this Chamber knows that at the present time there are sex workers under the age of 18 and that is wrong. The provisions in this bill mean that we will be able to make that illegal and we will be able to fight it. Bringing the issue of age into a legal framework bringing it out from underneath the underground as it currently is will mean that people who work in the industry and are participating in it will be able to self-police and say “Hey I know the brothel down the road is actually encouraging people who are under the age of 18 to work in the sex industry.” For the first time we can actually combat child prostitution—because we are setting out in the law the fact that no one under the age of 18 can work in that area. I think that is very important. 
People have spoken about exploitation and the fact that they feel there is exploitation of people who work in this sector. As in many areas of employment in this country there is exploitation but I believe that simply hearing no evil seeing no evil and speaking no evil and saying that the current law is working will not end exploitation at all. This bill does give us the tools to fight the very concerns that all members share and most important it does not pass moral judgment. It recognises the situation we have. I will be voting for this bill.