Page 5033 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 27 November 1991
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recommendations made in the committee's report and attempted to be put into effect by this Bill now before the Assembly do not adequately deal with the many complex issues that are involved in proposals to license and regulate the prostitution industry.
It is obvious from debate around the country that the highly regulatory model that was favoured in Victoria is now meeting with a degree of criticism. There are allegations that it has allowed, in effect, centralisation of the industry in a few hands in Victoria and that there remains a substantial underground industry. There is a debate in Queensland, where there are suggestions that a totally decriminalised open market approach is better.
Mr Speaker, in effect, the Government says that we should not accept this Bill now as an appropriate answer. The Government believes that there are so many difficult and complex matters that still need to be looked at that we are not really in a position to proceed now with this Bill. We think that it is of the utmost importance that action on prostitution be taken wisely, particularly given the important issues relating to the spread of life-threatening diseases.
I am not going to express at this stage a clear option as to whether the Government should or should not support licensing of operators of brothels or escort agencies or whether it should or should not support the concept of a licensing authority. What I can say is that, if such a body were to be set up, there would need to be much more detailed information than is currently provided on how it should work, what its powers would be and what the effect of its decisions would be.
I wonder whether there are not alternative approaches to a licensing system. If there is to be a licensing system, what would be its cost? It would be an unfortunate outcome if the regulatory structure were so costly and the resultant licensing fees so high that operators were discouraged from establishing themselves legally. Thus we might potentially see the growth of an unlicensed underground industry alongside the legal industry. We certainly would not want to see hasty legislative action in this area lead to the growth of unlicensed brothels and escort agencies in the ACT. That is a criticism that one hears from time to time in Victoria.
Assuming, as the report does, that a licensing system is the approach we should follow, I believe that further thought is required as to the most effective ways of administering such a system. The report and the Bill envisage a licensing authority with a broad range of functions, including inspecting premises to check compliance with health and safety provisions. Again the Government wonders why existing occupational health and safety officials could not carry out this function. Why do we need to create a new regulatory regime?
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