Coronavirus: Auckland sex workers issued warnings during Covid-19 lockdown

Friday, 22 May 2020

Three sex workers were pulled up by police during Covid-19 lockdown (file photo).

Eight hours into level 4 lockdown, police were issuing warnings to sex workers scouting for customers on the streets.

While some workers had no idea the country had gone into lockdown, or even what coronavirus was, others had no choice in the matter, an advocate says.

The Government had no choice but to go into a nationwide lockdown, according to the Director General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

Some workers were able to apply for the Government wage subsidy, but that option wasn't available to workers who may not have been compliant with taxes, the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective said.

The collective's Auckland manager Annah Pickering said Covid-19 hit sex workers particularly hard because of the nature of the job, and also because a big bulk of their clientele comes from overseas — many who book months in advance.

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One woman travelled to south Auckland from the Bay of Plenty for work (file photo).

'As soon as the announcement was made, we did have people that were working over level 4 and level 3 but the authorities were alerted straight away,' she said.

'Even [during] the level 4 lockdown, it wasn't long before we got a call from police in Counties Manukau because we had three Māori workers on the street, so they had to give them a warning.

'One didn't have a bubble to go to, she had been living on the streets, so police put that person in a motel, and they're still staying there now.'

Sterling and another colleague keep a watchful eye on the newspaper classifieds for workers advertising during levels 3 and 4.

In one ad, she found a Māori woman from the Bay of Plenty who travelled to south Auckland during alert level 3 to work.

'I called her to see how she got into it and I wanted to know whether she was safe.

'Those are the people I get concerned about.'

There are about 3500 sex workers in New Zealand. About 1800 are based in Auckland and about 230 work on the streets.

The most common ethnicity is Pākehā, then Māori, Asian, and Polynesian.

But in south Auckland most are Polynesian, Pickering said.

'That comes with its own challenges, such as estrangement from their whānau because of their lifestyle and sometimes because of their sexuality.

'There are also different social issues out south, such as homelessness, addiction, mental health.

'For many it was a secondary income for extras, and for some it was a main income to support their families.'

Sterling said while all sex workers across the country were hit hard, workers in south Auckland were particularly affected.

Many are scared to return to work because of Covid-19 and several others have left the profession.

Some women also moved their work online.

Street-based sex work is predominantly a south Auckland phenomenon, Pickering said.

'We have street workers on Karangahape Road, it's been there forever but south Auckland is a different kettle of fish because [of] the workers in that area.

'They established in the late 1990s, a group of Polynesian women, they sort of established their own inception and it still continues today.'