The Queensland government has confirmed it will decriminalise sex work and dismantle a licensing system that has been the bane of brothel owners for more than 20 years.
Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman announced the move as she released the findings of a Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) review that found solo workers — in other words the vast majority of the state's sex workers — were forced to choose between working safely or working legally.
It echoed complaints that have been made by the sex trade for years claiming private workers weren't permitted to hire security or staffing of any sort and could not operate under the same roof as another sex worker.
But the QLRC report went further, suggesting decriminalisation would decrease the risk of police corruption.
"Private sex workers must work alone under current laws, which means undercover policing strategies could create potential risks of corruption or exploitation," the QLRC found.
The current two-tiered system governing sex work in Queensland has been in operation since 2000, begging the question — why didn't this happen years ago?
The two-tiered system currently places solo sex workers at the mercy of police, who were granted covert powers to pursue them under the Criminal Code.
Accusations of entrapment
In practice, this resulted in undercover police acting as clients who attempted to entrap solo sex workers by urging them to involve a second sex worker — something deemed safe between consenting adults inside a licensed brothel but classed as a criminal act anywhere else.
In 2021, one Queensland sex worker spoke to the ABC about being targeted by an undercover officer seeking illegal services.
Such stories are rife among fellow workers, who are angered by what they see as police entrapment.
The Queensland Police Service has been contacted for comment.
The QLRC received more than 60 submissions to its review from people identifying as sex workers or former sex workers.
It moved to highlight genuine concerns about how current laws left police and sex workers vulnerable to accusations of corruption.
It is not the first report to government raising such concerns.
A 1991 Criminal Justice Commission report urged the Goss government to regulate prostitution.
"Complaints reported in interviews conducted for this study concerned the vulnerability of sex workers to the police discretion to arrest and police harassment," the report noted.
Then-premier Wayne Goss, facing an imminent election, rejected the recommendation to allow solo workers and licensed brothels.
Instead, the Criminal Code was amended only to permit sole sex workers, provided they worked alone.
At the time, the sex trade was regarded as deeply immoral by a significant proportion of the Queensland population.
Brothels were not legalised until the turn of the century.
Indeed, to this day the notion that sex workers are somehow tainted or shameful is precisely how many sex workers say they have been made to feel in their interactions with police, and one of the reasons why reforms may have taken so long.
Queensland's sex trade will be decriminalised, but it could have happened years ago - ABC News
Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman announced the move as she released the findings of a Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) review that found solo workers — in other words the vast majority of the state's sex workers — were forced to choose between working safely or working legally.
It echoed complaints that have been made by the sex trade for years claiming private workers weren't permitted to hire security or staffing of any sort and could not operate under the same roof as another sex worker.
But the QLRC report went further, suggesting decriminalisation would decrease the risk of police corruption.
"Private sex workers must work alone under current laws, which means undercover policing strategies could create potential risks of corruption or exploitation," the QLRC found.
The current two-tiered system governing sex work in Queensland has been in operation since 2000, begging the question — why didn't this happen years ago?
The two-tiered system currently places solo sex workers at the mercy of police, who were granted covert powers to pursue them under the Criminal Code.
Accusations of entrapment
In practice, this resulted in undercover police acting as clients who attempted to entrap solo sex workers by urging them to involve a second sex worker — something deemed safe between consenting adults inside a licensed brothel but classed as a criminal act anywhere else.
In 2021, one Queensland sex worker spoke to the ABC about being targeted by an undercover officer seeking illegal services.
Such stories are rife among fellow workers, who are angered by what they see as police entrapment.
The Queensland Police Service has been contacted for comment.
The QLRC received more than 60 submissions to its review from people identifying as sex workers or former sex workers.
It moved to highlight genuine concerns about how current laws left police and sex workers vulnerable to accusations of corruption.
It is not the first report to government raising such concerns.
A 1991 Criminal Justice Commission report urged the Goss government to regulate prostitution.
"Complaints reported in interviews conducted for this study concerned the vulnerability of sex workers to the police discretion to arrest and police harassment," the report noted.
Then-premier Wayne Goss, facing an imminent election, rejected the recommendation to allow solo workers and licensed brothels.
Instead, the Criminal Code was amended only to permit sole sex workers, provided they worked alone.
At the time, the sex trade was regarded as deeply immoral by a significant proportion of the Queensland population.
Brothels were not legalised until the turn of the century.
Indeed, to this day the notion that sex workers are somehow tainted or shameful is precisely how many sex workers say they have been made to feel in their interactions with police, and one of the reasons why reforms may have taken so long.
Queensland's sex trade will be decriminalised, but it could have happened years ago - ABC News
