Monday, September 13, 2010

Submit!

The Local Government and Environment Committee has called for submissions on the Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill. Two copies, by , to:

Local Government and Environment Committee Secretariat
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
Or use the handy form to submit online.

The bill would recriminalise street prostitution in Manukau City, with penalties ten times higher than those which applied when the law was changed in 2003. This would recreate the pre-reform situation, placing prostitutes outside the protection of the law and allowing them to be victimised and preyed upon with impunity. It is a deeply misogynistic piece of legislation, made all the more repulsive by the Orwellian claim of its supporters (including George Hawkins and Su'a William Sio) that it is somehow "protecting" women.

If you don't know how to make a submission, the Clerk has a handy guide here [PDF].