Australian Prostitution Legal With Mostly Reasonable Restrictions
Prostitution itself is not illegal in Australia. However: Street prostitution is illegal in New South Wales and Queensland (though not for the client) and allowed in Victoria if it doesn't happen near schools, churches or hospitals. New South Wales and Victoria allow licensed brothels.
Queensland (QLD) prostitutes (male or female) have been allowed to work out of a residential or commercial property provided that no more than one person is working from each location for several years now, this includes outcall services. Recent changes brought in by the Beattie Labor Government mean that "Boutique Brothels", no more than 5 staff at a time and only 20 staff all up, are legal - they have to be licensed and be in commercial areas away from schools, churches and hospitals and city or shire councils can oppose a license being issued. The single person operations remain legal. The police does not conduct sting operations.
The massage parlours in NSW usually require regular health checks from their employees, as do the licensed brothels in Victoria. Working conditions in these brothels seem to be rather poor: the women are bound by a large set of house rules, cannot reject clients and are required to sign a contract waiving their civil rights and entitlement to health and safety protection.
Western Australia's street prostitution laws are to undergo a dramatic change for the first time in more than 100 years. The Government has approved harsh new penalties to crack down on the public face of the sex trade. A bill proposed in November 1999, is designed to deal with street prostitution only. Police Minister Kevin Prince says penalties for kerb crawling, a maximum of two years jail, will be double those for street soliciting."If you can actually control the demand, i.e. the kerb crawler, obviously you're going to limit the supply," he said. And police will be given new powers to make it easier to gain evidence. Officers will also have the power to move on anyone suspected of operating as a streetwalker. Labor says it will support the legislation in both Houses of Parliament.
I understand Queensland in December 1999 authorized brothels to help the street problem.
From news article 12/99:
Boutique brothels will soon be legal in Queensland after Parliament today passed controversial new prostitution laws. All Government MPs backed the Prostitution Bill, even though one had publicly expressed reservations about it. Government backbenchers described the move to legalise small licenced brothels as a "necessary evil". But they voted to pass the bill.
Bookmarks