Baldock backs prostitution law reform call

United Future MP Larry Baldock today backed Manukau City Mayor Sir Barry Curtis’s call for a review of the Prostitution Reform Act to make street soliciting by prostitutes illegal.

“The idea that the public selling of sexual services on our streets was not going to be any concern to our communities was always ludicrous and those of us who apposed the passage of the Bill in the House frequently pointed that out to the Government.

“The fact that greater numbers of prostitutes are turning up on the streets in Manukau is evidence of what will become a greater nightmare for other councils in the country,” he said.

“I suggest Sir Barry submit a remit at the upcoming Local Government Conference in Auckland to seek their endorsement for changes to the Act.

“My petition for a referendum on whether the Act should be repealed is gaining momentum, but the sooner the adverse effects of the Prostitution Reform Act, such as street soliciting, pimping and brothel keeping are amended, the better,” said Mr Baldock.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>