Page 1565 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 April 1991
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the nature of the industries we were looking at. Nevertheless, this Assembly has to consider those matters. In particular, the onset of HIV infection requires that we keep a very close watch. This report is a response to that need.
I want to give a note of caution, the same caution that Mr Moore gave in his preface. We were not an investigative body; we developed policies. We did so on what data was available to us; but, in fact, the data was never as much as perhaps was absolutely desirable. Data simply was not available and we did not have the resources or the time to go and get it. I will give you an example. The prostitutes and the brothels told us that they insist on the use of condoms. Now, we do not know any better than that. We cannot gather evidence on that, so, in some measure, we have to make a judgment about the honesty of those people who were talking to us and act accordingly.
In other areas, in the matter of drug use, a lot of what we accepted was accepted somewhat on the basis of trust. I do have confidence in what the police told us; and where they maintain a watch they gain some knowledge. I accept that. I want you to understand that the data base of the report is a little slender.
I had not expected at the outset that I would vote to decriminalise and to regulate prostitution. I went into the inquiry with something of a closed mind, and that is not my usual stance on committee work. I had an inbuilt aversion to prostitution and I thought that it should be possible to prohibit that trade. I find no redeeming features in it; it is degrading of people and of the workers and clients who meet in it.
I am quite pleased that some picture of prostitution emerges in the report. I can see that some of my colleagues have found some part of the appendix that indicates the nature of prostitution in this Territory, and I think it is an important addition because people need to know the nature of that trade.
I believe that a government should have fine ideals and should be working to improve society. I know that prostitution does nothing for the improvement of society. So, on that basis I had expected not to support any decriminalisation and regulation. But, quite simply, it is clear that we cannot ban prostitution. I think there is ample evidence over many, many centuries, indeed over millennia, that banning does not work.
Secondly, we cannot sustain the existing policy. My colleagues have pointed out that the policy of the Director of Public Prosecutions has imposed restraints on the policing of brothels, and the police consequently are in a very difficult position. So, the present situation has to change. Consequently, the only option left is to decriminalise and regulate.
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