Queenstown might be brothel-less but sex workers are "everywhere". In Wanaka, brothels are also confined to a two-block zone, there bound by Ardmore, Dunmore, Helwick and Dungarvon streets. They cannot be on ground level or beneath ground level or have signs advertising the business. Commercial sexual services can occur in a motel as long as the prostitution occurs under an arrangement initiated elsewhere β such as online. The bylaw is there because they don't want sex workers living next door.
Guess what? We are already there. The chances are everyone knows one or has seen one they just don't realise it. There are thousands of us. We are everywhere. Discrimination went beyond bylaws, Burton said. We are a multimillion-dollar business in New Zealand We operate a legitimate business like any other business person. You don't need to be the police of sex. Brothels are traditionally quiet places. They don't want big neon signs flashing. We don't have those kinds of people here'.
A Queenstown businessman involved in the adult entertainment industry, who asked not to be named, said the council had tried to make it as difficult as possible for people to open brothels in the district. The area brothels were allowed to operate within was small, and a rule stating they could not operate within metres of each other made it impossible for more than one to establish itself, he said. Conservative landlords were also blockading potential brothels from establishing by refusing to lease out their buildings to such business owners, he said.
Instead, they have driven it out into motels and private addresses. Sex workers were " per cent" right to claim they were being discriminated against. If you are in the certain set you can pretty much do anything. Brothels would provide a safer environment for workers, he said. They need to get off their high horses. They are driving it underground and something bad will happen and they should be ready for it.
He was not aware of any hostility to the industry, he said. There are hotels in Queenstown that are working girl-friendly, but there are only a handful of them. Sex workers mainly advertised online through various escort directory sites. If you are involved in the sex industry Facebook will shut you down. People need to get their mind out of the gutter and stop thinking it's about porn. The sex industry in Queenstown and Wanaka is booming, despite being pushed underground by 'draconian' bylaws.
