A bill that will change street prostitution laws to allow Auckland Council to ban street prostitution in specific places is to be considered by the local government select committee.
Other city councils including Christchurch are expected to show interest and may seek to have the same powers applied generally.
An earlier 2005 bill, relating to Manukau City Council, was voted down in 2006 after it emerged from strongly divided select committee hearings.
The 2003 Prostitution Reform Act decriminalised the sex industry in an attempt to make it safer for participants, while also awarding greater control of the trade to local councils.
The Act gave local bodies power to regulate the location of brothels in the interests of the community but gave them no control over where street workers could solicit, no matter how much opposition there was on the part of the local community.
Source
- New Zealand Herald
- Image: Briarpatch