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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-05-16 Daily Xml
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HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for the Status of Women on human trafficking of females in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: The extent of human trafficking in Australia is difficult to quantify: there have been a number of attempts to do so, but it is difficult for obvious reasons. It has been estimated that the number ranges between 300 and 1,000 people each year approximately, although the true number could be much higher than this. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the UNODC, lists Australia as one of 21 trafficking destination countries in the high destination category.

This problem was acknowledged in 2011 by the federal government with the federal minister for the status of women at the time, the Hon. Kate Ellis, stating in a media release:

Some 83 per cent of trafficking victims identified in Australia are women working in the sex industry.

The minister at the time was announcing an increase in the existing government's funding of $1.6 million to tackle human trafficking in Australia. It is estimated that there are currently twice as many slaves worldwide being trafficked for sex and other forms than when the famous Christian philanthropist Lord William Wilberforce succeeded in the United Kingdom parliament in making slavery illegal in 1807, over 200 years ago. My questions of the minister are:

1. What steps are being taken currently by the state government to monitor and detect sex slavery in South Australia, if any?

2. What data is available about the extent of sex trafficking in South Australia as compared with other states?

3. There have been prosecutions for sex trafficking in the Eastern States. Have there been any prosecutions in South Australia?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. The crime of human trafficking, particularly that associated with the sex industry, is a particularly appalling thing to do to human beings, particularly women, and I know that the federal government has looked at this issue; as the honourable member says, Kate Ellis was looking at this some time ago. I know the federal government continues to look at that and monitor this issue carefully.

This issue has come up in this place before, and I know I have put information on the record before, but I am happy to repeat that: namely, I have had informal discussions with SA Police and also with sex industry advocates here in South Australia. Their view is that it is an offence that rarely occurs in South Australia. I do not know whether it is because Adelaide is a distance from the eastern borders and there is the tyranny of distance—I am not sure—but we do not appear to have the same sort of problem that occurs in some of the Eastern States.

However, I do not believe that Australia has a particularly high prevalence of this offence, either. I think that there are other countries that are more susceptible to this sort of crime than Australia. However, I do accept that it does happen here. I am not aware of any prosecutions here in South Australia. I am happy to take that on notice and if that information is available I am happy to provide that.

I think the issue the honourable member hits on is a very important one, and that is one of the reasons I have supported the decriminalisation of the sex industry and am a big supporter of the Hon. Stephanie Key's legislation, which I will be tabling in this place again, hopefully, within the foreseeable future. The decriminalising of the sex industry is a very important tool to help open up the sex industry because at the moment prostitution is considered illegal so we know it goes underground and occurs behind closed doors. We all know it is an industry that is well established, has been since the day dot, and continues. Because it has failed to be regulated and open and scrutinised, it becomes a receptacle for crimes and criminal actions, and human trafficking is one of them. I take it, then, that the honourable member would support our bill, when it comes in, to decriminalise the sex industry.

The Hon. D.G.E. Hood: Are you saying where it's legal there is trafficking and where it is illegal there is none?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: That's not what I said. What I am saying is—

The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Honourable members should open their ears and listen. What I said is that, where an industry is open, transparent and well regulated, it is less inclined to be used as a receptacle for criminal offences. Part of the issue is that it is incredibly difficult to monitor when all this activity is occurring behind closed doors and underground, and it is an illegal activity. I will be very pleased to support that piece of legislation when it comes here and very pleased to determine the support of the rest of the house in relation to that most important legislation.

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