Page 2629 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 5 June 2012
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As elected representatives of the community, we must not discriminate against those who choose to undertake sex work. Equally, we must not shy away from our responsibilities to protect the innocent, vulnerable or, in some cases, even the unwary in our community. This is a difficult balancing exercise. In order to protect the community, is it necessary to criminalise the activity of sex workers or those who procure their services? The government believes it is more appropriate to recognise the right of sex workers to carry on their occupation in a regulated and safe environment.
I will not outline the positions taken on this issue in the submissions the committee received. Adequate summaries can be found in the committee’s report and in the government’s response. It is sufficient to say that the inquiry revealed that argument on this issue is divided into two categories: proponents who favour regulation rather than criminalisation of the commercial sex industry, and opponents who do not believe that regulation achieves its stated aims and who believe that sex work or the procurement of sexual services is degrading or detrimental to women and should be criminalised.
The majority report of the committee favours recognition of the sex industry as a legitimate occupation and proposes a number of measures for better protection of the health and safety of sex workers and their clients. Having carefully considered the report, the government has decided to agree in full or in part to 12 of the 17 recommendations. A further four recommendations are noted for possible action, subject to their viability and the availability of resources. The government has only disagreed with one recommendation, recommendation 16.
The government has given full or partial agreement to recommendations 1 to 9, 11, 12 and 15 of the report. These are: promoting recognition of the sex industry as a legitimate occupation; changing the name of the act; reviewing and reworking offence provisions in the act; managing risk from organised crime, including sex trafficking; improving compliance checking and reporting; improving measures for protecting the health of sex workers and their clients; protecting the privacy and safety of sex workers and their clients; and improving information and assistance for sex workers.
The government has noted recommendations 10, 13, 14 and 17 of the report, relating to assistance for sex workers wishing to leave the industry, registration of sole operators, working from residential premises and reviewing the operation of the act in five years. These four recommendations will require further consideration before a decision is made about what action will be taken.
The one recommendation the government disagrees with is recommendation 16, stating that personal information on sex workers held by the Office of Regulatory Services may only be disclosed to police in the course of an investigation on presentation of a warrant. The government’s position in relation to recommendation 16 is that it is unduly restrictive in a regulatory environment that adequately provides for the protection of personal information and that it is inconsistent with the manner in which ACT Policing generally obtains information from regulators for the purposes of investigating a crime. However, the government
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