Ban sex workers from streets, says Manukau council

12.00pm - By STEPHEN COOK

Manukau City Council is calling for a law change to help stamp out street prostitution in south Auckland.

The council claims legislation introduced a year ago decriminalising the sex industry has had a dramatic impact in south Auckland - with teenagers, some as young as 13 and 14, prostituting themselves.

It wants an urgent amendment to the new act prohibiting sex workers from plying their trade on the streets. Under the new legislation it is no longer illegal for anyone to solicit for sex in a public place, so long as that person is over the age of 18.

Councils have been given certain licensing powers to control the sex industry, but legal opinion suggests they have no control over what happens on the streets.

Manukau mayor Sir Barry Curtis has already discussed the problem of street prostitution in south Auckland with Police Minister George Hawkins. He wants the Government to hand councils the power to ban street sex workers.

Councillor Noel Burnside said the legislation was encouraging school children to take to the streets.

In Papatoetoe, Manurewa, Otahuhu, Panmure and Otara, the problem of street prostitution was rife and the new law was doing little to discourage it.

"I thought prostitution would be confined to brothels under this new legislation. What we have now is a sad indictment on our society," Mr Burnside said.

"All we want to do as a council is clean up the streets."

Mr Burnside said the council was also looking across the Tasman at how Queensland had tackled the issue of street sex workers. Prostitution was legal there, but not on the streets.

"This is all we want here, some sort of law change that helps us deal with this problem."