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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (29 March) . . Page.. 1004 ..

MR RUGENDYKE (continuing):

Then, in 1997, the Assembly took another step to entrench this policy in legislation by passing a Bill to restrict the conduct of sexually explicit entertainment on licensed premises to premises in the prescribed locations mentioned before: Fyshwick, Mitchell and Hume. That debate certainly proves an excellent reference in providing background to the Bill that I table today.

The Liquor (Amendment) Bill 1997 was a government initiative that was adopted with the support of the Greens and Mr Osborne. While the principle of removing adult entertainment from residential and city areas was embraced, in practice it has anomalies. One of those glitches surfaced over the summer, when the Capital Exotic Nightclub opened its doors in the city. This establishment was the venue for tabletop dancing which, for the uninitiated, is another term for stripping. It was a strip joint that was allowed to operate because the proprietors chose not to have a bar service. As a result, it was not bound by the Liquor Act and was allowed to trade outside the industrial suburbs.

The first prong of this Bill intends to close this loophole, and make it clear to the community that the appropriate location for all forms of explicit adult entertainment is in the industrial suburbs. While the Assembly made its position clear on this policy in 1997, there was another example of explicit nudity in the city that was overlooked. At this point I would like to point out that speeches made in 1997 in that debate, by both Ms Tucker and Mr Humphries, noted the support of the Eros Foundation for the removal of tabletop dancing from the city. I note that Mr Humphries said in reference to those three industrial suburbs, and I quote, "the Eros Foundation has supported the removal of tabletop dancing to those parts of the Territory we are talking about".

Yet there is another form of strip show, which the Eros Foundation appears to condone, situated in Northbourne Avenue. Of course I am referring to the peep show at the premises known as Club X. Mr Speaker, some members may not know what happens up the stairs at Club X, so I will give them a brief outline. Club X is more than just an outlet that sells adult magazines and sex toys. The peep show is, in effect, a strip show that is much more explicit than tabletop dancing. If it is policy to have tabletop dancing in the suburbs, then it is totally inconsistent to allow females to be the subject of the same type of activity at the peep show.

In my former career as a police officer, I did have the benefit of an insight into a diverse range of activities in our city. One of those was the peep show, and I think it is important that I do outline what happens in that show. It is clear that some members may have no idea of what is involved, and I think it is important that it is clearly understood what happens.

There are a number of booths in the peep show. There is one customer per booth, and they cannot see the stripper until they put $2 in the coin slot. When the time elapses a little window clouds over and they have to insert more money to resume viewing. What they see is live strippers who go all the way, but they are known to go further than just stripping. Without going into explicit detail, let us just say that some of the items that are sold in the shop can appear as props in the peep show. Clearly, the city is not the

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