Victoria has recently become the third State/Territory in Australia to decriminalise sex work, marking a milestone moment for advocates who have waited several decades for sex work reforms.
The Sex Work Decriminalisation Bill repeals offences and criminal penalties for adults engaging in consensual sex work in Victoria. In particular, the Bill:
- Partially abolishes street-based sex work offences
- Removes past sex work offences from the records of those concerned
- Eases discrimination laws, making life easier for sex workers in areas like banking, finance, accommodation, education and employment
Reason Party leader and former sex worker Fiona Patten has been fighting for reforms to sex work laws for 40 years. She said these reforms are long overdue.
“This bill is for everyone who has been working under these draconian laws that have not protected us,” Patten said during the upper house debate. “They haven’t protected the people in the industry – the sex workers, the brothel owners, the managers, the receptionists.”
Sex Work Law Reform Victoria spokesperson Matthew Roberts said the main benefit these reforms have for sex workers is they’ll no longer have to fear the police if something goes wrong at work.
A nationwide survey conducted by Scarlet Alliance and the Centre for Social Research in 2020 revealed that 96% of sex workers reported experiencing discrimination in the past 12 months.
“Sex workers at the moment experience rampant discrimination in all aspects of their life,” Roberts said. “If a sex worker wants to move out of the industry and find a job, there’s also discrimination there.”
How were Victorian sex work laws set up before?
Prior to these reforms, street-based sex work was a crime in the State of Victoria, while strict licensing conditions permitted monetary exchange for sexual services at registered brothels and/or escort agencies. The issue with this system is that sex workers have said it’s difficult to navigate, and legislation can be overwhelmingly confusing. The new reforms partially abolish penalties for street-based sex work.
The first group of reforms are scheduled to come into effect from May 10 of this year, and the remainder of the reforms (including a full repeal of the Sex Work Act 1994) are scheduled to come into effect from December 2023.
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