Greens’ Position on Prostitution

Why the Greens support changes to the laws on sex work  

Background

The Greens neither condone nor condemn sex work, but recognise its existence in society and the enduring nature of its existence. We acknowledge that in certain situations sex work can be harmful to sex workers, and that issue that needs to be addressed by legislation and other means.

The Greens have consistently lobbied for comprehensive legislation that decriminalises prostitution and regulates the industry, with the emphasis being on public health. The WA Greens policy wants prostitution to be managed primarily as a health issue, addressing in particular occupational health and safety.

The current situation

Sex work in WA is largely unregulated and the law in this area is inconsistent. While it is not an offence to provide sexual services, a person who manages a brothel, lives off the earning of prostitution or procures a person for prostitution is guilty of an offence under the Criminal Code. Under the Prostitution Act 2000 street prostitution is illegal.

For many years police sought to control commercial sexual services through the application of a policy known as the police containment policy. This unwritten policy operated formally from 1975, although it had operated informally for over 100 years. The police allowed certain brothels to operate subject to police imposed conditions. The Commissioner of Police rescinded the containment policy in 2000. However, there is still a level of police control of the sex industry; ‘approved’ brothels; and a database of sex workers maintained by the police. This leaves police open to potential or perceived corruption and allegations of selective policing. In 2004 the Kennedy Royal Commission made adverse comments on the current system due to lack of clarity, the absence of legislative foundation and the potential to afford opportunities for corruption.

These inadequate laws also compromise the safety and security of sex workers.

A new Bill to decriminalise sex work in WA

In September 2006 the Attorney General, Jim McGinty, established a working group, chaired by Sue Ellery MLC, to investigate reforms to WA’s prostitution laws. The Group comprised three members of Parliament, including Greens MLC Giz Watson, and representatives from the Department of Health and the WA Police.  

The Group considered a range of legalised, criminalised and decriminalised models, focusing in particular on ‘minimalist decriminalisation’.

In January 2007 the working group released its report, which recommended a minimalist decriminalised model of regulation. This model will create a framework that primarily will be conducive to public health and the safety of sex workers, and protect children from being involved in prostitution.

The full report can be found at: http://www.ministers.wa.gov.au/mcginty/docs/features/Prostitution%20Law%20Reform%20Report%202007.pdf

To achieve this model the Prostitution Amendment Bill 2007 has been drafted and is currently being debated in the Legislative Assembly.

The Bill can be found at:

http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/web/newwebparl.nsf/iframewebpages/Bills+-+Current

The Greens support the Bill as we believe it will:

1. regulate the sector in a way that is consistent with other licensed activities (such as selling alcohol)
2. improve public health by regulating and controlling people involved in the provision of prostitution, and the location of operators of businesses of prostitution
3. empower sex workers and enable them to exercise increased control over their work conditions
4. improve their safety and avoid exploitation
5. strengthen the provisions that protect minors
6. prevent criminal involvement and trafficking
7. prevent the sector from operating underground, which increases risks to workers, criminal involvement and police corruption
8. give the final say about the location of brothels to local planning authorities

Comments

Prostitution will exist whether it is legal or illegal. Prohibitive laws have always failed to stop prostitution, attracted criminal involvement and have left prostitutes vulnerable to abuse and often violence. A model is needed that will regulate the industry and provide a safe working environment for sex workers.

To successfully persuade women to leave sex work, the circumstances that may have led them to prostitution (eg drug addiction, sexual abuse) must be addressed first. The proposed minimalist decriminalised model will require Government Departments to work in partnerships with non-government outreach organisations to provide long-term support, information, and education.

As well as providing for a minimalist decriminalisation model the Bill also strengthens existing protections from exploitation, including protection from coercion and inducement.

Despite the Police raising concerns about trafficking of sex workers they did not provide any direct evidence of such activities in WA to the Working Group. In 2004-5 the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs reported 290 ‘unlawful non-citizen sex workers’ in Australia , with 5% (15) of them being in WA.

Opinions differ within the Christian community around issues of sex work. The Social Justice Commission of the Uniting Church ’s Synod of Western Australia made the following comments in a submission to the Prostitution Control Bill 2002:

“The Uniting Church is committed to the elimination of all types of discrimination. In this case, discrimination against women results from the criminalisation of sex work. Laws to control these activities do not deter women from working in the sex industry yet dis-empower those women who do so. Sex workers lack the protection of industrial awards, worker’s compensation, superannuation and other benefits. Sex workers are often unable to speak freely about their work for fear of discrimination.

Criminalisation of sex workers means by default they are denied their basic human rights to seek work. Since the sex industry is an established fact of all societies both ancient and modern, it is unhelpful to categorize that work as deviant and/or illegal.”

The criminalisation of the clients of sex workers, as happens in Sweden , has been raised as an alternative approach. Although the Swedish approach has had the effect of reducing the visibility of sex work, Swedish researchers point out that clients and workers have found less visible ways of making contact. Furthermore, before the legislation was changed in 1998, 80% of sexual services were provided outside Sweden , and this still remains the case. Also 400-600 women are still trafficked into Sweden per year, mainly from Eastern European countries. This number has remained constant in the past several years.

Giz Watson MLC

Member for North Metropolitan Region

November 2007