In New Zealand, prostitution, brothel-keeping, living off the proceeds of someone else's prostitution, and street solicitation have been legal since the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 came into effect. Coercion of sex workers is illegal.Section 16, Prostitution Reform Act 2003. The 2003 decriminalisation of brothels, escort agencies and soliciting, and the substitution of a minimal regulatory model, created worldwide interest; New Zealand prostitution laws are now some of the most liberal in the world.
Until 2003, indoor prostitution in New Zealand was governed by the Massage Parlours Act 1978, which allowed brothels to operate under the guise of massage parlours. However, the act defined massage parlours as public places, so laws against soliciting in a public place applied to workers in parlours, and they were sometimes raided by police posing as clients. Workers in the parlours were also required to provide their names and addresses to the police. Advertising the sale of sex ("soliciting"), running a brothel, and living off the earnings of prostitution were illegal.
Despite the Massage Parlours Act and other laws meant to suppress prostitution, there was considerable toleration of sex work in practice in the last decades of the 20th century. These laws were all changed by the Prostitution Reform Act in June 2003.
History Before 2003 The early examples of the exchange of sex for material gain in New Zealand occurred in the early period of contact between indigenous Māori and European and American sailors.Belich, James (1996) Making Peoples: A history of the New Zealanders from Polynesian settlement to the end of the nineteenth century, Allen Lane, AucklandDonne, Thomas Edward (1927) The Maori, Past and Present: an account of highly attractive, intelligent people, their doubtful origin, their customs and ways of living, art, methods of warfare, hunting and other characteristics, mental and physical, Sealey, London Along with food, water, and timber, sex was one of the major commodities exchanged for European goods. The Bay of Islands and in particular the town of Kororareka was notorious for this and brothels proliferated. It is not clear whether all of these exchanges necessarily constituted prostitution in the usual sense of the word. In some cases, the sex may have been part of a wider partnership between a tribe and a ship's crew, akin to a temporary marriage alliance. The amount of choice women had about their participation seems to have varied. Throughout this period there was a severe gender imbalance in the settler population and women were in short supply.Andre Lévesque, "Prescribers and Rebels: Attitudes to European Women's Sexuality in New Zealand 1860–1916", Women's Studies International Quarterly, (1981), 4: 133–43
In the 19th century, prostitution was generally referred to as the "Social Evil".Macdonald, Charlotte The "Social Evil": Prostitution and the Passage of the Contagious Diseases Act (1869), in Barbara Brookes, Charlotte Macdonald and Margaret Tennant (eds) Women in History: Essays on European Women in New Zealand, 1986 Wellington: Allen and Unwin/Port Nicholson Press, pp. 13–33 As with other British dependencies, New Zealand inherited both statute and case law from the United Kingdom, for instance the UK's Vagrancy Act 1824 was in force until New Zealand passed its own Vagrant Act 1866.
These included reference to the common prostitute. New Zealand was also amongst those dependencies that followed the British authorities in passing a Contagious Diseases Act (regulation system); New Zealand's was in force until repealed by the .Antje Kampf, Mapping out the Venereal Wilderness: Public Health and STD in New Zealand, 1920–1980 , Lit, Berlin, 2007. The Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand continuously found for repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act 1869 and ramped up its petitions and public letters with data from convictions in courts to prove how the law protected male predators and kept girls and women of all classes vulnerable to assault. It was an oppressive act, based on the belief, expressed officially even in the 1922 report, that women represented vectors for the spread of venereal diseases. It was replaced by the , although these fears reappeared throughout the British Empire in both World Wars.War Regulation Amendment Act 1916, Police Offence Emergency Regulations 1942
In the post-war period, the concern was more with "promiscuity", although prostitution was seen as an extreme form of this. The gendered rationale and practice of venereal disease policy formed a focus for early feminist activism.
Prostitution-related statute law passed in the second half of the 20th century included the Crimes Act 1961, the Massage Parlours Act 1978, and the Summary Offences Act 1981. Section 26 of the Summary Offences Act prohibited soliciting, S 147 of the Crimes Act prohibited brothel-keeping, and S 148 living on the earnings of prostitution, and S 149 procuring. In 2000, the Crimes Act was amended to criminalise both clients and operators where workers were aged under 18 (the age of consent for sexual activity is 16). Young people under 18 were still classed as offenders after this came into force, until the passage of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003.
The Massage Parlours Act effectively allowed indoor commercial sex under a facade. Prostitutes advertised their services as "escorts", and brothels advertised themselves as "massage parlours". Workers in "massage parlours" were required to be registered with the police from the time the Massage Parlours Act 1978 came into force. In the mid-1990s, the police extended this registration ex-officio to other indoor workers in some areas of the country. The police had approached media outlets letting them know that they may be "aiding and abetting" sex workers committing crimes (such as brothel-keeping, etc.), and told the media that they should require such registration before accepting advertisements.Healy, C., Bennachie., C., Reed, A., (2010). History of the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, in Abel, G., Fitzgerald, L., & Healy, C., (Eds). Taking the crime out of sex work: New Zealand sex workers' fight for decriminalisation. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 45–56.
Prostitution Reform Act 2003 In 1997, a number of groups came together to hold a Women's Forum in Wellington, out of which a working group developed to draft a bill, including the NZPC, academics, women's groups (New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women, National Council of Women of New Zealand, YWCA), and the AIDS Foundation. Other individuals included legal volunteers and MPs, in particular Maurice Williamson (National, Pakuranga 1987–2017), Associate Minister of Health (1990–1996), and Katherine O'Regan (National, Waipa 1984–1996, List 1996–1999), who championed the bill in parliament.
Labour returned to power (1999–2008), and Tim Barnett (Labour Christchurch Central 1996–2008) assumed responsibility for introducing it as a Private Member's Bill to decriminalise prostitution. This was based on the harm reduction model of New South Wales (1996). The bill was introduced on 21 September 2000, and placed in the ballot box, being drawn as number 3 and debated on 8 November as Bill 66-1 (87:21), passing first reading 87:21. Party support came from the Greens, notably Sue Bradford (List, 1999–2009). It was opposed by New Zealand First, who proposed the Swedish approach of criminalising the purchase of sex. It then proceeded to select committee (Justice and Electoral), which received 222 submissions and heard 66 submissions, amending and reporting in favour of the Bill on 29 November 2002, following the 2002 election, the bill now being referred to as Bill 66-2. Dissenting minority opinions were recorded by the National, New Zealand First, ACT New Zealand, and United Future members. This was a Private Member's Bill, and theoretically, members were allowed a conscience vote. However, the three members of the 1999–2002 coalition (Labour, Greens, Alliance) all had decriminalisation in their manifestos. Later, the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, lent her support to the bill.
During the parliamentary debates and committees, support came from some women's rights groups, some human rights groups, and some public health groups. The police were neutral. Some feminists opposed the decriminalisation of brothels and pimping (see feminist views on prostitution), Christian groups were divided, and fundamentalist religious groups, including Right to Life, were opposed.
The Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) passed its third reading on 25 June 2003. This bill passed narrowly; of 120 member of parliaments, 60 voted for it, 59 against, and one politician, Labour's Ashraf Choudhary, the country's only Muslim MP, abstained. The result was a surprise, as most commentators had expected the bill to fail. An impassioned speech to parliament by Georgina Beyer, a transgender woman and former sex worker, was believed by many observers to have persuaded several wavering MPs, possibly including Mr Choudhary, to change their votes at the last minute.
The Act replaced the previous legislation, including repealing the Massage Parlours Act, largely removing voluntary adult (age 18 and over) prostitution from the criminal law and replacing it with civil law at both national and local level. A distinction was made between voluntary and involuntary prostitution. It remains a crime to coerce someone to provide sexual services. Sex work is also prohibited for those on temporary visas, and immigration for and investment in sex work is prohibited. Contracts between provider and client were recognised, and providers have the right to refuse services. Contested contracts can be referred to the Disputes Tribunal. Advertising is banned, with the exception of print media, which is restricted. The Summary Offences Act remains in force in relation to soliciting, which may be classed as offensive behaviour.Section 4, Summary Offences Act, 1981. The Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004 also allows sex workers to apply for previous convictions to be removed from the record. Sex work is recognised (but not promoted) as legitimate work by Work and Income New Zealand, who may not advertise vacancies in brothels or suggest people start sex work as a means of getting off a benefit. Now, workplace safety and health rules, developed in consultation with the prostitutes' collective, apply to sex work. Employment disputes can be referred to the Labour Inspectorate and Mediation Service. There is an obligation on employers and employees to practise and promote safe sexual practices. The Ministry of Health has the responsibility for enforcement. Registration of indoor sex workers with the police was replaced by certification at an administrative law level of brothel operators.Section 34, Prostitution Reform Act 2003. Prior records have been destroyed. Refusal of a certificate is permitted for prior criminal offences (not necessarily related to prostitution). Police activities changed from the registration and prosecution of sex workers to protection. The Police Manual of Best Practice was amended to include prostitution.
Local government was empowered to develop by-laws for zoning and advertising, but not prohibit sex work.
In summary, the Act decriminalised soliciting, living off the proceeds of someone else's prostitution, and brothel-keeping.
Following passage of the Act, the Maxim Institute and other conservative Christian organisations tried to gain an appropriate number of signatures for a citizens-initiated referendum under the Citizens Initiated Referendum Act 1993. The initiative was sponsored by two United Future MPs, Gordon Copeland, the bill's most outspoken critic, and Larry Baldock. Although it was allowed an extension, anti-prostitution groups fell well short of gaining the number of authenticated signatures required for a citizen-initiated referendum.