WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Brothels will now be legal in New Zealand -- its parliament narrowly voted on Wednesday to overturn the country's 100-year-old sex laws which ban soliciting and living off the earnings of prostitution.

Parliamentarians voted 60 to 59 in favor of the bill to decriminalize prostitution, drawing cheers from prostitutes and their supporters in the legislature's packed public galleries.

"We passed tonight the world's best sex industry legislation," said Labour politician Tim Barnett, who has long championed changing New Zealand's sex laws.

"It's focused on real harms rather than trying to make moral judgments about the sex industry," he told Reuters.

Under present laws, prostitution itself is not illegal but associated acts such as brothel-keeping, soliciting and living off the earnings of prostitution are.

The bill was passed despite intensive lobbying by church leaders, who feared it would draw young, vulnerable people into the industry and spawn new brothels.

There are an estimated 8,000 prostitutes in New Zealand.

According to police figures, there have been 279 prosecutions for soliciting in the last five years and 14 for living off the earnings of prostitution.



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