Goff Phil: Prostitution Reform Bill — Second Reading 
Goff Phil: Prostitution Reform Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:606;Page:3618] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I support the intent of this bill to decriminalise prostitution. Prostitution is a reality in our society. It always has been. Efforts to eliminate it and make it illegal have served only to force it underground not remove it as a practice. Many people work in that industry out of choice. It is a choice I do not understand but I do not believe it is a choice that makes people into criminals. Indeed the people who are their clients have never been made criminals under our law which is a clear example of double standards. Some people are in the industry out of economic necessity often because they are drug addicts. We as a Parliament should probably look at doing more to help the people who come under that category to extract themselves from the industry. But again making them criminals does nothing to help their position.  
It is a fact that in practice we regard prostitution as a victimless offence. The police do not spend much of their valuable time enforcing the laws on prostitution and nor would anyone in this House say they should do so ahead of their other responsibilities in fighting crime. Neither the public nor anyone in this House demands that the police should be enforcing that law. Maintaining a law that we do not intend to enforce brings the law into contempt and frankly is an exercise in hypocrisy. Worse than that making soliciting a crime actually serves as an obstacle to ensuring that people are not subject to exploitation or coercion to eliminating unsafe sexual behaviour and to excluding the criminal organisations that are currently heavily involved in this area.  
In supporting this bill to enable society more effectively to rid itself of those evils I also believe that it is necessary to give greater protection to the community against problems that may continue or problems that may arise under decriminalisation. Tonight I want to foreshadow my intention in the Committee stage to introduce a Supplementary Order Paper to deal with what I see as the shortcomings in the bill as it currently stands. 
The first is the need for some form of licensing albeit light-handed that would give police the authority to act against criminals operating or seeking to operate businesses of prostitution. This is an industry that currently attracts such persons with gangs known to have prostitution alongside drug trafficking and general crime as a significant source of income. My Supplementary Order Paper would require every operator of a business of prostitution to hold a licence—not the sex workers themselves but those who manage and operate the businesses. Those with criminal records involving serious sexual violent drugs or arms offences would be prohibited from holding a licence as would those people who have committed gang-related offences. The goal of that provision clearly is to empower the police to exclude such persons. I doubt that anyone in this House believes that someone with a conviction for rape violence or drug trafficking should lawfully be able to manage and control a brothel. Yet as this bill currently stands that would be the case.  
The second major provision on my Supplementary Order Paper is to allow territorial authorities to make bylaws prohibiting brothels in certain areas. I believe that although most New Zealanders would agree that criminalisation of prostitution is futile and probably counter-productive most would also clearly desire in the event of decriminalisation some controls to prevent the establishment of places of prostitution where they are offensive or inappropriate. Most of us would not want to see brothels established in residential areas or adjacent to preschools or schools. My amendment would allow the local territorial authorities the councils to prohibit the establishment of or to order the removal of a brothel in an area where it would cause a nuisance or serious offence to ordinary members of the public. That would not enable territorial authorities to place a general ban on brothels. There are clearly commercial areas where the establishment of such a place of prostitution would not cause local offence.  
Finally I urge members in this House including members who have some doubts about the bill as it currently stands to vote for the second reading of this bill so that the House can examine ways in which necessary safeguards can be introduced into the legislation during the Committee stage.