Mahuta Nanaia: Prostitution Reform Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Mahuta Nanaia: Prostitution Reform Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:4482] 
NANAIA MAHUTA (NZ Labour—Tainui) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the short title of the Prostitution Reform Bill and to reaffirm that I will be voting against it. I stand as a Maori woman in this House not purporting to represent solely the interests of Maori women or solely the interests of Maori but as someone who comes from a community that discusses issues like prostitution and the impact of alcohol reform on our communities and the things that they want to see happen. 
After the last time we debated this bill in the second reading I went home thinking about all the contributions that had been made in this House. I looked for the Maori word for prostitution but I could not find one. I could not find a Maori word for prostitution and that reaffirmed for me a lot of the messages I receive from a number of communities that I move in. We need our kids to have positive messages and positive affirmation of who they are as Maori. Where does prostitution fit within that picture? A lot of the debate tonight has tried to drive some moral conscience wedge between those who are for prostitution and those who are against it but that is not what it is about. It is about how this bill will affect vulnerable communities and people whom I am a part of representing. 
If I could stand in this House and say that the bill would fix up a lot of the issues surrounding problems involving young Maori in this industry I would vote for it. But I cannot say that because we have had contributions in this House that highlight the number of young Maori who are being prosecuted and being picked up by the police and with or without the Prostitution Law Reform Bill that would be happening. Why? Because that is what is happening in our society. They are vulnerable. They are vulnerable not just from prostitution; they are vulnerable because of drugs and alcohol they are vulnerable because they come from lower socio-economic groups and they are vulnerable because they lack opportunity. 
Where is the direction in terms of this bill for young Maori in our country? I say that it has none. We are trying to dress up this bill by saying it is about providing rights for individuals because it does not affect groups. It does. It affects groups in far more ways than people care to comment on tonight. They will not comment on it because they really do not want to tackle the implications or the impact that the decriminalisation of prostitution will have in communities like mine. 
So I cannot vote for it. I cannot vote for a bill that again seeks to try to make changes in a bad way to law. I cannot vote for it passing through this House. We have a mishmash of amendments sitting on the Table that say to the Committee that prostitution is all right as long as it is “not in my backyard”. What is that saying? We are kind of saying that people can do it but they can do it in that corner. Well over in that corner are people whom I represent. Over in that corner are people who will always be excluded and to the side and none of the things in this legislation will help the issues that are facing them. 
It is bad law but during the progression of this debate I will continue to advocate that it is important that when we debate the bill we recognise the impact it will have on many vulnerable communities. What are we saying there? Are we saying that we currently have the matrix of social policy and networks to support vulnerable groups and populations with existing problems of drug and alcohol abuse? No we cannot say that. We do not have that level of support now. If we did have it now then we would feel a little bit comforted by the fact that the decriminalisation issue would have some kind of buffer already within the social fabric or community in terms of services provided to our communities. But we do not have that. We struggle every day with these issues and decriminalisation of prostitution will continue to compound that. 
I want to acknowledge all the contributions tonight. It is a rare opportunity for each and every individual member to say what he or she thinks. In speaking to the title of the bill I do not support either of the two amendments offered by colleagues in this Committee. The reason is we need to ensure that when we are talking about the aims of this bill we acknowledge that it protects those who are already in the industry and moves towards normalisation. I cannot support that.