 | ||
The New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective (NZPC) is a New Zealand-based organisation that supports the rights of sex workers and educates prostitutes about minimizing the risks of the job. It was founded in 1987 and received funding from the Minister of Health in 1988. One of its founding members was Catherine Healy, who remained NZPC's national coordinator in 2012. The funding contract was subsequently managed by the Department of Health, and later, the Ministry of Health, following reorganisation within the Ministry. It has been credited with controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS in New Zealand. It played an active role in the New Zealand Labour Party-led Helen Clark administration passing the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, which decriminalised most forms of adult prostitution in New Zealand, despite opposition from the Maxim Institute and other New Zealand Christian Right organisations of the time.