Carter David: Manukau City Council (Control of Street Prostitution) Bill — First Reading 
Carter David: Manukau City Council (Control of Street Prostitution) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:652] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 The National Party will support the referral of the Manukau City Council (Control of Street Prostitution) Bill to the Local Government and Environment Committee. I fully agree with the words just uttered by my parliamentary colleague George Hawkins that there is a problem. I congratulate Sir Barry Curtis and his council on this innovative way of coming up with a solution to their particular problem. But Parliament needs to discuss how the problem arose in the first place. 
The very interesting thing that I managed to get from the Parliamentary Library was the voting record of one Hon George Hawkins when the Prostitution Reform Bill was before Parliament. Here we have a piece of legislation—a local bill—introduced by the Hon George Hawkins to tidy up a mess created by this Parliament when it passed the Prostitution Reform Bill. How did George Hawkins vote on that legislation? Members will be surprised to know that lo and behold on the first reading there is no record of his vote. [ 
Interruption 
] Well we had a few abstentions on that bill. I remember one Mr Choudhary who sat in the back corner after he slunk into Parliament to cast an abstention vote. But on the first reading of the Prostitution Reform Bill no vote was recorded by George Hawkins. 
The new members of Parliament should not be surprised by that because George Hawkins spent an extraordinary amount of time out of the House. He is the former Minister of Police. In question time we regularly had questions for the Minister of Police and they were frequently answered by everybody other than the then Minister of Police George Hawkins because he was a complete embarrassment. But then I looked at how he voted in the second reading of the Prostitution Reform Bill and—surprise surprise—he voted for it. When we came to the third reading he voted for the Prostitution Reform Bill. Here we are about 12 months later with the first initiative by a local council that says that that legislation was a total disaster. 
I am pleased that the architect of the Prostitution Reform Bill Tim Barnett is in the House tonight. However he was not the real architect. That bill was prepared and put into Parliament at the instruction of Helen Clark. Tim Barnett was the sucker—the name—who came forward and put his name to the bill. I remember debating it in the House. I said to him: “Two things will happen. There will be far more prostitution on the streets.” Tim Barnett said that there would not be and here we are with the Manukau City Council telling us that it wants a local bill passed because of that. The other thing many local Aucklanders have told me is that the reason this matter is such a problem is the number of young kids—18 years and younger—who are standing on the street corners of Manukau selling themselves. Again Tim Barnett argued that that would not happen. It just goes to show how naive he and everybody else in this Parliament was in voting for the legislation. Of course we were going to see under 18-year-olds standing on the street corners selling themselves. We made it a legitimate profession in this country for people to be able to leave school and choose to be a prostitute. 
Sue Bradford 
: Not under 18. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Sue Bradford is absolutely right. They cannot be under 18. She thought that because the law says “not under 18” it would not happen. That is how naive Sue Bradford was with this legislation. Of course it was going to happen! And now Sir Barry Curtis comes along. He is a great mate of the Labour Party but his is the very first council that has come up with an innovative solution to a disastrous piece of social legislation. So National will support the bill’s referral to the select committee. 
It will be interesting to see when the other councils come up with a similar solution. Parliament passes a stupid law and straight away councils are having to come back and ask for a solution to it. I think that this bill should go to a select committee and I also invite other city councils all around New Zealand that are striking similar problems to those recognised by Manukau City Council to come forward with local bills. I invite Ashraf Choudhary to cast a vote this time. Members should not be pressured by Helen Clark who knew the numbers were so tight and actually started to instruct people within her caucus how to vote. [ 
Interruption 
] She did not instruct me I can assure that man. I do not take instruction from Helen Clark. Peter Brown might Winston Peters definitely does—we know that; we have seen it all day today in the House—but I do not take instruction from Helen Clark. I decided how I would vote on my conscience and I am quite proud of the way I voted. I think my vote was correct and I think the very fact we have got this sort of legislation— 
Peter Brown 
: Which way did your leader go? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I cannot remember how my leader voted. That does not matter. He made up his own mind and cast his vote. He was not like Ashraf Choudhary who had to get an instruction and then sat in the back corner and abstained. He would not be prepared to come into Parliament because the votes were that close. If my memory serves me right the bill passed by one vote. In fact Ashraf Choudhary could have stopped that legislation from passing and we would not be facing the first local bill introduced by the Hon George Hawkins on behalf of Sir Barry Curtis because that legislation was disastrous. 
George Hawkins came into the House after voting for that legislation after sitting through hours of debate—certainly for the second and third readings—and after being told by people who opposed the legislation that there would be more prostitutes on the street corners more condoms in the school yards and more under-18-year olds and he did not believe that. 
Sue Bradford 
: Where’s your proof of that? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I ask members to listen to what the promoter of the bill said. Only 5 minutes ago the Hon George Hawkins who was supporting this legislation’s referral to the select committee went as far as to name the street corners that were causing problems. That is my proof. He is the local member. He knows the problem is occurring so my question is: why does he not admit he was wrong in voting for the legislation in the first place? That is the real issue. We have similar problems in Christchurch City Council. I can name the street corners where there this has been a problem. I know that there has been a lot of media coverage in the paper about the young kids under 18 years of age. [ 
Interruption 
] Peter Brown seems to think it is funny. I do not. I say to Peter Brown that I have young children and I do not want them to take on a career of prostitution. 
Peter Brown 
: Excellent! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Right—so it is not a joke. Anybody who voted for that legislation and stupidly said that because we legalise prostitution we will not have a problem with under-age people taking up prostitution was frankly either naive or stupid or both. 
Peter Brown 
: The member is exactly right! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I am pleased the member agrees with me on this occasion. 
So I say to George Hawkins that I look forward to the submissions received before the select committee and I look forward to other councils taking the initiative that Sir Barry Curtis has taken. Shortly we will have this sort of legislation being debated before many select committees and we will have a chance to revisit that original legislation. It will be interesting to see how Tim Barnett votes for this legislation. I suspect he will probably go through the Ayes lobby with the Labour caucus. I hope he takes a call. George Hawkins and Tim Barnett should stand in Parliament and admit they got it wrong like many many New Zealanders said at the last election.