Massage ‘front for sex, drugs’ — M.P. pleads for teenagers

Press, 23 June 1978, Page 1

Massage ‘front for sex, drugs’ — M.P. pleads for teenagers

PA Wellington Teenagers of both sexes should be prohibited from working in massage parlours, said the member of Parliament for Auckland Central (Mr R. W. Prebble) vesterday. He told Parliament that it was possible at present for young, teen-aged girls working as masseuses to earn more in one week than their fathers did in six months. Speaking during a debate on the Statutes Revision Committee’s report on the Massage Parlours Bill, he said the committee had been presented with evidence that many massage parlours were fronts for prostitution and drug peddling. If teenagers were prevented from working in massage parlours, the temptation to indulge in prostitution and drug dealing would be removed, he said. His electorate of Auckland Central had more massage parlours than any other electorate in New Zealand — “and I have personally seen the tragedy of young girls being e ‘tracted into massage parlours,” Mr Prebble ■d.

He would move an amendment during the committee stages of the bill to prevent all teenagers from working in massage parlours. The bill already provides for persons under 18 to be prohibited from working in the parlours. The bill, as reported back, has several important changes.

Under the bill as introduced, all masseuses had to apply to the Magistrate’s Court for a certificate of approval, but the committee decided that control should now be exercised at the level of management and ownership.

An employer would be obliged to keep a register of all employees, and the police would have the right to inspect the register at all times. Another amendment proposes that where an employee is involved in an act of prostitution and there has been inadequate or negligent supervision of employees, or generally where there has been inadequate or negligent supervision, the police should be able to oppose the annual reissue of the proprietor's licence, or apply for its cancellation.

Other amendments are recommended to ensure that the bill does not apply to registered physiotherapists, beauticians, and those engaged as masseurs by sports teams or cultural groups. The chairman of the committee, Mr J. K. McLay (Nat., Birkenhead) said it had heard 14 submissions, eight of them in person. The Law Society and the Council for Civil Liberties, while not opposing the bill, questioned whether it was really necessary. The Law Society said that if massage parlours were run as a front for prostitution, extension of police powers and the criminal law would be appropriate. The Council for Civil Liberties considered massage parlours legitimate businesses. It believed that “prostitution will continue regardless, and no doubt continue in massage parlours.” The only effective method of control was to license brothels, it told the committee. Mr McLay said it was clear that some massage parlours were actively engaged in prostitution, and some parlours attracted drug users as they

were the only means of supporting their drug habit. Submissions also came from the Sauna Bath Association, representing 24 proprietors of massage parlours, and from a section of the same organisation representing masseuses.

These groups admitted that prostitution took place, but said this did not apply to their organisations. The association argued for control to be exercised by the association itself, rather than by an external authority. Two other witnesses gave evidence which, Mr McLay said, should be treated as confidential. The first was a police officer who gave the committee a lot of background information which provided a base for questioning of other witnesses. The second was Miss X — a former masseuse. She told the committee that at various times she had engaged in prostitution.

She also confirmed that some masseuses were drug addicts and worked in the parlours so that they could act as prostitutes to earn the money to support the habit. In many cases

they were also supporting drug-addict boyfriends. Mr Prebble described the amended bill as "window dressing,” and said the legislation should be "massively amended.” Evidence by the police had shown that up to 75 per cent of all massage parlours were fronts for prostitution. There was also a clear link between massage parlours and drugs and yet Parliament was being asked to agree to a bill which would allow “all massage parlours, even the bad ones, to get licences.” If the legislation was passed, newspapers would be full of massage-parlour advertisements, even fullpage advertisements, he said. Opposition speakers strongly criticised the committee’s recommendation not to require girls in massage parlours to be licensed. Mrs Whetu TirikateneSullivan (Lab., Southern Maori) suggested that if girls were licensed it would stop “proprietors marauding discos” for young girls to work in parlours. “My primary concern is to stop the exploitation of minors in such establishments,” she said.