Ignoring the evidence of the harms of decriminalisation and the sex industry more generally, the Queensland Government has tasked the Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) with recommending a decriminalised model of prostitution law in Queensland. Women’s Forum Australia recently made a submission on the QLRC’s Consultation Paper, “A framework for a decriminalised sex work industry in Queensland”. We reproduce the submission in full below (you can also download a copy here).

Our CEO Rachael Wong was on ABC Background Briefing discussing the Queensland Government’s bid to introduce regressive prostitution laws that will perpetuate the notion that women’s bodies are commodities to be bought and sold and that their sexual exploitation is both normal and acceptable (Rachael is on at 23:30).

It is clear from jurisdictions that have decriminalised prostitution, that doing so does very little to improve the working conditions of women caught up in the industry, including reducing stigma, harm and violence associated with the trade. Despite this evidence, the Queensland Government is nevertheless proceeding with the decriminalisation model, and has tasked the Queensland Law Reform Commission (“QLRC”) with recommending an appropriate legal framework. The QLRC is seeking feedback regarding a proposed legislative model for the state and has released a consultation paper.  

Did the Andrews Government consult with sex industry survivors before enacting laws to decriminalise prostitution in Victoria?

“[The] politics of pessimism defines the liberal consensus that prostitution should be regulated rather than abolished. This attitude is the antithesis of feminism. ‘We do not say, poverty will always exist, let’s build more poor houses,’ one survivor activist told me during the research for my book on the global sex trade. ‘Or ‘there will always be rape, so let’s focus on patching up victims,’ but we do say that about prostitution.”

Durham University in England has chosen to publically defend its decision to offer training sessions to assist its students in the sex industry, following a wave of media attention and criticism.

By Stephanie Bastiaan

New South Wales model of decriminalisation and deregulation of prostitution has failed to protect workers in the sex industry while empowering profiteers and criminals, so why is Victoria going down the same path?  

Australia’s laws regulating prostitution are a tangled knot of inconsistencies, from one end of the country to the other.

As the South Australian parliament continues to examine legislation to decriminalise prostitution in the state, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the South Australian Police could not support the current bill even though police do “not object to the decriminalisation of sex work per se”.

Following the publication of our piece in the Spectator (“It’s time outrage at sexual exploitation extended to prostitution”), former Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm hit back with an article arguing for the decriminalisation of prostitution and taking issue with our argument that women are harmed by prostitution.