Section 7 replaces a number of existing provisions, some dating back to the last century, dealing with soliciting in the street by prostitues. The purpose behind the existing provisions is not to criminalise prostitution — that has never been an offence — but, to protect the public from the nuisance, annoyance and harassment we have all discussed that can be caused by soliciting in the streets.
I am not sure if Senator Taylor-Quinn wants to retain the existing offences — she has not put down an amendment to that effect — or whether she wants soliciting in public to be completely decriminalised. The effect is the same either way because the existing provisions are constitutionally flawed and unenforceable. She is, therefore, asking to remove all legal restraints on soliciting in public for the purposes of prostitution.
My views run directly counter to this — and I was glad to receive support for my proposals on Second Stage. I understand what the existing provisions were trying to achieve; my objection to them is not that they apply to prostitutes who solicit in public, but that they do not apply to prostitutes' clients and the Second Commission on the Status of Women agrees with this.
Section 7 is not a measure designed to suppress prostitution; I recognise that the criminal law can only achieve a certain amount in regulating sexual behaviour. It is designed, instead, solely to protect members of the public from the nuisance, harassment and intimidation which can be, and are, caused by soliciting in the street. It is not enough to say a person who is approached for the purposes of prostitution can simply ignore the solicitation and walk on. Anyone who thinks that does not know what it is like to be a woman intimidated by kerb crawlers or to be a resident in an area frequented by prostitutes and clients.
In addition to the support of the Second Commission on the Status of Women on this matter, the Government has the support of the Law Reform Commission which recommended such a provision in its report on vagrancy and related offences. To clarify something Senator Taylor-Quinn said in relation to the clients of prostitutes, pimps, touts and so on, they are all included in the Bill and I would not like the Senator to be under any mistaken impression in that regard.