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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-07-28 Daily Xml
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SEX INDUSTRY REFORM

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:41): As members in this house are aware, it is my intention to introduce a bill to reform the lot of sex workers in South Australia. In researching this area, I was interested to read the report of the Select Committee of Inquiry into Prostitution presented to the South Australian parliament in February 1980—I think it is Parliamentary Paper 152—and to note the researcher being one Mary McLeod, a research officer that the member for Reynell and I knew very well, particularly when she worked for the Premier's Women's Advisory Unit.

Interestingly, in this report there were recommendations that I think are probably very useful for today. It says:

This committee suggested that decriminalisation means not treating prostitution as a criminal activity. It does not mean legalisation in the sense of regulation by law. It does not indicate approval or disapproval by the state but, rather, the view that private sexual morality is not the concern of the law. Prostitution would be subject only to those controls appropriate to prevent abuses and those normally governing the operation of businesses, such as:

1. Location—premises used for the purposes of prostitution could be confined to certain designated areas;

2. Health—they—

I presume they mean workers—

should be subject to requirements of meeting certain building and health standards, similar to those required for shops, restaurants, etc.;

3. Other standards, such as parking and access; and

4. Taxation.

The report also suggested that regulation should be considered to achieve the following:

1. Eliminate the present widespread breaking of the law by providing the facility legally;

2. Limit prostitution to certain areas;

3. Control the venereal disease rate through health inspection of prostitutes;

4. Ensure that prostitutes are not exploited or otherwise abused;

5. Control abuses such as coercion, use of minors and association with drugs; and

6. Provide a higher likelihood of earnings from a prostitute being subject to income taxation.

It is interesting all these years later that there is a similar agenda that many of us see as being important if there is going to be any reform. I was also a bit concerned, I suppose, in doing some of this research, in a publication called So Much Hard Work: Women and Prostitution in Australian History, to read about the age of consent. This is particularly relevant, considering the legislation that we looked at in private members' time this morning. This publication, edited by Kay Daniels, was published in 1984. It said the age of consent in 1837 was 10 years—this is for girls. The Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1876 actually raised the age of consent to 12 years, again, for girls. Also, in 1885, the South Australian act No. 38 of 1876 raised the age of consent to 16 years.

This publication also discusses the fact that, because prostitution was seen to be an open thing in the colonies, there were some allowances made for child prostitution, as long as the child prostitutes actually lived with their parents. So, there is an interesting history, when we look back on protection of young people in particular, but also looking at prostitution. One of the opening statements of the article on South Australia says:

In establishing the colony of South Australia the founders expressed the hope that it would become a place of exemplary social and moral respectability. Despite these intentions, it [was] clear that very early in the history of South Australia there developed what was perceived as a prostitution 'problem'.

Many social researchers and commentators of early white settlement here have commented on the openness and prevalence of prostitution in South Australia.

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