Page 5324 - Week 16 - Thursday, 28 November 1991

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15. The Statement says (p.5) the views of the majority of the community would have to be ignored. When and how was any survey made to support such a generalisation?

THE POLICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

16. This brings us to the role of the police. When the law is seen as an ass and unenforceable it must be changed.

The role of the police at the moment is clearly totally unsatisfactory. While the AFP has an excellent reputation for probity, there is, at the moment, alarming potential for corruption and standover tactics in this area.

The Winchester Inquest has raised public anxiety about the AFP to a new level. It is vital that the police force are above reproach.

17. It is clear that the law is unsatisfactory when prostitution is legal and associated activities are illegal:

FURTHER QUESTIONS FOR INVESTIGATION

18. There is a number of other questions to which The Statement makes little or no reference.

(a) there is little or no consideration of male or

homosexual prostitution

(b) there is no consideration of child prostitution

pornography and sexual expression in the community

(d) although it speaks of the importance of social and

attitudinal change, it says nothing, about how this

might be effected, especially in attitudes to the

saleability of women as sex objects and the stigma

attached to such activities.

DRUGS

19. The Statement is disturbing when it says the use of hard drugs appears to be rare among Canberras sex workers, and the majority of brothels in this city do not employ workers with a drug habit.

In itself the comment is cursory and raises many anxieties. The /Committee does not appear to have done its homework in this vast area., It is well known that many senior

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