Western Australia takes a big step. Read the whole article at The Sydney Morning Herald…

Western Australia to legalise prostitution

Western Australia is set to legalise prostitution in a bid to improve health standards and keep brothels out of residential areas.

Hundreds of suburban brothels are expected to close when WA Attorney-General Christian Porter ends decades of “turning a blind eye” and starts regulating the sex industry next year.

Prostitution is illegal in WA but police rarely lay charges unless they are related to underage sex or unsafe practices.

Under the new legislation, brothels will be licensed and confined to designated commercial and industrial areas, and police will be given powers to investigate and forcibly close those which fail to comply.

Sex businesses will need to follow health and safety standards to obtain and maintain their licences.

Individual sex workers will need to register with a central agency and will undergo compulsory health and blood checks.

They may also be required to carry ID cards.

Mr Porter said suburban operators would be given a grace period from next year to either close or move to a licensed area.

Applications for brothels would first be put to local councils and then assessed by state regulators.

Mr Porter said the new regulations would limit problems in non-residential areas.

WA brothel madams welcomed the move over the weekend but feared the bid to register individual prostitutes would drive some underground.

I like this guy’s style – arguing in court that a prostitute who had his baby was in breech of some kind of implied contract.  Too bad the Judge didn’t agree.  Read more about this amazing story in The Daily Telegraph…

Father ordered to pay for child by prostitute
By Fiona Hudson

A MAN who fathered a baby with a prostitute has taken legal action to stop the woman seeking child support payments from him for the child’s upbringing.

The married man argues the child is potentially a breach of the Trade Practices Act as there was an implied term of “contract” between clients and sex workers that women would take measures to avoid pregnancy.

The man – who can only be referred to by the pseudonym “Mr Lilley” – told Federal Magistrate Grant Riethmuller he shouldn’t have to pay for the inadvertent offspring given the circumstances of the conception.

The man told the court, sitting in Melbourne, he’d had “a consumer transaction” with the child’s mother.

Mr Riethmuller heard Mr Lilley initially contributed an amount toward the infant’s upkeep under an informal arrangement with the prostitute.

The matter spilled into court in June after he lost his $140,000-a-year job and fell behind in the payments.

A detailed study into the sex industry is coming, courtesy of our friend Down Under. Read the whole article at The Northern Star…

New study to examine sex industry
by Miles Godfrey

Wanted: Men who pay for sex – kinky fetishes optional.

In an Australian first, men who visit prostitutes in NSW are being sought for a major study of the sex industry.

University of NSW criminologist Philip Birch hopes to destroy some of the myths surrounding prostitution and learn more about the motives of men who pay women for sex.

He is also keen to question women who accept payment from men.

“I don’t want to pre-empt the results, but I firmly believe it will turn out that the men who visit prostitutes are very ordinary, decent hard-working people,” Mr Birch told AAP.

He hopes to quiz men about some of their most intimate desires.

“We want people to be honest with us about their motivation and learn about some of the contexts and settings,” Mr Birch continued.

Read the whole interesting article at The Daily Telegraph…

Sex industry uses stimulus package

THE sex industry has been badly hit by the global economic crisis, and brothels are devising their own marketing stimulus packages to keep customers happy.

In one of the few countries where prostitution is legal, and unusually transparent, the industry in Germany has responded with an economic stimulus package of its own: modern marketing tools, rebates and gimmicks to boost falling demand.

Some brothels have cut prices or added free promotions while others have introduced all-inclusive flat-rate fees. Free shuttle buses, discounts for seniors and taxi drivers, as well as “day passes” are among marketing strategies designed to keep business going.

“Times are tough for us too,” said Karin Ahrens, who manages the “Yes, Sir” brothel in Hanover. She told Reuters revenue had dropped by 30 percent at her establishment while turnover had fallen by as much as 50 percent at other clubs.

“We’re definitely feeling the crisis. Clients are being tight with their money. They’re afraid. You can’t charge for the extras any more and there is pressure to cut prices. Everyone wants a deal. Special promotions are essential these days.”

Germany has about 400,000 professional prostitutes. Official figures do not distinguish between the sexes and the number of male prostitutes is not known, but they account for a small fraction of the total and are treated the same under the law.

In 2002, new legislation allowed prostitutes to advertise and to enter into formal labor contracts. It opened the way for them to obtain health insurance, previously refused if they listed their true profession.

Annual revenues are about 14 billion euros ($18 billion), according to an estimate by the Verdi services union. Taxes on prostitution are an important source of income for some cities.

Prostitution is also legal and regulated in the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Greece, Turkey and in some parts of Australia, and the U.S. state of Nevada.

In other countries, such as Luxembourg, Latvia, Denmark, Belgium and Finland, it is legal but brothels and pimping are not.

“CREATIVE SOLUTIONS”

Novel ideas used by brothels and prostitutes include loyalty cards, group sex parties and rebates for golf players. Hamburg’s “GeizHaus” is especially proud of its discount 38.50 euro price. The city has Germany’s most famous red-light district, the Reeperbahn, in the notorious St. Pauli district.

Anke Christiansen, manager of the “GeizHaus,” said the effects of the economic crisis were clear. “The regular customers who used to come by two or three times a week are only coming by once or twice a week now.”

A “GeizHaus” client, who gave his name as Pascal, said: “Naturally we’re all feeling the effects of the crisis.” He added that he could no longer afford his usual two or three visits a week.

Guenter Krull, manager of the “FKK Villa” in Hanover, concurred. “The girls are complaining, too, because business is bad and I worry that it’s all going to get even worse.

Things are tough all over, but adult businesses boom. Read the whole story at The Melbourne Leader…

Melbourne brothels report booming business during economic bust

MELBOURNE’S adult venues have turned the other cheek to the global economic meltdown, with brothels reporting soaring profits and a flood of women turning to strip joints for work.

Daily Planet, billed as Melbourne’s most exclusive brothel, has experienced a big jump in turnover since the economy went into freefall.

While city retailers report falling sales, the brothel’s office administrator Gayle Howard said the number of men willing to pay big bucks for sex rose “quite significantly” last year.

“I won’t give you the exact figure … but it was more than 10 per cent,” Ms Howard said.

It was widely reported that prostitution was one of the few industries to prosper during the Great Depression.

RMIT University business expert Prof Kosmas Smyrnious said he wasn’t surprised to hear the local adult entertainment industry was thriving.

“There are some industries that do particularly well during these types of times and anything that caters to that primal, biological instinct is obviously going to be included in that,” Prof Smyrnious said.

Read the whole story at HeraldSun.com…

Daily Planet brothel accused of ’secret door’
by Keith Moor

A RAID on the Daily Planet brothel revealed beds for up to 20 prostitutes were illegally set up in the building next door.

An adjoining wall was smashed through and a door installed to illegally link the two properties in Horne St, Elsternwick.

News of the discovery could affect Daily Planet building owner’s plans to open a bar next door to the brothel.

It is illegal for brothels to serve alcohol.

The Herald Sun reveals today that Glen Eira council officers inspected the brothel in 2005 and discovered the illegal doorway.

That linking door between the brothel and the owner’s planned bar at 13 Horne St was still there when the council last checked in December 2007.

Council inspectors also discovered beds for up to 20 sex workers were illegally provided on two of the three floors of 13 Horne St, with none of the mandatory safety requirements or planning approvals being met.

The council inspection followed a police raid on the brothel in which a prostitute was accused of stealing a $1.5 million watch from a client.

The diamond-studded Patek Phillippe watch was under a mattress in an illegal bed.

A report from Melbourne demonstrates that no matter how many programs a government may have, some people will work hard to still find themselves in a jam!  The Herald Sun in Australia reports…

Students sell sex to survive

HUNDREDS of university students are homeless and couch-surfing to survive. Some have been forced to turn to sex work to pay the bills.

About 400 Melbourne University students are bunking with friends or relatives because they cannot find affordable accommodation.

Uniting Church justice and international mission unit director Dr Mark Zirnsak said his university chaplains had encountered female students turning to prostitution to make ends meet.

He said rising rents and inadequate government income support had left some students living below the poverty line.

“Without adequate support and students being able to focus on their studies, we are limiting the potential that the overall community could have because those who could do better are held back,” Dr Zirnsak said.

“If they don’t have to worry where their next meal is going to come from or where they will sleep we will get the full potential out of them.”

The Uniting Church’s youth branch, JustAct, will hold an Education At The Edges forum on Tuesday to explore how to fix the problem.

“We’d rather see a system where education is free. And at the other end, when those people get into high-paying jobs, they pay through tax for the next group of young people coming through,” Dr Zirnsak said.

Some insights into the status quo of sex workers in Australia.  Yahoo News out of Australia reports…

Sydney sex workers ‘enjoy best health’

Sydney prostitutes enjoy the best health and welfare and Melbourne sex workers fare the worst, but their colleagues in Perth will get the “rawest deal” if the new Liberal state government stands by its pledge to regulate the industry, experts have warned.

A new report to be presented at a major sexual health conference found that all three cities have a “thriving” sex industry, with nearly 400 brothels in Sydney, 160 in Melbourne and 40 in Perth.

Researchers said Sydney was the “highest risk” city for sexually transmitted infections, as it absorbs all the migrant sex workers from Asia, but instead it appeared workers are well protected by decriminalisation of the industry.

“What we found is that sex workers (in Sydney) are not frightened to seek proper health services because there are no legal issues stopping them,” said Basil Donovan, a professor in sexual health at the University of NSW, who led the survey of 600 sex workers.

Melbourne on the other hand was a vastly different story, with a decriminalised system that still requires brothels to register their workers so they can get monthly health check-ups.

“That might sound nice but it’s extremely expensive, unnecessary and an intrusion on these women’s bodies, and it scares women away from being registered at all, which drives the whole thing underground,” said Prof Donovan, who argues the law should be reformed.

“It is simply a stupid system that creates an underclass of hidden sex workers who may very well suffer much worse health outcomes, if we could even track them down to find out.”

In WA, the now-ousted Labor government recently ended a 150-year system in which all forms of sex work were criminal and controlled by police.

The report, to be presented at the conference on Wednesday, showed that police have taken a protective role in recent years in a climate of imminent decriminalisation, allowing workers to openly seek health and welfare support.

But if the newly-installed state Liberal government follows through on its election promise to revert to the old system and implement a licensing scheme which tolerates some forms of government-controlled sex work, the situation will worsen dramatically, Prof Donovan said.

“Licensing is an even bigger joke than criminal laws,” he said.

“It’s never worked. The tools of trade, that is a woman’s body, are so portable and concealable, that any pretence to control it only leads to an artificial system that causes hidden prostitution and alienates workers from authorities. The new government would be crazy to go down that path.”

Janelle Fawkes, chief executive of the peak sex workers organisation Scarlet Alliance, echoed the call to end regulation of the sex industry, saying NSW laws were the gold standard in Australia.

Just a tip to bordello management: check the IDs of the ladies in the talent pool!  The Courier Mail reports…

Pickwood Lodge brothel accused of prostituting girl, 14

THE owner and manager of a Melbourne brothel have been charged with allowing a 14-year-old schoolgirl to work there as a prostitute.

Andrew William Hewinson and Janette Woods each face more than 100 charges for letting the girl – who is still at school – work at the licensed brothel last year.

They are denying the charges.

Police allege the girl worked at Pickwood Lodge, in Lygon Street, Brunswick, between March 11 and May 20 last year.

It is understood the girl, now 15, has been taken into the care of the Salvation Army.

Brothel owner Mr Hewinson, 45, of Lower Templestowe, and manager Ms Woods, 54, of Brookfield, were listed to appear for a contested hearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today, but the case was adjourned.

Both are charged with 117 offences under the Prostitution Control Act.

They each face 39 counts of receiving payment knowing it was derived from sexual services provided by a child, 39 counts of allowing a child to take part in prostitution without taking reasonable steps to prove the child was over 18 and 39 counts of allowing a child to take part in the act of prostitution.

It is understood Ms Woods managed the brothel but no longer works there.

Ms Woods’ lawyer, Zoe Broughton, told the court today she feared publicity of the case would affect her employment.

Neither Mr Hewinson nor his legal representative was in court.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Nick Papadopoulos requested the matter be adjourned because the victim was unavailable today to give evidence.

Magistrate James Mornane adjourned the hearing until January.

On its website, Pickwood Lodge promotes itself as a discrete establishment “where it all happens”, promising its customers “total confidentiality” and a “once in a lifetime experience you can have over and over again”.