Copeland Gordon: Manukau City Council (Control of Street Prostitution) Bill — First Reading 
Copeland Gordon: Manukau City Council (Control of Street Prostitution) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:660] 
GORDON COPELAND (United Future) 
: 
 United Future will be voting in favour of this bill at least for its first reading. I want to begin by extending my congratulations to Sir Barry Curtis and the members of the Manukau City Council for actually sitting down and asking some serious questions about the problem of soliciting for prostitution that is occurring on a wide scale within that city involving many people under 18 years of age. The council has I think at least partly come up with the right solution to that problem—namely that the best way to eliminate soliciting on the streets of Manukau City or of any other city is to fine the client of the prostitute. That is one of the things this bill provides. 
People’s memories are very very short when it comes to the Prostitution Reform Act which United Future opposed and in the course of that legislation through the House predicted it would not work and would result in exploitation on our streets with the kind of unseemly activity that prostitution involves. During the election campaign for example in one of the leaders’ debates between Helen Clark and Don Brash Don Brash was asked the direct question: “Why did you vote for the Prostitution Reform Act?”. His response was that when he learnt that under the old law of New Zealand a prostitute who solicited on the streets got fined but the client of the prostitute escaped scot-free he decided that that was fundamentally unjust sexist and discriminatory and that he would therefore vote for the bill. 
He conveniently or otherwise forgot that Dianne Yates of the Labour Party had introduced an amendment during the course of that legislation proposing to do what Sweden has done. In Sweden it was the Swedish women—45 percent of the Swedish Parliament—who came up with the idea and said: “Why don’t we just reverse that? Why don’t we let the prostitute who is normally a woman do her bit. Furthermore why don’t we get some financial assistance to her so that she can get out of this industry and into something more wholesome and safe. And why don’t we actually put a fine on the client who is normally a male?” Dianne Yates proposed that amendment here. I would have thought that that was the true feminist position one that would be truly in the interests of the women of this country. But no apart from United Future members and literally two or three others Dianne Yates’ amendment was voted down—and most of the women in this Parliament joined in voting it down. People have very short memories because that actually was the answer to the dilemma that Don Brash had proposed in his own mind. 
So I think that we should pass the first reading of this bill tonight and let it go off to the select committee and I suggest when it gets there that the committee once again looks at what has happened in Sweden followed by Denmark followed by Norway and now followed by France. All of those countries have adopted the Swedish model. As a result they have no street soliciting. Those societies—again particularly led by the women—have made up their minds to say: “Can’t we have a vision for a nation that has no prostitutes on the streets? How do we get rid of them? We actually criminalise the client.” I think with respect that Hone Harawira completely missed this point in his speech. The solution that Sir Barry Curtis and his councillors have come up with is partly right. We want to actually see the end of soliciting. Why do we not fine the client? 
I want to make a couple of other comments. Somebody said that the Prostitution Reform Act was passed by this Parliament to improve the safety of sex workers. Yeah right! By definition prostitution is unsafe. No bill passed by this Parliament can sanitise or remove that reality. To prove the point since that Act was passed two young prostitutes are dead. I think it is time we faced up to this problem honestly and said: “Let’s actually bring it to an end; this is not something that our country needs. We can do without it and our society can do without it.” 
I mention one other point. In the confidence and supply agreement between the Labour-led Government and United Future provision has been made for a review to be undertaken of the Prostitution Reform Act to address three issues that are of great concern in Manukau in Christchurch and in a number of other places throughout the country. The first issue in that Act is street soliciting. The second issue is the question of under-age sex. From memory two or three brothel owners have been prosecuted in our courts for employing prostitutes who are under 18 years of age. But do members know that since that Act was passed not one single prosecution has been taken to our courts of the hundreds of people to whom who those under-age prostitutes provided their services? All of those hundreds of people broke the law of this land—every single one of them. Not one of them has been prosecuted. No questions have been asked. We are continuing down the same old blind bigoted way of always blaming the prostitute and always letting the client off. We need to stop that. We need to get real and say that we do not want people selling sex on our streets. Let us fix that by saying: “If you want to go on the streets and buy sex then you’re going to face a fine.” Under the bill by the way it can be as much as 10 grand—and boy I tell members that this bill will actually fix soliciting in Manukau City! 
The bill may not be perfect—bills on their first reading seldom are—but let it at least go through to a select committee so we can actually deal with the issues with I hope some sanity balance and fairness and try to come up with something that will improve the situation in Manukau City for the people of Manukau City. It is their bill and I tell Sue Bradford that there is nothing unilateral about this bill. Manukau City is asking Parliament to pass a law. It is for us to decide whether we want to come to the assistance of the people of Manukau or simply as it were turn cross the street and go past on the other side.