Catchpole Brent: Prostitution Reform Bill — In Committee 
Catchpole Brent: Prostitution Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:608;Page:5213] 
BRENT CATCHPOLE (NZ First) 
: 
 Before the dinner break I was reminding Nandor Tanczos that in debates on the bill this House has not been standing in judgment of prostitutes. We have been debating a bill that legalises and decriminalises prostitution and I am saddened that the member tried to say we were all standing in judgment of them. 
With reference to the title Dr Mapp said he had taken polls in his electorate. I suggest that he asked people the wrong questions. Had he asked whether they supported the legalisation and decriminalisation of trafficking in women and drugs I think he would have got a resoundingly different answer. That is the real purpose of this bill. The words “Prostitution Reform” make the title a misnomer. It is not a reform. The report of the Justice and Electoral Committee states: “Prostitution itself is not an illegal activity in New Zealand. However a range of offences can be committed in association with acts of prostitution and the law is such that for most forms of prostitution it is likely a law will be broken at some stage. The purpose of the bill is to decriminalise such activities and make prostitution subject to special provisions in addition to the laws and controls that regulate other businesses.” 
Let us look at what that actually means. The promoter of this bill Tim Barnett tried to tell us that he and his Government want to see prostitution decriminalised so that prostitutes themselves feel free to approach the law to get help. I suggest that this bill will not achieve that; it will automatically decriminalise all the peripheral businesses that surround prostitution. Those businesses include trafficking in women and children and that activity will be decriminalised and promoted. This bill will also promote and decriminalise the other most serious of businesses surrounding prostitution—the drug business. Prostitution and drugs go hand in hand and this bill decriminalises that activity. It saddens me that Tim Barnett would have us believe that the purpose of the bill is the well-being of the prostitute and the public at large. He says he wants to safeguard the human rights of sex workers and protect them from exploitation but this bill misses the mark completely. It will ultimately legitimise other industries around prostitution. 
It is important to note that there are a raft of Supplementary Order Papers on the Table of the House that are trying to soften the purpose of this bill and bring it back to the status quo. They will not do that. We will lose sight of the real purpose of this bill which is the legalisation and decriminalisation of all the peripheral industries associated with prostitution. I mentioned at the beginning of my speech that decriminalising those businesses will be the downfall of this bill. Bringing in these Supplementary Order Papers to try to soften it will only cause us to lose sight of the real purpose of this bill. We will fall into the trap of voting for some of them thinking that we are trying to bring legislation back to the status quo. They will not do that. We must follow our real purpose look at the real reason behind this bill and vote against it.