The Auckland SuperCouncil has voted to support the Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill. While the bill originally applied only to Manukau, the creation of the Auckland supercity means its scope has been expanded to cover the whole of Auckland - effectively exempting our largest city (and a quarter of the population) from the scope of the Prostitution Reform Act. If passed, it means that that area will go back to the dark ages, with prostitution being illegal in "specified areas" (which will likely mean "almost everywhere", as it does in Wanganui with gang patches), and prostitutes subject to police harassment and arrest which will effectively place them outside the protection of the law. It will also mean the creation of a de-facto federal state, with separate laws in Auckland from the rest of the country.
The Stuff article has a list of the guilty parties: Len Brown, Cameron Brewer, Sandra Coney, Chris Fletcher, Mike Lee, Des Morrison, Calum Penrose, Noelene Raffills, Sharon Stewart, John Walker, and George Wood. These councillors hate women, they hate civil liberties, and they hate the idea that the state has no business in people's sex lives. Remember that at the next local government election.
