Page 2628 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 5 June 2012
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Justice and Community Safety—Standing Committee—Report 9—Inquiry into the Prostitution Act 1992—Government response.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
On 19 October 2010 I presented a motion to the Assembly seeking a review of the act. Members may recall that on 15 September 2008 a young woman tragically died in a Canberra brothel from an overdose of drugs. Subsequent inquiries found that she was 17 years old at the time. The minimum age for providers of sexual services under the Prostitution Act is 18. The death of this young person, this tragic death, understandably raised community concerns about the oversight of employment of sex workers. I proposed that the committee would examine the processes in place for regulation of the industry, with the aim of identifying reforms that protect sex workers and their clients.
The tragic death of the young woman focused attention on the effectiveness of the act as a regulatory instrument to protect sex workers and their clients. It also called into question the capacity of regulators. As the government’s submission to the inquiry stated:
The Prostitution Act 1992 … in its current form reflects a progressive and socially responsible approach to regulation of the commercial sex industry in the Territory, which the ACT Government wishes to continue, and to improve upon. While the Act is almost 20 years old and would benefit from being brought up to date, it is considered to be generally appropriate, and broad revision at this time is not proposed.
In seeking this inquiry, I put the view that no regulatory system can realistically be expected to be perfect in either its form or its operation. In relation to the Prostitution Act, there are some specific events that the government has considerable concern about, not because the various regulatory agencies have failed to operate in the most effective manner possible but because there may be opportunities to reform the law in this area to better protect licensees, employees, young people, migrants, visitors and clients of the sex industry.
Members will recall that the terms of reference for the inquiry were adopted on 28 October. As a result, the committee received 58 submissions, including submissions from the ACT government, the Health Directorate, the Human Rights Commission, the Australian Federal Police Association, ACT Policing and the commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
The committee chair presented the committee’s report on 23 February this year. It contains 17 recommendations, most of which address the issues of health and safety, sex trafficking and underage participation in activities related to the commercial sex industry. Mrs Dunne has indicated that she is openly opposed to a legalised regulated commercial sex industry, and she dissented from six of the 17 recommendations.
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