Page 1560 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 April 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
prostitution - at this stage we can find no evidence that it exists in Canberra, and we want to keep it that way - ought to be illegal. But it should be illegal on this basis: Both the person who would prostitute and the client should be guilty of an offence, and should be guilty of the same offence. That has not been the case in any jurisdiction that I am aware of, and I believe that it is the most appropriate way to deal with it.
This committee has not attempted in any way to be an inquiry in the same sense as a royal commission or something of that nature. It has not attempted to conduct an inquiry in a way that perhaps Mr Fitzgerald would have done. It has been looking at the social aspects of prostitution and how it fits into our society, and we have recommended that prostitution be decriminalised and regulated.
The role of the police in prostitution has been most awkward and difficult. The police have had legislation; but, because of a refusal by the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute except under certain circumstances, they could well have been seen to not be doing their duty. In fact, from the evidence we have seen and from the discussions with the police, we believe that they have carried out their duties in a most exemplary way under the most awkward of circumstances. It is most important that they be congratulated. I hope that the police will receive this report in a very positive way, as it is intended to be. The recommendations of the committee are that the police have no special powers with reference to any licensed brothel or escort agency that exists in the ACT.
I refer to a "licensed brothel or escort agency" because our recommended method of control or regulation is the establishment of a licensing board, and that licensing board ought to be self-funding. The police, of course, would still have the same powers as they have always had with anything else. If they are suspicious, for example, if they have evidence that a brothel has any other places involved in, for example, the use of drugs, then it will be quite appropriate for them to seek a warrant and to raid the place, if that is the appropriate word.
It is also important to note that it has been quite common practice for police to be invited to brothels in order to sort out problems with unruly customers. The managers have told us that they have a good relationship with the police, and I presume that that good relationship will continue.
There is a civil liberties issue raised by the committee about the keeping of records on prostitutes. The police tell us that there are some 400 prostitutes in the ACT. The rest of the evidence that we can gather shows that there are some 150. This indicates that the records of the police, although they are not available broadly, relate to some people who are not working as prostitutes. We have
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .