The immorality of Victoria's prostitution laws

Australia's handling of prostitution is often cited as a success model, particularly the framework adopted by the State of Victoria.

In the 1970s illegal brothels masqueraded as massage parlors and street walkers proliferated the street areas around the notorious suburb of Melbourne, St Kilda. Victoria was the first state to legalize brothel based prostitution through the Melbourne and Metropolitan Planning Scheme with the objectives of controlling industry growth, reducing illegal activities, preventing criminal elements infiltrating the industry, preventing child prostitution, and making street walkers safe.

The Victorian model allowed licensed commercial brothels regulated under the 1994 Prostitution Control Act which became known as the Sex Work Act, and local government planning regulations. In addition single owner managed brothels with one additional sex worker were also allowed and exempt from the need to obtain a license under the Sex Worker Act. However these small brothels still needed local government planning approvals which were almost impossible to obtain, requiring appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, needing expensive legal representation.

The Sex Work Act also allowed escort agencies which could provide sexual services at customer premises, or just recently at hotels, although street walkers were still illegal under the Act.

Under this legislative regime, Consumer Affairs Policy of the Victorian Government gives the impression that this $500 million per year legal industry with over 3 million customers is a safe and reasonable job for women in Victoria. In Victoria prostitution is considered a consensual act between two people where one is used sexually by the other. In addition 'pimping' is legalized by allowing non-sex workers who own and manage licensed brothels to benefit financially from prostitution. Sex workers are considered service providers without the guaranteed pay, protection, and benefits workers that other industries are afforded.

This situation appears to be institutionalized by the attitudes of the peak sex worker association, the Scarlet Alliance which sees prostitution as a legitimate occupation, parallel with the interests of the commercial brothel owners, who as mentioned are not sex workers.

This situation in the state of Victoria leaves sex workers as an exploited group by both government and commercial interests, where the sex workers themselves are seen as mere sex objects who generate commercial revenue. The current prostitution laws in Victoria maintain the industry as a vocation of oppression against individual sex workers who are unable to empower themselves and given no resources to cope with the trauma and violence of the job.

There is indeed an urgent need to put workers in charge of their own industry, so they can be free of the shackles of legitimized 'pimpism' that the Sex Work Act enshrines.

Industry statistics indicate that only 10% of commercial brothel licenses are held by women. Through various legal devices to flaunt the law, six major entities appear to control the legal industry.

High licensing fees, extremely high capital requirements required to meet planning regulations to develop a brothel, and a tendency of local councils to reject new applications, which require expensive legal representation make it almost impossible for sex workers to own and operate a legal brothel. In addition, the economics of the industry really require operators to own the premises they operate from, because the owners of premises with planning approvals charge sex operators who wish to lease these premises exorbitant rents, allowing only marginal returns to the operators.

Obtaining the necessary permits to operate exempt brothels from the Sex Work Act are so difficult, most sex workers opt to open illegal brothels under the guise of a massage parlor, thereby going outside the law. They run the risk if prosecuted of having all their assets forfeited by the state, a penalty primarily reserved for drug trafficking. In addition the proprietors of licensed commercial brothels proactively seek to close down these illegal brothels, due to the competition they give the legal industry, as most customers tend to visit both legal and illegal brothels. This brings a situation where the legalized pimps of the industry are the worst enemy of the weak and unprotected sex workers.

Those sex workers who opt to work within licensed commercial brothels usually work 12-14 hour shifts where up to 60% of money paid by clients goes to the brothel. The sex workers are given no assistance in handling the specific occupational issues related to their work by the licensed brothels.