Councils wary of brothel law

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Councils around the country are struggling over how to constrain the sex industry now Parliament has decriminalised prostitution.

Kapiti Coast wanted to ban brothels outright but found instead that the new law gives local authorities power to control the location of brothels and restrict their advertising signs.

As they scramble to come up with appropriate regulations, councils - more used to dealing with rates, roads and rubbish collection - have still to figure out how to police them.

As with noise nuisance and dog problems, it will probably fall on the community to dob in offending neighbours.

"We don't have staff patrolling the streets looking for things that are unlicensed or prohibited," said Tauranga District Council chief Stephen Town.

Treading a fine line between legality and morality, his council was first off the block this week with a decision to draft a bylaw banning brothels from residential areas and commercially zoned neighbourhood shopping centres.

Mr Town admitted that enforcement officers would probably have to rely on people ringing the council with complaints.

Sex workers are as confused as councils. They worry that kneejerk-reaction bylaws will again drive the industry underground, defeating the purpose of the Prostitution Reform Act, passed in Parliament by a one-vote margin five weeks ago.

Those working from home - an estimated 10 per cent of prostitutes - have the most to lose. They do not want to be pushed into licensed parlours or forced to move to commercial premises where they might not be able to afford the rent.

Catherine Healy of the Prostitutes Collective said council measures against them would be "too harsh".

The home-based operators, often not conforming to the youth and beauty stereotype, liked to control their own environment and earnings, she said. It was in their interests, and those of their clients, to remain discreet.

One middle-aged woman, "Elaine", said she would be put out of business if forced from suburbia.

Many of her clients were elderly or impaired and would not go to brothels or motels.

"Angela" said a bylaw could be the push she needed to give up.

"It's almost a godsend. I want another job anyway. I have been a working lady for a long time."

The Labour MP who promoted the Prostitution Reform Bill, Tim Barnett, has warned local councils to use their powers reasonably. Worried they would continue the wrongs that existed under the previous laws, he said it was ridiculous for councils to use the law to make a range of new rules.

They should focus on harm minimisation, which was the basis of decriminalisation, he said.

Meanwhile, most of the country's 74 territorial authorities are waiting for their professional body, Local Government New Zealand, to come up with a model bylaw and guidelines on district plan changes.

That is unlikely to be available before next month. The necessary public consultation processes mean it could be months before any councils have new regulations in place.