The “New Zealand model” for prostitution liberalisation doesn’t work
Written By:
- Date published:
6:09 am, February 4th, 2024 - 57 comments
Categories: feminism, sexism, violence against women, women's rights party -
Tags: prostitution, sunil williams
lprent: There is an unsubstantiated assertion of fact in this Guest post that the Green party has been putting pressure to relax section 19 of the Prostitution Law Reform Act 2003. See my comment at the end of the post
weka: The Women’s Rights Party have responded, see the end of the post.
Cross-posted from The Women’s Rights Party website.
Sunil Williams January 31, 2024
It is 20 years since the passing of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, which fully decriminalised prostitution in New Zealand.
The Women’s Rights Party, New Zealand and the Women’s Declaration International – New Zealand are concerned that women’s rights and safety are not being upheld under the current legislation.
The evidence we have included in our joint submission to Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, for her Report to the Human Rights Council on Prostitution and Violence Against Women and Girls, shows that the “New Zealand model” is not working to protect the rights, welfare and safety of women and girls, or to protect them from violence and harm, even though this was a stated purpose of the 2003 legislation.
We are seeking a full review of the legislation, including the consideration of alternatives to the current full decriminalisation approach and for resources to be provided for women to exit prostitution.
TO: Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls
Submission to the report of the Special Rapporteur on VAWG to the Human Rights Council on prostitution and violence against women and girls.
Submitted by:
The Women’s Right’s Party, New Zealand
Women’s Declaration International, New Zealand
Thank you for the opportunity to make this submission.
The Women’s Rights Party New Zealand is a registered political party that promotes the sex- based rights of women and girls in New Zealand.1
The Women’s Declaration International promotes the sex-based rights of Women and girls in accordance with the principles of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women. 2 Both organisations stand against all forms of violence against women and girls.
New Zealand legislation
It is twenty years since the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, which fully decriminalised prostitution in New Zealand, was passed. 3
The Women’s Rights Party, New Zealand and the Women’s Declaration International – New Zealand are concerned that women’s rights and safety are not being upheld under the current legislation. The evidence does not show that the “New Zealand model” is working to protect the rights, welfare and safety of women and girls, or to protect them from violence and harm, even though this was a stated purpose of the 2003 legislation. 4
A 2008 Review by the Ministry of Justice showed that decriminalisation has not stopped violence against women in postitution. This is explained in a 2016 report from the Stop Demand Foundation, from which we include material in this submission. We attach a copy of the report.5
A promised 2018 Review from the New Zealand Government never materialised.6
An in-depth review in 2023 revealed similar concerns, and pointed out that brothel inspections, which were mandated by the legislation are not happening.7
We would like a full review of the legislation, including the consideration of alternatives to the current full decriminalisation approach. We urgently call for resources to be provided for women to exit prostitution.
In 2016 the Stop Demand Foundation noted that despite decriminalisation, violence against women in prostitution continues to be rife.
In the attached copy of their report, they note:8
- Prostitution has its roots in gender inequality.
- Prostitution is a highly gendered system, which facilitates and perpetuates harm and violence by men towards women.
- Globally, violence towards women in prostitution is rife.
- Decriminalisation has not prevented women who are prostitutes from being ivciously murdered.
- Women cannot be protected from the violence and harms that are inherent within
prostitution. Women can only be protected by dismantling the sex trade. - While stigmatisation against prostitution largely persists, removing the stigma of illegality through decriminalisation has paved the way for desperate women to proceed down a potentially destructive path from which it can be difficult to recover.
- Decriminalisation has removed some of the associated stigma amongst our youth, including girls as young as 13, as well as the abusers who rape and sexually exploit them.
- Prostitution is not “work like any other.” No industry that is inherently predicated
on gendered violence, inequality and degradation should be elevated to the
status of work.9
They note, specifically, that in a 12-month period following decriminalisation, a Ministry of Justice Report (2008) found:
Of women engaged in street prostitution
- 39% had been threatened with physical violence
- 31% experienced refusal by client to pay
- 24% had money stolen by a client
- 13% had been physically assaulted by clients
- 11% had received abusive text messages from clients
- 10% had been held somewhere against their will
Of women engaged in the managed indoor sector (e.g. brothels)
- 10% had been physically assaulted by clients
Of women engaged in the private indoor sector
(eg small owner-operated brothels (SOOB), purportedly the “safest” sector)
- 36% had received abusive text messages from clients
- 16% had been threatened with physical violence
- 12% had experienced refusal by clients to pay10
Stop Demand summarises the impacts of decriminalisation of prostitution:
- it is luring desperate young women, from New Zealand and overseas, into
prostitution. - it has led to a rise in child prostitution.
- it has not prevented murders of women in prostitution.
- it has not prevented other forms of violence against women in prostitution.
- some women are forced to operate in unsafe and slave like conditions where often
the only redress is through the Employment Court. - it has led to “bargain-basement” sex for sale prices
- it has not deterred unsafe sex practices.
- it continues to entrench gender inequality.
- it has led to an increase in unlicenced brothels.
- it assists traffickers by removing a major obstacle within prostitution, its illegality.
- it has increased sex tourism.11
A recent evidence-based review by Auckland researcher Tony Pitt and UK-based Helen Johnson from Stand Against Sexual Exploitation (SASE) highlighted several significant concerns:
- Increased numbers of prostitutes.
- Health and safety violations – and the reality of violence.
- Low rates of reporting and prosecuting violations.
- The black market, including internal trafficking.
- Lack of support for exiting the industry.
- Brothel inspections: are mandated but not happening.
- Failure to implement recommended changes. A review of the law reform in 2008
made 28 recommendations, however only 11 have been implemented.12
There has been pressure in New Zealand from the Green Party and others to relax our immigration laws to allow women to come into the country in order to enter the sex trade here. We oppose such a step, which would amount to the encouragement of international trafficking.
Already, in New Zealand, many girls enter prostitution at a very young age, and may be homeless, having fled violent homes. This is often a form of domestic trafficking.1314
The Women’s Rights Party is also concerned that pornography, which includes filmed prostitution, rough sex, strangulation, other forms of violence, and sexual abuse, sends a message that such violence and abuse of women is acceptable.
Some personal stories from survivors of prostitution
These stories illustrate the vulnerability of the young women, the lack of meaningfu
choice or consent, the violence and rape inherent in prostitution, the child abuse, and
the fact that decriminalisation did not stop this and in some ways may have worsened it.
Michelle Mara
“After decrim, nothing changed. The police had never bothered us anyway. If they were going to check, we always got a heads up. I saw a cop maybe twice.”
“But it also did change. I felt less safe. I didn’t know what it was at the time. But looking
back it was a shift in the structure. More responsibility was on us.”
“After decrim there were fees for everything and no mercy. The sense of solidarity was gone between the girls because we worked ‘to appointment.’ We passed like ships in the cold hard daylight. No music, no illusion. Legal was hell.”
“Since decriminalisation was introduced in 2003, the only illusion that’s left is the one women now tell themselves – that it’s real legitimate work. We know it’s not but that’s all that’s left to throw at the world. No woman in the sex trade will be able to say otherwise because you have to survive, and anyone who tries to say you are a victim is attacking the illusion. The vital illusion.”15
Chelsea Geddes
“I am one of those women who are said to be here by choice. No one person groomed me into this choice, granted I was underage when I was first faced with this choice but it was still my own ‘choice’ as you define the word.”
“That element of choice didn’t make the experiences I have had over the years in the industry and with johns any different to the experiences that someone trafficked or tricked into the industry by a Romeo would have had with those same johns.”
“And the fact that a woman’s choice is unequal to a man’s choice in this society is why prostitutes are mostly women and girls, and why johns are nearly always men, and why pimps put their money behind the ‘feminist’ “It’s a woman’s choice” line in media and advertising, and it’s why we need feminism at all.”16
“I wanted to stay in school, and I needed an adult to take me in permanently… A school friend introduced me to Brian…Brian would later be convicted of 47 charges related to sexual assault against 14 boys aged 9-16. I was only 16 at the time of his arrest, but somehow didn’t factor as a victim of rape and abuse by this man, because without him I was homeless. I was without parents and had nowhere to go.” 17 18
Allie Marie Diamond
“My very first client was obese and sweaty. As we walked in the room and he got undressed, and stepped into the shower, I had to stop myself from gagging. The smell, the sweaty, crusty stench filled my nostrils, and as I took a breath in, I could feel my stomach contents hit the bottom of my throat. Not long after he was out of the shower, he picked me up and threw me across the room, yelling I was nothing but a useless black bitch, who couldn’t even get him hard. He slapped me with so much force, the sting on my skin bought me to tears but I fought them back, not wanting to show any weakness.”
“‘Sex work’ is a glorified term for paid rape! Those men never paid me for my time company. They paid to fuck me in every single hole they could find, even when I said no. Getting fucked 20 times or more a day is NOT Work. This is terrorism against women. A sustained international attack on vulnerable women, girls, children.”19
Conclusion
There is strong evidence that decriminalistion has not worked in New Zealand to protect women and girls from violence and harm. Reviews of the 2003 legislation and testimony from survivors suggest that violence and harm may be inherent in prostitution.
We call for a new review of the New Zealand legislation, to assess its success in protecting women and girls from violence, harm, exploitation, and in promoting their health and welfare. The review should include a consideration of Nordic/Equality models from overseas which prosecute those who benefit from the exploitation of prostitutes but do not prosecute the prostitutes themselves and instead, assist them to exit prostitution.
Chimene del la Varis and Jill Ovens, Co-Leaders Women’s Rights Party, New Zealand Janet, Women’s Declaration International- New Zealand contact person
lprent: I can see no evidence of “the Green party pressure” in the post anywhere. I also see no evidence of it on searching the net. I can see discussion in select committee and parliament related to the original act, select committee submissions, and in the light of a UN recommendation in 2018.
I am not interested in operating a site that posts an article using the worst and most effective smear tactics of Whaleoil by using unsubstantiated and probably false assertions of fact to smear others. I am concerned now that The Women’s Rights Party is currently using these tactics.
Unless there is a clear clarification that satisfies me at a legal and political level and a commitment to not put this site at risk, no further cross-posts from The Women’s Right Party will be allowed on this site. I may also start monitoring their material and highlighting any repeated instances that I find with my opinion about such deliberate tactics.
weka: the Women’s Rights Party responded:
We have reviewed the evidence and can confirm that repeal of s19 of the Prostitution Reform Act, which effectively bans temporary Visa holders from working in the sex industry in New Zealand, is being called for and has been on the agenda ever since s19 was added to the proposed legislation.
In fact there was a petition to Parliament reported on Stuff, 17 April 2018 with the intro: “New Zealand must legalise sex work for migrants to prevent human trafficking, sex industry advocates say.” Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Jackie Blue is one of several quoted in that article saying the legislation should be amended to include migrants.
Of many Stuff articles on the subject of repeal of s19, Ricardo Menendez March, Green Party Immigration spokesperson, is quoted by Mildred Armah, Stuff, 7 August 2023, as saying the legislation is completely “dehumanising” and that “Politicians are too scared to do what is right for a community that has traditionally been scapegoated by people in power.”
Nevertheless, we have decided to revise our statement, citing the latest Stuff article to the following:
There has been pressure in New Zealand to repeal s19 of the Prostitution Reform Act which bans temporary Visa holders from working in the sex industry.[1] We strongly oppose repeal of the provision, which would amount to the encouragement of international trafficking.
[1] Sex workers ‘afraid’ of reporting abuse, fearing deportation | Stuff
- https://womensrightsparty.nz ↩︎
- Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
↩︎ - Prostitution Reform Act 2003 ↩︎
- ibid 3.Purpose ↩︎
- https://www.stopdemand.org/webfiles/StopDemandNZ/files/Prostitution_Submission_Stop_Demand_Foundation_New_Zealand.pdf ↩︎
- WDI FQT AUS/NZ Michelle Kelly ‘Why the New Zealand Prostitution Law Harms Women in the Sex
Trade’ ↩︎ - https://familyfirst.org.nz/2023/06/25/prostitution-law-review-benefits-exaggerated-shortcomings-
ignored-denied-or-hidden/ ↩︎ - Submission on Prostitution to UN Women from Stop Demand Foundation. ↩︎
- Submission on Prostitution to UN Women from Stop Demand Foundation pages 2-5 ↩︎
- ibid, Appendix A, p7. ↩︎
- ibid, Appendix B, p9. ↩︎
- https://familyfirst.org.nz/2023/06/25/prostitution-law-review-benefits-exaggerated-shortcomings-
ignored-denied-or-hidden/ ↩︎ - https://wahinetoarising.nz/survivor-stories/new-zealands-reality/ ↩︎
- https://nordicmodelnow.org/testimonial/ally-marie-diamond/ ↩︎
- https://nordicmodelnow.org/testimonial/michelle-mara/ ↩︎
- https://nordicmodelnow.org/testimonial/olivia/
↩︎ - https://nordicmodelnow.org/testimonial/olivia/ ↩︎
- https://wahinetoarising.nz/survivor-stories/new-zealands-reality/ ↩︎
- https://nordicmodelnow.org/testimonial/ally-marie-diamond/ ↩︎
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Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...6 days ago - Maori push for parallel government structuresMichael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...6 days ago
- An announcement about an announcementWithout a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...6 days ago
- All the Green Tech in China.
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...6 days ago - Western Express SuccessIn our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...6 days ago
- Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix of the news links at 7:16am on Monday, April 22
TL;DR: These six news links stood out in the last 24 hours to 7:16am on Monday, April 22:Labour says Kiwis at greater risk from loan sharks as Govt plans to remove borrowing regulations NZ Herald Jenee TibshraenyHow did the cost of moving two schools blow out to more than $400m?A ...6 days ago - The Kaka’s diary for the week to April 29 and beyond
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...6 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #16A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...6 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: The Government’s new fast-track invitation to corruptionThe ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...7 days ago
- Thank you
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...7 days ago - Determining the Engine Type in Your Car
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...1 week ago - How to Become a Race Car Driver: A Comprehensive GuideIntroduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...1 week ago
- How Many Cars Are There in the World in 2023? An Exploration of Global Automotive StatisticsIntroduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...1 week ago
- How Long Does It Take for Car Inspection?Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...1 week ago
- Who Makes Mazda Cars?Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...1 week ago
- How Often to Replace Your Car Battery A Comprehensive GuideYour car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...1 week ago
- Can You Register a Car Without a License?In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the Rule If you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...1 week ago
- Mazda: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Reliability, Value, and PerformanceMazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...1 week ago
- What Are Struts on a Car?Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...1 week ago
- What Does Car Registration Look Like: A Comprehensive GuideCar registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...1 week ago
- How to Share Computer Audio on ZoomZoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...1 week ago
- How Long Does It Take to Build a Computer?Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...1 week ago
- Gaza: Aotearoa Must Support Independent Investigation into Mass GravesTe Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...2 days ago
- Release: Working together on consistent support for veterans this Anzac Day
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...3 days ago - Release: Penny drops – but what about Seymour and Peters?Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...4 days ago
- Another ‘Stolen Generation’ enabled by court ruling on Waitangi Tribunal summonsTonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...4 days ago
- Release: Budget blunder shows Nicola Willis could cut recovery fundingIt appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...4 days ago
- Further environmental mismanagement on the cards
The Government’s resource management reforms will add to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is loading on to our environment. ...5 days ago - Release: RMA changes will be a disaster for environmentThe Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour supports urgent changes to emergency management systemLabour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour calls for New Zealand to recognise PalestineThe Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...5 days ago
- Release: Three strikes law political posturing of worst kindThe Government is bringing back a law that has little evidential backing just to look tough, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...5 days ago
- Release: Government cuts unbelievably target child exploitation, violent extremism, ports and airpor...Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...5 days ago
- Three strikes has failed before and will fail againResurrecting the archaic three-strikes legislation is an unwelcome return to a failed American-style approach to justice. ...6 days ago
- Release: Environmental protection vital, not ‘onerous’The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...6 days ago
- Ferris – Three Strikes targets those ‘too brown to be white’The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts doctors and nurses in hiring freezeCuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...1 week ago
- Fast-track submissions period must be extendedThe Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...1 week ago
- Release: Progress on climate will be undone by GovtNew Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...1 week ago
- Release: Dark day for Kiwi kids as a third of Govt cuts affect themNews that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Alarm as Government signals further blow to school lunchesMore essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...2 weeks ago
- Oranga Tamariki cuts commit tamariki to state abuseTe Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Quick, submit – stop Govt’s dodgy approvals billThe Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...2 weeks ago
- Government throws coal on the climate crisis fireThe Government’s policy announced today to ease consenting for coal mining will have a lasting impact across generations. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Public transport costs to double as National looks at unaffordable roading project insteadCancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Cost of living in Auckland still not a priorityA laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori to visit Queensland to strengthen ties with Māori in AustraliaTe Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...2 weeks ago
- Greens look to fast-track submissions on harmful lawThe Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt should stop making people’s lives harder and build more homesThe National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Melissa Lee missing in action on mediaThe action Melissa Lee promised to protect democracy and the media sector is missing, Media and Communications spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...2 weeks ago
- Landlord Government leaves little hope for rentersThe Government’s announcement on tenancy rules prove that it does not care about renters. ...2 weeks ago
- Opportunity to build a more sustainable economyGreen Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...2 weeks ago
- Significant step forward in fixing cruel and unjust pastA significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...2 weeks ago
- Missed opportunity but NZ will surely one day recognise the right to a sustainable environmentNew Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Don’t cut our lunches – clear message sent to GovernmentTens of thousands of people are demanding the Government commits to fully funding free and healthy school lunches. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Govt makes U-turn on Suicide Prevention OfficeLabour welcomes the Government’s U-turn on the closure of the Suicide Prevention Office, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...3 weeks ago
- CCC issues warning over further climate delayToday’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...3 weeks ago
- Luxon targets lame and lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...3 weeks ago
- Luxon targets are lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Commitment to disability communities missing from Govt prioritiesMinister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...3 weeks ago
- Taking action on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...16 hours ago - New sports complex opens in KaikoheRegional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...18 hours ago
- Diplomacy needed more than everForeign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...21 hours ago
- Anzac Commemorative Address, Buttes New British Cemetery BelgiumAmbassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...1 day ago
- Anzac Commemorative Address – NZ National Service, Chunuk BairDistinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...2 days ago
- Anzac Commemorative Address – Dawn Service, Gallipoli, TürkiyeMai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...3 days ago
- PM announces changes to portfoliosPaul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...4 days ago
- New catch limits for unique fishery areasRecreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...4 days ago
- Minister welcomes hydrogen milestoneEnergy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...4 days ago
- Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment BillThe coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...5 days ago
- Overseas decommissioning models consideredOverseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...5 days ago
- Release of North Island Severe Weather Event InquiryEmergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...5 days ago
- Justice Minister to attend Human Rights CouncilJustice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...5 days ago
- Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facilityAssociate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...6 days ago
- Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...6 days ago
- Government to introduce revised Three Strikes lawThe Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...6 days ago
- New diplomatic appointmentsForeign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...6 days ago
- Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and SomaliaNew Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...6 days ago
- Arts Minister congratulates Mataaho CollectiveMinister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...7 days ago
- Supporting better financial outcomes for KiwisThe Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...7 days ago
- Trade relationship with China remains strong“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...7 days ago
- PM’s South East Asia mission does the businessPrime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...1 week ago
- $41m to support clean energy in South East AsiaNew Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...1 week ago
- Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder listThe Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...1 week ago
- Judicial appointments announcedAttorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...1 week ago
- Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in SingaporeEducation Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...1 week ago
- Value of stopbank project proven during cycloneA stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...1 week ago
- Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visitForeign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...1 week ago
- Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac DayScience, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...1 week ago
- Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the PhilippinesPrime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...1 week ago
- Government commits $20m to Westport flood protectionThe Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...1 week ago
- Taupō takes pole positionThe Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...1 week ago
- Cost of living support for low-income homeownersLocal Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...1 week ago
- Government backing mussel spat projectThe Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...1 week ago
- Government focused on getting people into workBenefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...1 week ago
- Clean energy key driver to reducing emissionsThe Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...1 week ago
- Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forwardThe Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...1 week ago
- Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic PartnershipPrime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...1 week ago
- Government consults on extending coastal permits for portsRMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...2 weeks ago
- Inflation coming down, but more work to doToday’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...2 weeks ago
- Government urged to hit the gas on revamp of road user charges
Infrastructure New Zealand is pushing for new road user charges to be brought in quicker to help relieve pressure on strained transport funding. ...9 hours ago - US student Palestine protests against Israel’s war on Gaza inspire global action
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...11 hours ago - Former Te Whatu Ora chairperson Rob Campbell criticises Health NZ's 'savings' directi...Rob Campbell said it shows "poor management" and is "frankly irresponsible". ...12 hours ago
- ‘To lead is to serve’ – Governor-General to call PM election in Solomon IslandsRNZ Pacific The race to form the next government of Solomon Islands could be a tight one, with no single party emerging from the election with enough seats to govern. Caretaker prime minister Manasseh Sogavare’s Our Party did the best, securing 15 out of the 50 seats in the House. ...13 hours ago
- Bryce Edwards – FastTrackWatch: The Case for the Government’s Fast Track BillAnalysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz) New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...14 hours ago
- NZ and Türkiye pledge cooperation during natural disastersThe two countries have "a long history of coming to each other's aid", including after the 2023 Turkish earthquakes, Winston Peters says. ...16 hours ago
- Waste not, want not: New series Food Waste Kitchen turns food trash into treasure
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...16 hours ago - Vaping regulations fight 'immeasurably harder' under coalition – campaignerFocus on Politics - Successive governments have claimed crack downs on youth vaping, but the bending and breaking of rules seems pervasive. ...17 hours ago
- Dog of the month: Scout, who is so independent she could be a catScout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...18 hours ago
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Wff ????
Some times the greens just make me shake my head with disbelief!
I notice there are plenty of references in the article but nothing to back up that particular claim.
I couldn't find anything about it online in a quick check including in the Greens immigration policy.
Yeah, I think that claims needs a
*citation needed
It is in their women's policy https://www.greens.org.nz/womens_policy in the strategic priorities part at the end.
thanks Dawn, that's a good start. It doesn't however read to me as if the Greens are using pressure to relax immigration law in order to allow women to immigrate here to do sex work.
While I agree there are serious problems with their position, it reads to me more like they are pro-immigration generally, and within that they want to protect sex workers who are migrants. ie they want to protect migrant women in NZ who are doing sex work by removing criminality (which is obviously an additional issue for migrant women).
For reference, the quote from the post,
from the full policy doc,
https://assets.nationbuilder.com/beachheroes/pages/9637/attachments/original/1683326641/Policy-Greens_Womens-Policy-2014-2023.pdf?1683326641
FFS: I have no idea what the TWRP reads when they read legislation
I will give the short version. What they say is that they support the existing Prostitution Reform Act – the one that has been here for 20 years. That the TWRP appears to not want to support it is a point of difference. But in this case it means that the TWRP are the radicals.
You know, the one that made sex work legal and mostly governed by civil law.
There are certain parts of the sex industry still under criminal law. The problem is that they are pretty much the same laws that everyone is under.
From memory, they have to do with not making people under the age of 18 do sex work (no-one is allowed to force people to work and no-one is allowed to become a soldier before certain ages), not having unprotected sex in sex work (requirement on both the worker and the client), requiring a operators license for operating a brothel (just like having a gun shop and other activities), makes it criminal to force sex (it is called rape), and requiring consent at all times, and the usual criminal laws.
Payment and service are civil matters.
The majority of people with temporary visas here also have to conform to the conditions on their visa or they can face deportation. This again is exactly the same as any visitor. One of those is about numbers of hours of work on a visitors visa (20 hours a week?), which appears to be the one used most often to deport sex workers.
Another is that a visa may not be issued for being involved in sex work. Any visa can be removed if it can be shown that it is being used for sex work.
The Greens didn't say that they want to get rid of s19. They said that they want better support for migrant sex workers.
The illegality about visas isn't criminal law. Violating the immigration act isn't a criminal offence – it just gets you deported and makes it very difficult to get a visa again.
When you reduce it down, based on Dawns' comment, she seems to be saying that the Greens simple statement …
… is somehow a statement of intent to remove s19. Which wasn't said as being the solution. It was a statement identifying a problem that they wanted to help to fix.
BTW: from what I know and the material I have read today, it would be extremely hard to find anyone who would say that statement by the Greens was incorrect.
It would be like saying that sex work brings absolutely no problems with it. Or that we eradicate eliminate sex work entirely. Or that the Swedish model of sex work (prosecuting clients) stops road side prostitution. None of those things are true either.
So far I haven't seen anything that indicates that the TWRP has any better alternatives.
Jill clarified below. It's about repeal of s. 19. Green MP Menendez is quoted in a Stuff piece supporting repeal.
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-new-zealand-model-for-prostitution-liberalisation-doesnt-work/#comment-1988066
As the Green Party differing view said in "Report of the Education and Workforce Committee Petition of Pandora Black: Repeal Section 19 of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003"
….
The arguments for repealing s19 on the first quote would probably pass through parliament without much of stir today. Essentially Pandora Black proved her case about the issues with s19. As she pointed out
But repealing or changing s19 won't pass parliament (or for that matter gain my support) because of the immigration problems. The kicker is that it would make little to no difference. The second quote from the Green Party differing view makes no sense at any level apart from compassion – it is a wishful fantasy and simply won’t solve anything.
I can't see a lot of support for cutting work visas for other industries to provide room for commercial sex work. It'd raise a fire storm from employers desperate for labour in a constrained market. It'd probably resurrect the false offshore student scam that so distorted our educational institutions that most are still in dire straits years after a pandemic cut the guts out of that financial lifeline. etc..
So what we will get is what MoBIE states in their submission to the committee
I can't see any immediate obvious way around this conundrum. We can't change out immigration system to accommodate just one sector with a issue. The horticultural sector is bad enough for exploitation and it is largely legal operations that have been the worst offenders.
I'm unconvinced by the MoBIE solution of a phone line and a spreading awareness. These are mostly people on short term visas. They are going to get scammed by exploiters feeding them invalid information and delivering them into fear of INZ.
We have now had 20 years of people arriving to be sex workers on mainly on tourist visas which didn't allow any work, and they still come in thinking that it is legal to work – which it isn't. Student visas and partner visas also have restrictions on the amount of work. They'll just get exploited to induce debt slavery – just ask half of Auckland's Uber drivers.
I agree with Pandora Black. But I don't think that repealing s19 will do anything productive on its own because it won't change the issue. So it isn't the problem. Have to at least partially solve the problem first. We do have a basis in that even if they are illegals they have legal protections built into legislation, and hopefully generally a willingness by MoBIE and the police to focus on the problem people rather than the victims. Problem is that they don't know that what protections are there or how to access them.
I'll have a think about it. Currently hard labour for exploiters in the horticultural, construction, and sex worker industries being sent to clean up the Auckland Island habitats is coming up very high in my thoughts.
//——————
Incidentally, the Nordic model that the TWRP has been pushing was interesting to me at a economic level 20 years ago. However it has proved to be a complete pile of obscene shit in practice. That got really interesting when I dug down a little.
It is a travesty of an approach and is in my opinion far far more dangerous to societal corruption than what we have here. It looks like a classic case for how to drive a industry without diminishing demand from both customer and suppliers with a prohibition and then making it uglier, sleazier and more violent.
I must dig out the old Economist articles I read then, and then compare them with the reports I just read now.
As someone who used to be an Immigration Officer, my particular concern would be student visa holders with work conditions (usually 20 hours/week).
Migrants being brought here on work visas get a good range of information and there is a requirement for new migrant employees to be given paid work time to go through MBIE modules for new employees. However, even despite that, there are problematic employers who badly exploit workers anyway.
Students don't even get that level of protection and many have large loans back home to cover tuition etc. so can easily end up in a desperate financial situation where they end up being coerced into this type of work. It would also be a simple trafficking model (find potential students, fund tuition, make this part of getting the loan/tuition funding).
Agree with you that likely would continue to be the case even if any changes came about.
Generally visitors can't work while on a visitor visa for any number of hours per week (maybe you are thinking of students who often can work 20 hours/week on a student visa?), and work is defined as activity for gain or reward. Even with a legislative change, temporary visa holders would still need a condition that allowed work either generally (e.g. working holidaymakers) or specifically (e.g. accredited employer work visas).
More than happy for my original comment to be removed as it's looking like a load of bs sold as fact to a gullible fool with a jersey knee
Not sure if you saw them, but the updates are here
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-new-zealand-model-for-prostitution-liberalisation-doesnt-work/#comment-1988015
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-new-zealand-model-for-prostitution-liberalisation-doesnt-work/#comment-1988066
Can't speak legalize, did the greens want migrant sex workers to be given visas?
they want to repeal the legislation section that currently prohibits sex workers from getting visas to work here. That section also allows people with temporary visas already here to be deported if they do sex work.
I can see why the Greens want to repeal it, but I can't see how this wouldn't lead to sex trafficking.
I'm against it, the problem is people will game it to import workers and inslave them ,
Make life better for the locals yes, don't import more.
Jersey knee? An internet search leads me to many links for women's fashion.
When the knee jerks it short circuits the proof reading function.
How does sending the girls to jail help in any if this? It seems the best thing is the same anywhere else, actually fund a public regulatory body to actually enforce the rules and ensure that women and girls in these situations can actually get justice for crimes committed against them.
Criminalizing prostitution harms women more… men raping women is a crime regardless, so work on ensuring those scum are locked up… paying for sex doesn't give you full rights to do what you please…
The post says,
You can read about it here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model_approach_to_prostitution
Citation needed, eh.
The submission was pointing out that even in a very liberal/progressive country like NZ, decriminalisation doesn't work. Who are these people that are going to step up and ensure women are safe from overt violence?
And even if they do, how do you envisage women's wellbeing in an economy where women are economically coerced into prostitution?
And what does?
We have laws against rape. That no particular set of rules works well is no reason not to have legislation.
One problem is we do not monitor standards/regulations well – not for rental homes or the oversight of the circumstanced of migrant workers etc and we now have a government that wants to reduce the number of people employed in the government sector.
'And what does?'
Teach your sons that women are not commodities.
Teach your sons of the fiction, that prostitution is a woman's choice, therefore a legitimate occupation.
No one is suggesting criminalising "the girls" as you put it. The argument is about stopping the demand as in the Nordic model.
From what I have read, the Nordic model hasn't showing any indications of stopping demand. It has probably increased the exploitation of sex workers.
Try reading Wikipedia's summary of its efficacy.
After reading that, I really don't want it here. It reads like the worst possible failure of a ill-conceived compromise between demand and supply imaginable. Guaranteed to force a prohibition and a more exploitative and violent underground market.
Decriminalisation needs to be coupled with adequate wages, welfare and social support for women, to be effective.
The ongoing culture of mean spiritedness in all these areas, forces women into choices that they wouldn't otherwise make.
The Green Party is influenced by the advocacy of others. In this instance the advocacy of the Prostitutes Collective.
This is similar to other "unions", that advocate for seasonal workers or migrant workers that are not citizens.
While I do not support them on this, because of the risk of trafficking, one should at least note the context of the advocacy.
I assume the rationale is the same as for legalisation in the first place. They are coming in anyway and remain unknown and unregulated.
In fact a quick search shows this to be the case.
In a 2018 report, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) recommended the government amend Section 19 of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, which prohibits non-citizens or residents to engage in the sex industry.
The Committee said Section 19 "may have a negative impact on migrant women" and that "migrant women engaged in prostitution may be exposed to exploitation and are at risk of trafficking, owing to the ban on engaging in prostitution imposed on migrants, which prevents them from reporting abuse for fear of deportation".
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/500839/migrants-still-prohibited-from-sex-industry-despite-un-report
The opposing point of view is that the section currently prevents exploitation by not allowing.
Prior to RSE there were massive numbers of illegal workers in orchards, etc. Regulation and RSE reduced this but did not stop all exploitation. We've seen the same with the recent regulations for essential workers – exploitation didn't stop.
I think it is not useful to consider exploitation as ceasing as the end goal – it is a fundamental part of capitalism. I'd support the change even if it meant only a proportion of sex-workers from overseas were safer than they are now.
Like other legislation it likely relies on the tracking and enforcement by the quite useless, unwilling to administer, employer captive and under-resourced MBIE and immigration.
I'm not sure either position is right or wrong in this case – both have their pros and cons.
What is interesting is the position of the immigration department.
Migrants still prohibited from sex industry, despite UN report
Somewhere this morning I also saw a quote from INZ saying that they only do a very limited number of removals due to s19. Something like a few dozen. Most deportations have to do with violations of visa requirements… ummm interesting paper.
Unfinished Decriminalization: The Impact of Section 19 of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 on Migrant Sex Workers’ Rights and Lives in Aotearoa New Zealand
The rest of the interviews in the paper were interesting counterpoint to the quotes by sex workers in the TWRP article above. It makes the question about s19 much clearer about if it protects or causes problems for foreign sex workers who are coming here. s19 put them outside the bounds of the legal protection that resident sex workers have. It clearly makes them vulnerable to exploitation as they feel that they have to hide from INZ and police.
Similarly there is a paper at the natlib on legal issues that was pretty interesting. p277 / p281 of PDF. “Sex work in New Zealand A case for repeal of section 19 of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003”
In some ways you get the cobra effect and we are seeing this in the exploitation of students and other workers.
If once here you offer too much protection eg you have been exploited to get here (such as paying massive fees for semi-existent jobs and putting family back home in debt to get you one the the list to come here or to be accepted as a student) so we will give you residency then that encourages further the exploitation. On the other hand if you have a strict rule that you will always be deported to discourage such exploitation then no one will tell.
https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/systems-thinking-and-the-cobra-effect
This is of course the problem with much right-wing and religious thinking – they too often see simple cause and effect e.g. anyone can be wealthy if they just make the effort, if I escaped poverty then anyone can, young people need bootcamps to sort them out.
Yep. There is a problem about how not to have that effect happen, but still have the access into migrant communities to have an ability to deal with the real exploitative issues.
One way of course is to allow the police and immigration latitude to ignore when it isn't a blindingly obvious issue. Which is pretty much what we have done and why it doesn't appear to have spiralled out of control into either wide trafficking or total silence about problems. I haven't read or heard anything about seeing injuries and bodies turn up at hospitals and morgues or passports being held or debt slavery. I don't know for sure about that.
What is obvious is the studies that I have glanced through is that there is a reluctance for visa holders to be visible to either the police or immigration.
It wouldn't surprise me if there isn't a informal watchdog network going on around the sex worker industry to deal with the more egregious abuses.
A quick search shows this is Family First political material. Family First is a NZ political organisation focused on Christian morals in our society. The authors of the report are retired engineer and UK migrant Pitt, and Johnson, a UK researcher who runs an organisation to transition exploited women out of prostitution.
Aspects of prostitution, such as pimping, brothel keeping and sex trafficking are criminalised in the UK. There is also a radical feminist movement in the UK pushing to criminalise all sex work and to prosecute clients, rather than sex workers.
According to Wikipedia 'global human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and committee of the United Nations …call for the decriminalization of sex work.
The legislation in NZ came about due to collective action by sex workers, including Georgina Beyer, with the aims of destigmatising sex work and improving worker safety by prosecution of assaults and workplace safety violations (NZ Prostitute's Collective research reports).
The issue is not that current legislation is bad, but that, like other work safety legislation, monitoring is clearly inadequate. To be a sex worker here you must be over 18 and a NZ or Oz citizen or resident.
That covers accusations above that the NZ law supports underage sex work and sex trafficking. It clearly doesn't. However, it relies on careful migrant monitoring, where the job for a supported migrant is falsified. It also requires strong community policing for the addictive drug trade and for criminal exploitation of vulnerable people.
I do think it is sensible to upgrade the current functioning of protective features of the legislation. It may be useful to look at brothel owners, vs houses run collectively by sex workers themselves. However, online sites have revolutionised how sex work is carried out to some extent. Updating this aspect of NZ sex work will be important also.
[lprent: sigh It would be helpful when making claims like “A quick search shows this is Family First political material.” that you showed what on or more of the phrase matches are. That is why you are in provisional moderation. In the absence of little details like that, what you have expressed is an unsubstantiated assertion of fact, and a possible smear on two other parties.
Repeating this deliberate mistake under any handle (I have my suspicions) tends to be dangerous for first time commenters. Read the policy about not wasting moderator time and understand I’m giving you a temporary benefit of the doubt. ]
We are not related to Family First and our submission was prepared independently though the reference to the recent research did come from their source. I agree that the provisions of the Prostitution Reform Act regarding monitoring which allowed for inspectors to enter premises and to prosecute are inadequate and as we have said, a review of the Act is well overdue.
What is the connection between this post and Family First? You need to spell it out clearly.
I was in a twitter Space earlier today, run by radical feminists, and this exact issue was discussed. How do feminists deal with the fact that on prostitution we share some broad, superficial agreement with conservatives? What happens when the fundamentalist right use this against radical feminist and liberal feminist positions? What happens when liberals like yourself use the shared broad position to undermine feminists?
Thanks for providing links, but I think here you need to explain why you believe that the post is Family First material. Do you think WRP and Women's Declaration are not capable of coming up with these ideas themselves? Or that feminists are secretly religious conservatives?
You appear to be conflating the two superficial positions and ignoring the important differences between feminist positions on prostitution and those of the religious right.
I'm heading out shortly, because of your history on TS, I'm popping you into premod to make it easier to moderate while I'm on my phone.
The positions of religious conservatives and some feminists do converge, the "Nordic" strategy is based on opposition to prostitution – both taking away clients and helping women leave this work.
In that, it is not just the British model of women operating outside an industry as independent sex workers.
There is a similar strategy in opposition to pornography, expressed as opposition to the industry that exploits women and then opposition to the means by which women operate independently (such as on-line platforms).
tWiggle has been around awhile.
Yeah I see. I didn’t look for handle matches. I was looking at IP sub-net matches which have matching issues but get quite indicative to my paranoid eye.
What caught my eye of course was the lack of a pattern match to support the assertion of fact. I couldn’t find one myself (outside of the references) on a quick pass through. To make the assertion tWig(gle) needed to substantiate it otherwise it gets caught on my bullshit sensors. The fastest way is to just insert a google search link.
The alternate way would be to do what any sane person would do here, and express it as an opinion of “it sounds like” or “it reads like”. No real reason for someone to risk being skewered on an assertion of fact issue here using a new handle unless they were just trying to break our bounds of expected behaviour.
There was no deliberate tactic to include unsubstantiated material or to smear others. I have referred the issue about the Greens position to the original author. We will remove the reference if it cannot be substantiated and we will advise Reem Alsalem. We are always open to challenge on factual grounds. Thanks for pointing this out.
thank-you Jill, much appreciated.
Hi Jill. One of the problems with pulling material from other sites is that we don’t treat it as ‘our’ material. So we don’t amend the content outside of formatting and presentation issues. That is particularly the case for something that appears to have been a submission made to Parliament, and is therefore held as part of the official record.
At best we either remove the content in its entirety (which in this case would leave the comments and reasons for its removal), or we write around the content as I did.
This includes any amendments from the author. That was the base cause of my irritation and why it required a rapid and very irritated response to cover our arses. Otherwise it would have stayed up for longer and caused me and potentially the site even more issues.
I very nearly just dumped it despite the comments already made on it. But despite my basic disagreement with the tenor, limited levels of substantiating data, and obvious levels of selection within the contents, I thought it was worth retaining as a topic of discussion despite that significiant flaw.
In the meantime, I am happy for that paragraph to be removed from the Standard post.
We have reviewed the evidence and can confirm that repeal of s19 of the Prostitution Reform Act, which effectively bans temporary Visa holders from working in the sex industry in New Zealand, is being called for and has been on the agenda ever since s19 was added to the proposed legislation.
In fact there was a petition to Parliament reported on Stuff, 17 April 2018 with the intro: "New Zealand must legalise sex work for migrants to prevent human trafficking, sex industry advocates say." Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Jackie Blue is one of several quoted in that article saying the legislation should be amended to include migrants.
Of many Stuff articles on the subject of repeal of s19, Ricardo Menendez March, Green Party Immigration spokesperson, is quoted by Mildred Armah, Stuff, 7 August 2023, as saying the legislation is completely "dehumanising" and that "Politicians are too scared to do what is right for a community that has traditionally been scapegoated by people in power."
Nevertheless, we have decided to revise our statement, citing the latest Stuff article to the following:
There has been pressure in New Zealand to repeal s19 of the Prostitution Reform Act which bans temporary Visa holders from working in the sex industry.[1] We strongly oppose repeal of the provision, which would amount to the encouragement of international trafficking.
[1] Sex workers 'afraid' of reporting abuse, fearing deportation | Stuff
[link added for first quote: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/103129627/no-trafficking-in-nz-sex-industry-but-migrant-abuse-is-widespread-report-finds%5D
Thanks Jill.
It's a real shame that we can't have a public conversation about how to do right by migrant women in NZ as well as prevent trafficking.
Which was a statement of Ricardo's opinion and a statement of the long held opinion of the Greens. They and many MPs from other parties said that s19 is and would be a problem because it was essentially unenforceable. I heard Labour MPs and members at the times also said that it would be a problem.
The 2005 lit review on pre-PRA that was delivered in 2005 to the Ministry of Justice effectively pointed out the pre-existing exploitative problem prior to 2003 in pp47-49 and the reluctance to engage with police or immigration and why. pp75-76 give an overview that offers a interesting perspective including this sex worker as she argued to the select committee.
From what I know, and what I see in the various documents that I have been looking at today, I'd say that many of the issues with the pre-PRA have diminished or gone. The s19 has caused one area to persist primarily with a reluctance to contact or use the police.
Note that s19 wasn't in the original bill (see report from select committee). The migration issue was strongly raised by the police report attached.
S19 was added during the committee phase
That s19 would cause problems and has caused problems has been obvious since the bill was first introduced. If you are just catching up on the pressure to change it, then you are about 20 years too late. It has been used as a cover for what are effectively trafficking operations, effectively do what bad actors in the sex industry worker industry want, or they will sic immigration on to you. Exactly as the police described in the pre-PRA days.
However I can't see any good way to not have s19 because the trafficking legislation in the Crimes Act is like a blunt axe. It only works on a large slow-moving target. It can't slow growth from people who are more vulnerable than our own citizens.
Removing s19 (as the Greens would prefer) won't work either. .
It is a issue of work
You need a work visa to work in NZ. But work visas are often hard to get or have conditions that are hard to do when working as a sex worker. That is because they are targeted to particular skills or limited in size. It sounds like most of the people arriving to be a sex worker come in on tourist visas – which have no right to work.
That is because we have a lot of tourists (about 3.89 million visitor arrivals in 2019) and limit the number of people allowed to work. In 2019 it peaked at 0.243 million.
To add people who can work in a commercial sex industry, we'd have to either increase the number of people on work visas or immigration – or reduce to add the number of builders, pickers, tourism hospitality workers, computer programmers etc etc for a new category. That is a hard sell.
It is also not that likely to reduce the number of people coming in to do sex work on tourist visas – which would still result in deportation if caught.
//——-
BTW: reading the advocates of the Nordic model in Hansard back in 2003 tonight was a distressing experience. The nays procrastination of doom if the police weren't going to run the sex worker industry seem quaint now, just like Peter Brown's predictions that were archaic in the day and now just seem to me to be the misogynist ravings of a madman. The other side seems like they were floating a wind to the future.
The only person who really captured the future was Sue Bradford who said in the second reading
The Nordic model that was repeatably raised in Hansard debates by members in 2003 simply doesn't work as its proponents thought it would. If introduced in NZ it would have been extremely unlikely to slow either customer demand or sex workers to provide services. In my opinion, it is a dumb prohibition without an ability to block demand from both providers and clients. It'd just push it underground and in all likelihood simply increase various kinds of debt slavery and trafficking.
The Nordic model has been tried in many states now, with variations, and shows no sign of any promise of viability.
Which is exactly what Sue Bradford said.
To bed….
If the GP and/or others like to make it poss for women/men (non residents/citizens) to work in the sex industry on a tourist/student-visa.
Than surely any person coming into the country on a non-working visa should also be able to do the same and work if they find it.
IOW we can do away with work-visa application, because there is no longer a difference between the two categories…
Maybe you should read the post responses before commenting.
It's about decriminalising those who are here already so they can report exploitation with less fear.
mmhh, yes it is a discussion about decriminalising those that are on a tourist/student visa. In other words giving them the right to work.
So no longer will there be a difference between those that apply for a work-visa and those on any other kind of visa.
I don't think anyone is suggesting work should be legal on a general visitor visa, sex work or otherwise, just that sex work shouldn't automatically be banned for those on temporary visas. The temporary visa categories would still have to have the issue worked through.
Ok, lets see "sex shouldn't be automatically banned for those on a temporary Visa"
How about replacing -sex work – with: temporary IT/ project /cleaning/farming,etc on a non work- visa – should also not be banned?
NZ Temporary visa are: Student, Tourist or Work.
If you would allow work on a non-work visa, then what is the difference between somebody going through the right channels and apply for a work visa (even a temp one) and somebody working on a non-working visa – and not automatically be banned for doing so.. (after being caught by authorities?)
Either you apply for a work permit (if need be after arrival) and adhere to the rules of the country.
Stop mis-characterising what is being suggested. Unsure what your motive is in continually doing so.
Currently under existing conditions women are coming here and engaging in prostitution and being exploited. In doing so they are both in breach of their visa and illegal.
While migrants in occupations other than sex work are also deported for breach of their visa conditions, sex work is the only occupation prohibited in law, making it specifically illegal for migrants to work in the sex industry in New Zealand, and thus making them liable for deportation solely on the basis of their involvement in sex work. No other occupation is targeted in this way, even where considerable exploitation is documented.
All that is being asked that it not specifically be made illegal to encourage them to come forward and complain. That does not mean that approval be given for sex workers to come here and work and immigration have quite rightly pointed out that it would still be highly unlikely to give approval for sex workers to come here to work as they effectively are self employed and self-employment doesn't not qualify for work visas.
Can you please explain this a bit more? Repealing s.19 would allow sex workers to apply for visas. If they were to be turned down because that would make them self-employed, what is to stop them working for an employer doing sex work?
And what is to stop sex workers coming in on a working holiday visa and doing sex work once they are here?
section 19 of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0028/latest/DLM197871.html
Immigration simply would not approve them just like they do not approve many others for other occupations. It isn't compulsory for applications to be approved and I can't ever imagine any government allowing a policy that would allow sex workers to be granted permits to come to New Zealand to work.
The question to ask is why is sex work singled out and made specific in the legislation as illegal and is that really needed?
And what is to stop sex workers coming in on a working holiday visa and doing sex work once they are here?
This is what is happening now or a student visa or a tourist visa and so on. Not having specific permission to come in and do sex work isn't preventing it occurring.
There is also some evidence that it may be harmful and increase the risk of exploitation.
“She also believed migrant sex workers were specifically preyed upon due to their vulnerable status.
“Rapists are not exclusively stupid, rapists are aware of the law, so they explicitly target migratory workers.””
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/lives-can-be-overturned-is-deporting-migrant-sex-workers-causing-more-harm-than-good/ZO3HUHQAGCIACDUXC4UR7QN7UI/
I think people are really arguing thin end of the wedge fallacy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope
Some more background
http://www.nzlii.org/nz/journals/NZPubIntLawJl/2021/2.html
While work visas are the main way to give temporary visas allowing people the ability to work in NZ, there are other visas granted with conditions allowing work.
Student visas commonly allow 20 hours/week of work during term time and full time work during holidays for tertiary students studying a course which meets the criteria (mostly two years full-time study, or Masters or PhD) and secondary students aged 16+ (I am aware that workers have to be 18 to be sex workers, but there are migrant secondary students who are 18 so would meet that criteria).
Guardians of students aged under 18 can be granted work conditions on their visitor visa to work between 9:30am-2:30pm.
Visas granted under the RSE scheme are limited visas, not work visas (not that this category is likely to be an issue).
Is The Standard now a pro-TERF site? This is posted as Notices and Features. How many statements other minnow parties with no discernible electoral support are going to be posted here?
[you don’t say what you mean by ‘pro-TERF’, so it’s hard to answer. If you mean do we publish content from gender critical feminists, then yes we do. Read the About so you know what The Standard is and does. We write, cross post and have Guest Posts covering a range of political issues broadly aligned with the labour movement.
If instead you meant to use the term terf as a pejorative, then I will moderate. Read the site Policy about language and tone that has the effect of excluding others. Terf is a term used by gender identity and men’s rights activists in some of the worst online abuse directed at women, including sexual assault/violent rhetoric. This also spills over into real life for some women See https://terfisaslur.com/
We encourage robust debate here, but it’s not a free for all. We moderate to allow gender critical and trans support comments both.
Your antipathy towards platforming feminists and emerging progressive political parties is noted, however in order to comment here you need to share your thinking. Simply posting slurs is inadequate. Read the Policy. – weka]
Thanks Lynn for pointing that out to Former.
"making it specifically illegal for migrants to work in the sex industry in New Zealand, "as as they effectively are self employed and self-employment doesn't not qualify for work visas."
Ah ok, first time I see this added info.
"No other occupation is targeted in this way,"
this mean: illegal workers are not deported when found out? I don't think so
It is not "illegal" to complain, but what one is asking at the same time for the authorities to not pass it on to immigration.