Currently prostitution and brothel keeping are legal in New Zealand, provided the prostitute is over 18.

History and current situation

Traditionally, advertising the sale of sex ('soliciting') has been illegal, although the actual sale of sex itself was not proscribed. It was also illegal to run a brothel, and to live from the earnings of prostitution.

Prostitution still went on, although because of the laws on soliciting, it usually maintained a thin pretense of being something else. Prostitutes advertised their services as escorts. Brothels advertised themselves as massage parlours. Prostitutes are available from the same places as in most countries.

Street workers, typically down Auckland's K-road, Wellington's Vivian Street, and Christchurch's Manchester Street, are available for services and can either be picked up in a car, or the sexual act can be completed in a secluded place on the street. This is obviously the least secure location.

Prostitutes and escort agencies advertise in the newspapers, on television and on billboards. Motorcades of foreign dignitaries have been known to have been given elaborate routes to traverse Auckland without passing such advertising.

Brothels exist, sometimes attached to a strip club, as in Dunedin's Cleopatra bar, but often they are stand alone facilities. These are not advertised from the outside, and often serve as the homes of the prostitutes working there.

It is commonplace in Auckland for a suburb's shopping area to have several brothels amongst the shops.

There is some high-class prostitution in New Zealand, involving woman working from mobile phones.

The New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective is an organisation that supports the rights of prostitutes in New Zealand.

Prostitution Reform Bill

On 25 June 2003, a bill was passed in parliament that legalised prostitution, pimping and brothel-keeping. (Although brothel keepers must be court-approved to operate.)

This bill passed narrowly, of 120 MPs, 60 voted for it, 59 against, and one politician, Labour's Ashraf Choudhary, abstained. (Ashraf Choudhry is the country's only Muslim MP.) The result was a surprise as most commentators had expected the bill to narrowly fail. An impassioned speech to parliament by Georgina Beyer, the world's first transsexual member of parliament, was believed by many observers to have persuaded several wavering MP's, possibly including Mr Choudhary, to change their votes at the last minute. The vote was a conscience vote, meaning that MPs voted according to their personal beliefs rather than following a party policy.