The Local Government and Environment Committee has reported back [PDF] on the Manukau City Council (Control of Street Prostitution) Bill and recommended that it not proceed. The bill would have recriminalised prostitution in Manukau, contrary to the provisions of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, and imposed draconian penalties for soliciting or related offences such as loitering. It would also have required anyone suspected of an offence to provide the police with their name and address, as well as the name and address and whereabouts of anyone connected with it - a breach of the right to silence of persons arrested or detained affirmed in s23(4) of the Bill of Rights.
As someone who submitted against the bill and argued exactly these points, I'm pleased to see that the committee has paid attention. And I'm also pleased to see yet another moral panic bill get an adverse report. The question now is whether George Hawkins will accept the committee's findings and discharge it, or whether he'll annoy his colleagues by pushing it to a vote...
4 comments:
But prostitution is mainly Rich White people using Poor Brown children in the form of slave exploitation, only much worse because you never get over the abuse.
No Right Turn should look north, look to the Nordic social democratic criminalization of the exploiters.
Posted by Anonymous : 9/08/2006 10:14:00 PM
employment itself is basicaly rich white people (or asian people now I guess) exploiting (ie paying) poor brown people.
(Still I wonder why it makes any difference that they are rich and white as opposed to any other demographic...)
In this case I guess there is a central question of how harmful prostitution is in itself compared with alternative jobs like for example 'toilet cleaning' or 'rubbish collection' which I guess depends on how central we think sex is to human psychology and how easy we think it is to cause people to act against their own self interest.
Posted by Genius : 9/09/2006 12:04:00 PM
Genius, I'm surprised by your nuanced response on labour relations within a market economy. For once I agree with a comment of yours.
Posted by Anonymous : 9/10/2006 03:37:00 AM
Thanks Anthony
Posted by Genius : 9/10/2006 09:16:00 AM
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