Foreword

This report is the culmination of five years work of a Committee that first met on 24 March 2004, with few of us knowing each other prior to that time. We were nominated because of our specialist knowledge by the Ministers of Justice, Health, Police, Commerce, Local Government and Women’s Affairs (in consultation with the Minister of Youth Affairs) and the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective. The Committee comprised a nun, sex workers, brothel operators, a general practitioner, an academic, a city councillor, a criminologist, a public health official, social workers, representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and a retired policeman. These seem like an unlikely combination of people discussing an issue as highly charged as prostitution. With such diverse backgrounds, and perhaps differing agendas, it may have been difficult for any sense of cohesion and agreement to have emerged in our discussions.

However, the basis for working collaboratively was established through concentrating our efforts on the human rights, welfare, occupational health and safety of sex workers, and the prohibition of the use of young persons in prostitution – that is, the ‘purpose’ of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 (PRA). This collaboration was achieved through deliberately not focussing on the political or moral aspects of the sex industry, as is frequently done by those advocates for and against its decriminalisation. We recognised that the legislation was a shift from a moralist approach to prostitution to a health and human rights approach. It was stipulated early in our deliberations that, as much as possible, our report should be substantiated through evidence-based research. This approach brought a disparate Committee together to do real work, and over time form bonds that made the Committee work effectively. Although we did not all agree all the time on various aspects of our work, all Committee members were able to work together professionally to achieve this report.

We were supported in this regard by officials from the Ministry of Justice who at times pulled us up to ensure the maintenance of evidence-based discussions. We restrained ourselves from responding to what, at times, were provocative statements in the media. We suspected such comments were gross exaggeration and hyperbole; some were certainly uninformed comments, especially in the early days of the life of this legislation. We were determined not to make any statements until we had the benefit of all the research that we had commissioned.

The Committee fulfilled the first of its statutory purposes, to assess the number of sex workers in New Zealand at the time of decriminalisation through the release of its first report, The Nature and Extent of the Sex Industry in New Zealand: An Estimation, in 2005.

The Committee was required to wait until three years had elapsed from the commencement of the PRA (Section 42(1)(b)) before conducting the research and other work to inform this report. The major influence of our methodology was determined by the work of Dr Elaine Mossman of the Crime and Justice Research Centre of Victoria University through her Evaluation Framework for the review of the PRA. Three major phases of research and work were the foundation of this report.

• The Impact of the Prostitution Reform Act on the Health and Safety Practices of Sex Workers by the Department of Public Health and General Practice, University of Otago, Christchurch. This study included a survey of 772 sex workers.

• Key informant interviews with NGOs, brothel operators and community groups and a literature review of overseas models of prostitution law reform by the Crime and Justice Research Centre of Victoria University.

• Gathering of information from government agencies and local authorities by the Ministry of Justice.

The Committee is aware that during the period research was conducted for this report the New Zealand economy was performing well and unemployment was at record lows. It is not known what impact these factors may have had on the nature of the sex industry.

This report reflects the detailed research undertaken, as well as the Committee’s collective experience. We are confident this comprehensive report offers practical recommendations to the Government and the public about prostitution issues.