Prostitution Law Review Committee

Member Biographies

Paul Fitzharris, Chairperson:

Paul Fitzharris O.N.Z.M. - nominated by the Minister of Police

Paul Fitzharris retired from the NZ Police in 2001 as an Assistant Commissioner. During the latter part of his career he was Acting Deputy Commissioner. He has been a member of the Legal Aid Review Panel, and conducted a number of reviews for government agencies in respect to emergency management, search and rescue and a review of the Cook Island Police. He is a board member of Orana Wildlife Park, Christchurch. He is currently the Acting Chair of Land Transport New Zealand and Patron of New Zealand Neighbourhood Support.

Sister Catherine Hannan

Sister Catherine Hannan - nominated by the Minister of Justice

Catherine Hannan is a Sister of Compassion. She has a background in Education, Development and the Social Sciences and is currently on the team at the Suzanne Aubert Compassion Centre, popularly known as the Wellington Soup Kitchen. Sister Catherine is Chair of the Board of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, an agency for development, justice and peace. Her particular interest is Human Rights.

Debbie Baker

Debbie Baker - nominated by the Minister of Justice

Debbie Baker is the manager of Streetreach, a confidential support service for those involved in prostitution. She has a wide knowledge of the sex industry through working with those in the industry both in England and in New Zealand. Streetreach has been in operation in New Zealand since 2000 and is an initiative of The Life Centre Trust, a charitable trust based in Auckland that exists to make life better for those in the community.

Matt Soeberg

Matt Soeberg - nominated by the Minister of Health

Matt Soeberg has a strong background in public health policy. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Health Inequalities Research Programme, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, examining ethnic and socioeconomic trends in cancer survival rates. He is also a senior analyst at the Cancer Control Council of New Zealand. Matt has worked for the Special Programme on Environment and Health, WHO Regional Office for Europe. Matt has also worked at the Auckland Regional Public Health Service, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and the Ministry of Health. Matt's interests are in social epidemiology, public health policy and law, health inequalities and health impact assessment.

Sue Piper

Sue Piper - nominated by the Minister of Local Government

Ms Piper was a Wellington City councillor for nine years and a member of Local Government New Zealand's National Council for three years. In 1995 she was a member of the NGO Co-ordinating group preparing New Zealand's NGO presentation at the 1995 Conference on Women. Ms Piper is currently the Executive Director of the Wellington Region Foundation. She is also the Chair of the Local Government Commission and a board member for Quotable Value.

Dr Sue Crengle

Dr Sue Crengle - nominated by the Minister of Women's Affairs

Dr Sue Crengle has Bachelor of Human Biology, Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, and Master of Public Health (first class honours) degrees from Auckland University. She has medical specialty qualifications in General Practice and in Public Health Medicine. She has previously worked as a Medical Officer Special Scale in Auckland Sexual Health Services. Dr Crengle is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer in Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Auckland. She is also the Director of Tōmaiora Māori Health Research Centre.

Karen Ritchie

Karen Ritchie - nominated by the Minister of Commerce

Karen Ritchie has been working for the NZ Aids Foundation for the past 4 years. Karen's experience in the sex industry spans many years as a tax paying worker and small business owner. In May 2006, Karen spoke at the Harm Reduction Conference in Vancouver about her personal experience of criminalisation and decriminalisation whilst in the industry. She is the founder of the Cartier Bereavement Charitable Trust in Auckland, which assists with funeral costs for those who have passed on from an HIV/AIDS related illness.

Mary Brennan

Mary Brennan - nominated by the Minister of Commerce

Mary Brennan has over 20 years experience in people management, including ten years in restaurant management in both New Zealand and the UK. For the past ten years Mary has managed brothels. She has developed and written a user friendly job description and interview booklet for sex workers. Her main areas of interest are training, communication and human rights. She now works as a private sexuality consultant.

Catherine Healy

Catherine Healy - nominated by the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective

Catherine Healy is National Co-ordinator of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective. B.A., Dip Tch. She has sat on a wide range of expert committees, and is frequently sought by national and international groups for advice on issues affecting sex workers.

Dr Jan Jordan

Dr Jan Jordan - nominated by the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective

Dr Jan Jordan is currently Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington. She became interested in researching prostitution over 20 years ago while studying women's involvement in crime in nineteenth century New Zealand. Jan later compiled a book of interviews with women working in the contemporary sex industry (Working Girls, Penguin Books, 1991). Since then she has conducted a small research project with the clients of sex workers and compiled a literature review on the New Zealand sex industry for the Ministry of Justice (2005).

Lisa Waimarie

Lisa Waimarie - nominated by the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective

Lisa Waimarie has worked for NZPC for 10 years, initially joining the organisation as a volunteer, and then becoming the Regional Coordinator of the group's Dunedin branch. Lisa has also been the Coordinator for a local HIV/AIDS support group. Both of these organisations are part of a larger collective called the Working Together Group - a collective of Dunedin HIV/AIDS education, prevention and support groups that work together to organise annual events aimed at promoting community awareness of this issue. Lisa was the Event Coordinator for the Working Together Group for 7 years.