Flavell Te Ururoa: Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill — First Reading 
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TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa. I take just a brief call on the Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill to state where the Maori Party sits. We are aligned as a party in respect of our stand on this issue. 
We recognise that Maori might take up some roles here and there—just like any other New Zealander—in the wider sex industry. Some will be street-based workers; the research tells us that Maori are more likely to be represented here than in managed or private businesses. Maori may be managers or owners and Maori may access commercial sexual services. But a wider group of whanau is also affected either by their family member’s involvement in the sex industry or simply as members of communities in which the business of prostitution or commercial services plays out. 
Prominent in our thinking around any legislation to do with the sex industry is the matter of health and public safety not just of the workers but of the greater community as a whole. The literature tells us that people enter the industry primarily for economic reasons. Most sex workers are female and female workers most often cited the need to pay for household expenses as well as to support their families. Ironically it is the working conditions—the flexible working hours and the ability to earn money readily at rates often exceeding the minimum hourly wage—that attract many of the participants. 
Some research provided to the Prostitution Law Review Committee also provided some interesting ideas around how to encourage workers to exit the industry. Transgender sex workers spoke of the lack of acceptance in society and the feeling of belonging that they got from working with people who were more similar to them. Young sex workers also spoke of the feeling of acceptance and the family-like atmosphere they got from working on the streets. So some bigger issues around the existence of the sex industry need to be tackled before one simply imposes a ban that prohibits the business as with this particular bill. 
All of that background being in place when the Ministry of Justice reported back on 1 May 2009 about the impact of the prostitution law reform it concluded: “localised approaches are likely to be more effective than legislation” for dealing with the issue. It recommended that the council the police residents business owners and sex workers work together to address the community tensions and antisocial behaviour set out by other colleagues in the House this afternoon. 
It is very hard to understand why Mr Hawkins would ignore that advice and put a bill forward anyway. Even more worrying is the extent of the new authorities that Mr Hawkins is seeking to invest in the police to deal with prostitution by granting officers powers of arrest that would enable them to stop and search vehicles and demand that passengers state their private details merely on suspicion of committing an offence under this Act. We do not find favour with that. If the passengers—frightened embarrassed or fearful of being outed—happen to object they will be stung anyway with a $1000 fine. 
So many other things could have been done to improve the health and safety of people in Manukau City. For example appropriately targeted and well-designed programmes can offer support education and advocacy to young Maori and others involved in prostitution. The programmes provided by Te Aronga Hou Inaianei for example provide services to those soliciting on the streets of Counties-Manukau. The outreach service the toro atu is a mobile service offering information and support. The awhinatia service links takatapui and youth with appropriate support services. The knowledge and training service matauranga provides well-being education awareness programmes personal development and vocational rehabilitation. 
We do not support this bill going forward. We believe that it sets an undesirable precedent in creating a local exception to the Prostitution Reform Act. Finally we believe that those involved in the sex industry are regulated far more effectively by family and peers than by legislation and the police.