The report's key findings are -
- Sydney has a diverse and open sex industry. Compared to other Australian cities Sydney’s sex industry is commensurate with the size of its population. NSW men are infrequent consumers of commercial sexual services, with only 2.3% purchasing sexual services in any one year, similar to the Australian average. The number of sex workers in Sydney brothels was similar to estimates from 20 years ago. These data confirm that the removal of most criminal sanctions did not increase the incidence of commercial sex in NSW.
- Despite several remaining laws against prostitution related activities, offenses finalised in the NSW courts were overwhelmingly concentrated on the street-based sex industry. A third of those who were prosecuted were male clients of street workers. Over the seven year period, 2000 to 2006, there were no prosecutions against several prostitution laws.
- Sydney brothels are widely dispersed in inner urban and suburban areas, and they attract few complaints from neighbours. Because of difficulties in gaining development approval from local councils many Sydney brothels operate without approval, they are often small with poor occupational health and safety standards, and may masquerade as massage parlours. There are periodic reports of local government corruption, but no evidence of widespread police corruption around sex work.
- Compared to sex workers surveyed in Melbourne’s licensed brothels and in Perth, brothel-based female sex workers in Sydney were better educated, and were more likely to have been born in an Asian or other non- English speaking country. In contrast to these other cities, the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) and the Multi-cultural Health Promotion team at the Sydney Sexual Health Centre have been actively working with and have had full access to this sector for 20 years. As a result the migrant sex workers in Sydney have achieved similar excellent levels of sexual health as their local counterparts.
- Condom use at work approaches 100% in Sydney brothels and when the LASH team tested the Sydney sex workers the prevalence of four STIs – chlamydia (2.8%), gonorrhoea (0), Mycoplasma genitalium (3.6%), and trichomoniasis (0.7%) – was at least as low as the general population.
- In general Sydney brothels workers enjoyed levels of mental health that were comparable to the general population. However, 10% of the Sydney women were found to be severely distressed on psychological testing (the Kessler-6 scale): twice as often as the general population. Psychological distress was strongly associated with injecting drug use.
- The NSW Government’s legislative reforms of 1979 and 1995 should be endorsed. These reforms that decriminalised adult sex work have improved human rights; removed police corruption; netted savings for the criminal justice system;and enhanced the surveillance, health promotion, and safety of the nsw sex industry. International authorities regard the nsw regulatory framework as best practice. Contrary to early concerns the NSW sex industry has not increased in size or visibility, and sex work remains stigmatised.
- Licensing of sex work (‘legalisation’) should not be regarded as a viable legislative response. For over a century systems that require licensing of sex workers or brothels have consistently failed – most jurisdictions that once had licensing systems have abandoned them. as most sex workers remain unlicensed criminal codes remain in force, leaving the potential for police corruption. Licensing systems are expensive and difficult to administer, and they always generate an unlicensed underclass. That underclass is wary of and avoids surveillance systems and public health services: the current systems in Queensland and Victoria confirm this fact. Thus, licensing is a threat to public health. The department of planning, in consultation with local government, community representatives, and the health department, should endorse planning guidelines for brothels. The inadequacies of council responses to brothel development applications can be addressed by the state Planning Department endorsing the Sex Services Premises Planning Guidelines 2004, with appropriate updates and amendments.
- Decriminalisation of the adult sex industry means that prime responsibility for the industry has moved from the police to local government. Local government should be resourced by the state for this role, and supported by workCover. Decriminalisation in NSW has been associated with many local governments refusing to approve development applications for brothels. This has resulted in substantial legal costs and, in isolated instances, corruption by local government officials. Refusing development applications has also fostered the growth of brothels masquerading as massage parlours. overseeing brothels to ensure compliance with occupational health and safety standards requires suitably qualified staff, perhaps best managed by WorkCover. Workcover should implement a system of active staff and performance management in the compliance area, and develop a rigorous review and audit system for the compliance function with a high-level manager overseeing the process.
- The NSW Ministry of Health should commission a review of clinical and health promotion services available to sex workers. Our suggestion is that the process be led by the STI Programs unit in consultation with the sex workers outreach Project (SWOP) and the Kirby institute. The current high levels of occupational safety and historically low levels of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) in most sex workers provides an opportunity to rationalise and better target health service provision where it can provide the greatest benefit; for example, new brothel workers and street-based sex workers. clinical screening and health promotion guidelines should be evidence-based and distinguish between higher and lower risk sex workers. data on the sexual health of regional and rural, aboriginal, street-based, male, and gender diverse sex workers should be sought and collated.
- The NSW Government, in consultation with local government and street work communities, should investigate more effective and humane approaches to the problems posed by street-based sex work. Street-based sex work is politically challenging everywhere, and nsw is not exceptional, as traditional working areas become gentrified. street sex workers are among the most traumatised people in the sex industry. Though they are the smallest component of the industry, street sex workers are the major target for police prosecutions because of their high visibility. The aim of the investigation should be to explore methods of reducing the street presence and vulnerability of sex workers by means such ensuring an adequate supply of indoor alternatives; including approving brothels, and supporting more ‘safe house’ facilities;
- Consideration should be given to supporting research into the health and welfare of nSw sex workers outside Sydney; including the structure and determinates of the industry, and the knowledge, experience and behaviour of the workers. The LASH and Sydney Sexual Health Centre (SSHC) studies were limited to urban female brothel- workers in Sydney. Parts of regional NSW have significant numbers of sex workers, many of whom are in contact with regional sexual health services. such research could inform clinical service delivery and health promotion programs;
- For health and safety reasons and in order to meet best practice in a decriminalised environment the word ‘brothel’ as defined in the legislation, should not apply when up to four private sex workers work cooperatively from private premises.All of the evidence indicates that private sex workers have no effect on public amenity. exempting this group from planning laws that pertain to brothels will limit the potential for local government corruption. The New Zealand experience provides a successful precedent for the four worker model.
