Submission -Statues Amendment (Repeal of Sex Work Offences) Bill 2021

This submission argues that the Statutes Amendment (Repeal of Sex Work Offences) Bill 2020 (SA) (‘the Bill’) should be rejected as it is detrimental to the achievement of gender equality in South Australia. It is predicated on a model of decriminalisation that has failed to protect women in prostitution in other jurisdictions in which it has been introduced and it has led to an increase in prostitution in those jurisdictions. The rationale for decriminalisation is that prostitution is a free choice, it is inevitable and meets a legitimate societal need and that the removal of criminal penalties for women will enable them to enforce their workplace rights and access legal remedies under the law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Decriminalisation further enhances the vulnerability of women in prostitution. As the New Zealand experience attests, women will be bonded in sham contracting arrangements and subject to the substantial power and control of brothel owners. Women in prostitution typically do not freely choose to work in the sex industry. Even when this “choice” is made without coercion, the evidence finds that most women have made this “choice” in a highly constrained and precarious context. Evidence from other jurisdictions which have decriminalised or legalised prostitution such as Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria suggest that state-sanctioned prostitution greatly increases the level of prostitution within that jurisdiction. This is particularly troubling given that prostitution is a form of “gendered violence” and is not acceptable in a pluralist democracy like Australia which seeks to uphold women’s human rights and equal participation in society. Sweden pioneered an abolitionist approach to prostitution in 1999. Its innovative model which banned the purchase of sex but decriminalised prostitution for vulnerable women has led to a substantial fall in prostitution and trafficking, and led to women exiting the industry. Sweden’s model has been the subject of two decades of intense review and in the ensuing two decades, many countries have followed the Swedish approach.1 In contrast, only one country and two Australian jurisdictions have adopted the decriminalisation model proposed by the Bill. The Bill is a retrograde step and should be rejected. In its place, this submission proposes that the SA Government introduces new legislation which removes criminal penalties for women in prostitution but criminalises the activities of buyers and brothel operators. This legislative reform, based on the Swedish model, should be part of a wider package of social reform aimed at assisting and supporting women to exit prostitution.