Page 2443 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 31 July 2018
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He further noted:
These are all issues that are not going away.
The Chief Health Officer raised what my colleagues and I consider to be serious concerns.
Ms Cheyne touched on the matter in two speeches today, once to raise to concerns and once to say that it was not a problem. I do note that in the Chief Health Officer’s report tabled after question time today his concerns about the extent of sexually transmitted diseases and antibiotic resistance were raised again.
The use of prophylactics is not the answer. Prophylactics can fail and they can be tampered with. The government’s approach, in effect, is to place its trust in one precautionary measure. This Assembly has a responsibility to heed the Chief Health Officer’s warnings in relation to sexually transmitted diseases. The Canberra Liberals certainly do. We will oppose this relaxation of the law until it can be demonstrated that it is absolutely safe. It will be on the government’s head if it fails.
I commend my amendments 1 to 19 to the Assembly.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety, Minister for Corrections and Minister for Mental Health) (4.43): It is not my or the government’s intention to support Mrs Dunne’s amendments. Let me take two particular issues that she has raised in turn.
Firstly, in terms of removing the requirement for sole operators to register with the Commissioner for Fair Trading, through Access Canberra, this is an amendment that was seen as most important by key stakeholders. This provision does not set aside or treat sole operators in the sex work industry differently from other sole operators who are not required to register. To put that in context, a person who runs a hairdressing business from home does not need to register with Access Canberra. They still need to meet certain work, health and safety requirements, but they are not required to register in order to go about their business.
As Mrs Dunne noted, I did flag that some industries are required to register, and there are reasons for that. Lawyers deal with significant amounts of people’s money in trust, and there are all these sorts of things. You have to take these industries on a case-by-case basis. That is what we have done here. We have looked at why people would be required to register, the impact that it is having, and whether the alternative approach is better. That is why we have adopted the alternative approach.
The main reason for this amendment to the legislation is that it removes the requirement for sole operators to register because it enhances both their personal privacy and, we believe, their safety. Whether we like it or not, sex work is an industry that does attract stigma and about which people make assumptions. It is not necessarily something you want to have on the public record for life. This amendment
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