STATUTES AMENDMENT (SEX WORK REFORM) BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 18 October 2012.)

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (10:39): I thought there were going to be some other contributions, but they are obviously not in the chamber at the moment so I will push on. Decriminalisation in the sex industry, we are told, will increase the number of sex workers. This is a myth, in my view. In looking at the New Zealand report that was done, the Prostitution Law Review Committee report of 2008, it was shown that there was little impact of decriminalisation on the number of sex workers.

We are also told that sex work will be seen as a legitimate job choice for the unemployed if decriminalisation occurs. This is not the case. The sex work industry will not be considered a legitimate field of employment for school leavers and jobseekers by the government; it will simply mean that if this bill is passed then sex work will not be illegal.

The other myth that comes up frequently is that sex workers have a higher rate of sexually transmitted diseases than the rest of the population and that this will put the population at risk if sex work is decriminalised. My understanding, certainly from the published and unpublished data I have seen, is that sex workers generally have better sexual health than the rest of the population. New Zealand's Prostitution Law Review Committee report from 2008 also states that sex workers have a very low rate of HIV and AIDS.

We are also told that sex work is an industry dominated by organised crime and that there will be an increase in trafficked women if sex work is decriminalised. Again, there is no evidence in South Australia to support the fact that there will be more trafficked women coming to South Australia and being forced to be sex workers. Although this is obviously of concern, there is no evidence to support this claim.

A common call is that most women are sex workers against their will. My understanding, certainly from the research and consultation that I have done with sex workers and their organisations, is that most sex workers have in fact chosen to be in that industry. One of the things this bill looks at is the quite difficult barriers should a worker want to leave the industry, and my bill hopes to rectify this.

Consultation has indicated that a criminal record in relation to being a sex worker or being employed in a brothel can and does inhibit future job opportunities in other industries, particularly full-time work. Quite often workers tell me they can get work as a casual or in a part-time capacity, but they find it very difficult to secure a career in another industry because they may have convictions associated with sex work. In this regard, I am really pleased that the Attorney-General has followed up on the survey and research that he commissioned in January and February this year. As we know in this house, we have dealt with the issue of reforming the spent convictions legislation in this place.

The other myth is that young people are being exploited in the sex work industry and that decriminalisation will make this worse. South Australian legislation already protects minors. It is illegal for a minor to be engaged in sexual services. One of the other myths is that brothels and street workers will be everywhere. This is not the case. The bill does not decriminalise street work as such but it does put some limits on how a worker can operate from the street. The bill makes it an offence for a sex worker business to be established near schools, childcare centres, churches and so on, so we have put in some location provisions that I was asked to incorporate in my bill.

Who will ensure that sex work businesses do the right thing? I think this is an area that will really need to be discussed in regulation. There are some great models of how this works in New Zealand and New South Wales and also in the other states that do not have a decriminalisation model but a semi-legal model. There are a lot of areas we can look at to make sure that our industry in South Australia operates correctly and that workers in those industries have the same rights and responsibilities as other workers. I urge members in this chamber to support the second reading so that we can get on to talking about the legislation.

The house divided on the second reading:

Majority of 1 for the noes.

Second reading thus negatived.