Number of brothels will boom says bill opponents

The number of brothels in Christchurch will increase rapidly if such establishments are legalised, opponents of the Prostitution Reform Bill say.

Scott McMurray, of the Maxim Institute, which has campaigned against the bill, says Christchurch would experience marked growth in brothels if the legislation passed a vote in Parliament on Wednesday.

Mr McMurray said it was difficult to estimate the extent of the growth, but figures from Victoria, Australia, showed a near quadrupling of the number of brothels following decriminalisation.

If the Victorian experience was repeated in Christchurch, he said, the number of brothels would leap from the 20 registered massage parlours in the city today to almost 80 brothels, half of which would be illegal establishments.

Christchurch Central MP and reform advocate Tim Barnett agreed there would probably be more brothels in the city if the bill passed.

"There will be a move towards small, worker-run brothels," he said.

"One of the effects of small brothels is that there may be more of them but they will be smaller, more subtle operations."

A small group of National MPs are wavering in their support for the bill and could scupper it at its final reading in the House this week.