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In early April, the State’s Upper House passed the Prostitution Amendment Bill, which decriminalised brothels throughout Western Australia.
The new reform adopts a similar model to the one in place in New Zealand, in which brothels are run by certified owners and managers who obtain their certificate from the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor.
The legislative reform leaves brothels subject to planning approval and empowers Police to enter premises to verify that venues are being operated and managed by certified persons and that safe sex information and equipment is provided to sex workers and clientele. The reform also entitles sex workers, including those servicing same-sex clientele, to receive worker’s compensation and work safety legislation protections.
However, the reform only covers brothels, which means that streetwalking and kerb crawling are still criminal offences under the new laws.
‘This is a decriminalisation of some parts of the sex industry, not the entire industry,’ explained Janelle Fawkes, CEO of Australia’s sex workers’ association, Scarlet Alliance. ‘One of the gaps in the legislation is that they won’t retract the Prostitution Control Act that covers street based sex workers.’
Opposition police spokesperson Rob Johnson stated in the West Australian that the passing of this bill could possibly lead to the widespread appearance of mini-brothels in operation on residential streets. Ms Fawkes, however, disagrees with Mr Johnson’s prediction.
‘Scarlet Alliance strongly disagrees with Mr Johnson’s statements. What Rob Johnson has referred to as working mini-brothels we would see as more collectives of sex workers coming together, sharing the costs, providing each other with peer support and not having to share their income with brothel owners or operators.
‘We believe that it’s unlikely that there will be a massive change in the culture of the sex industry in Western Australia. However, under this legislation there is the potential for those workers to have greater control over their occupational health and safety and so we support those changes.’
