Australia is out of step with progressive countries on prostitution

It is common for a prostitute to have been sexually or physically abused prior to entering prostitution. A Stockholm University report says between 55 and 90% of prostituted women have been subjected to sexual abuse as children.

An Adelaide study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies of young people aged 12 to 23 living on the streets indicated that 80% of young women and 27% of young men, involved in sex work, had a history of child abuse. 75% of sex workers in Sydney's Kings Cross reported some form of child sexual abuse.A research project with 30 Melbourne young people working in the sex industry discovered that 16 of them had been in the state care system, while 13 had left home because of physical or sexual abuse or neglect. No one chooses to be abused as a child.

Can we continue to turn a blind eye to the vast majority of those caught up in prostitution who are not there not by choice, but because they had no other choice.

The US State Department in the 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report states that Australia is a destination country for girls and women subjected to sex trafficking, predominantly from South East Asia. This exploitation, and the involvement of organised crime, is found in NSW. Sex trafficking would not exist without the demand for commercial sex. This is a violation against human rights in every sense.

The Australian Christian Lobby and other groups such as Coalition Against Trafficked Women Australia and Collective Shout support the Swedish approach to prostitution legislation which has also been adopted by many progressive countries including Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland and Canada. It is also being considered in France, Israel, Ireland, Scotland and Lithuania.

This approach recognises prostitution as undermining women's equality and a form of violence against women. The Swedish approach directly addresses demand for prostitution by criminalising sex buyers and third parties who profit from prostitution, while simultaneously supporting victims and survivors.

Prostitution is harmful to women. It is overwhelmingly purchased by men, from women, and is founded on inherent inequality between the sexes. This inquiry is an opportunity for NSW to lead the way with important, progressive reform.