The Australian Christian Lobby has today called for the government to make a clear statement that brothel activity must be completely shut down. Last night the government issued an unprecedented mandatory closure of pubs, clubs, churches, indoor sporting venues, nightclubs, casinos, gyms and theatres to limit the COVID-19 crisis.

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Legislation to decriminalise prostitution in South Australia was withdrawn from parliament this week.  This follows the narrow defeat of a similar bill last week which would have decriminalised brothels and escort services, giving State sanction to the exploitation of women.



Family First’s two Upper House MPs, Dennis Hood and Robert Brokenshire worked hard to convince MPs to oppose this legislation. Click here to read the Herald Sun article on the issue.



This month, ACL presented a submission to a Parliamentary inquiry into slavery, including sex trafficking, arguing for the Australian governments  consider the Nordic model of prostitution policy which criminalises the purchasing of sex rather than having the law target prostituted women.



Click here to find out more.



The submission is also available.

Below is a copy of ACL Chief of Staff Lyle Shelton's statement to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. It is currently holding an Inquiry into Slavery, Slavery like conditions and People Trafficking in Australia:



Thankyou Chair for the opportunity to address the sub-committee.



Whilst your inquiry is quite broad encompassing slavery and people trafficking in all its forms, ACL is one of several submitters to focus solely on the issue of sex-trafficking.



We support the good work that is being done to eradicate non-sexual slavery, particularly of children.



However, we are concerned that our society is blind to the drivers of the demand for out-of-control global trafficking of women and that countries like Australia unwittingly support it through our ignorance.



The International Labour Organisation estimates that 4.5 million people are victims of “forced labour for sexual exploitation”.[1] This is 43% of the forced labour population.



The industry is estimated at between US $7bn and $19bn.



It is a sad indictment that 200 years after William Wilberforce and the men and women of the Clapham friends won their long-running human rights campaign against the English Parliament to abolish slavery in the British Empire that today there are more people in slavery than ever.



We know this is a Commonwealth inquiry but trafficking of women for sex cannot be considered without acknowledging the role State Governments play, perhaps unwittingly, in fostering demand.



Since the 1980s several State Governments moved to legalise prostitution and the establishment of brothels.



The rationale was that regulating prostitution would cause it to become safe for women and that illegal prostitution would be minimised.



Of course the evidence has been to the contrary with the illegal industry blossoming everywhere a culture of State-sanctioned prostitution has been established.



This has in turn put pressure on the legal industry to compete which has in turn gone to government asking for the strict controls – put in place to protect women – to be loosened.



In short the system is a failure and this was epitomised by the tragic death of a 17 year-old girl of a drug overdose in a legal Canberra brothel in October 2010.



We know from evidence that Australia’s culture of legal prostitution – ie treating it like any other form of work – makes it easier for traffickers to lure women into sexual slavery in legal and illegal brothels here.



The warnings have been sounding for some time.



In 2004 the UK Home Office in its landmark study of global prostitution regulation noted that “Victoria and New South Wales were the two worst states for the abuse of children through prostitution. The trafficking of East Asian women for the purpose of prostitution was also found to be a growing problem.”



Our submission documents how the UN, the University of Goettingen and the Seoul Metropolitan Policy Agency note that Australia is seen by women traffickers as an attractive destination.



The University of Goettingen, in a study this year, has also strongly linked legal prostitution with increasing the demand for trafficked women.



One part of the world has made inroads in the battle against trafficking of women and that is the Nordic region.



Having tried Australia’s approach to legal brothels and found it exploitative and violent against women, Sweden introduced a new policy approach in 1999.



Instead of criminalising prostituted women, the hard edge of the law fell on the purchaser of sex.



Just as a prohibition on murder doesn’t succeed in stamping out all killing, neither has the Swedish approach been a cure-all.



However, it has dramatically lessened the harm to women of prostitution and has made Sweden an unattractive place for sex traffickers.



Other Nordic countries have adopted this approach with early success.



The European Parliament has found that “traffickers have had problems finding enough sex buyers in Sweden, the demand has been much lower than expected”.



The Coalition Against the Trafficking of Women say in their submission that “Countries that have legalised or regulated prostitution are those into which the highest number of women are trafficked.”



ACL submits that we cannot seriously tackle sex slavery into Australia until we join the dots between the legalisation of brothels and the demand this creates for trafficked women.



We respectfully submit that pressure has to be put on State Governments to consider the Nordic policy approach in order to begin to address the scourge of sex slavery.

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Tuesday, November 20, 2012



The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today presented evidence linking legalised prostitution and sex trafficking to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.



The Human Rights Sub-Committee is holding an Inquiry into Slavery, Slavery like conditions and People Trafficking in Australia.



ACL’s chief of Staff Lyle Shelton and Research Officer Daniel Simon argued that the existence of legal prostitution heightened demand for prostituted women and fostered an environment in which illegal prostitution and sex trafficking flourished.



Mr Shelton said there was evidence of sex trafficking into legal and illegal brothels making Australia a favoured market for traffickers.



A 2012 University of Goettingen study of 150 nations ranked Australia as a high volume destination country for trafficking, particularly of women from Southeast Asia.



In 2004 the UK Home Office in its landmark study of global prostitution regulation noted that “Victoria and New South Wales were the two worst states for the abuse of children through prostitution. The trafficking of East Asian women for the purpose of prostitution was also found to be a growing problem.”



The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency recently arrested 18 Korean pimps involved in the trafficking of Korean women into Australia.



As part of Australia’s efforts to reduce this problem, ACL recommended the Joint Select Committee consider the Nordic approach to prostitution, which criminalises the purchase of sex.



Under Swedish law, prostituted women are not criminally liable; it is the purchaser of sex who is committing the crime.



ACL presented evidence showing that the Nordic approach had made Sweden an unfavourable destination for traffickers of women.



“ACL submits that we cannot seriously tackle sex slavery into Australia until we join the dots between the legalisation of brothels and the demand this creates for trafficked women,” Mr Shelton said.



“We respectfully submit that pressure has to be put on State Governments to consider the Nordic policy approach in order to begin to address the scourge of sex slavery.”



Click here to read ACL's submission.



 

The New South Wales Director David Hutt’s letter to supporters in the state is now available online.



Since I last wrote to you, we have witnessed the Australian Parliament vote 2 to 1 in favour of preserving marriage. 



This is a stunning win. Who would have thought two years ago this would be possible in a hung parliament controlled by the Greens? 



Click here to continue reading.

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Wednesday, October 31, 2012



The Australian Christian Lobby today echoed the calls of City of Vincent Mayor Alannah MacTiernan to tackle the issue of street prostitution and the ‘unpleasant environment’ it creates. Ms MacTiernan said parts of the City of Vincent were ‘hell on earth’ for residents, and that conditions were worsening.



ACL spokesperson for human trafficking and prostitution Michelle Pearse shares Ms MacTiernan’s and residents’ concerns about women being propositioned by ‘Johns’, men who use prostitutes.



“When we have women being objectified by Johns in the streets of our suburbs, it should be a real concern to all of us who live in Western Australia,” Ms Pearse said.



“We have been given a promise by the Barnett Government that this would be addressed by this parliament, but as yet, it has not been.”



The Premier also promised an investigation into the Nordic Model of prostitution regulation, which we are yet to see.



“The Nordic Model prosecutes the John, thus seriously discouraging men from harassing women in the street; if asking a woman’s price is illegal, a woman can report any of that kind of behaviour.”



Ms Pearse expressed concern with the Mayor of the City of Vincent’s solution that there were plenty of brothels in the area and that they should be used instead of the prostitutes on the street.



“Ms MacTiernan is right in that street prostitution is something that is ‘hell on earth’, but to then say it should just be happening in brothels is disheartening,” Ms Pearse said.



“Brothels are a perfect place for vulnerable, trafficked women to be hidden and their abuse continued. There is solid proof that legal brothels only increase the demand for sex and therefore the number of prostitutes in this dangerous trade.”

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Wednesday, October 24th, 2012



The Australian Christian Lobby has called on the New South Wales government to take urgent action and prohibit the purchasing of sex following the suspected stabbing death of a man in a Sydney brothel last night.



ACL NSW Director David Hutt said it was time the state government tried a new approach to prostitution. “Legalised prostitution is a failed experiment,” Mr Hutt said.  “Last night’s tragedy is the latest in a long list of violent crimes connected with the New South Wales sex industry.”



Mr Hutt cautioned the government against its plans to introduce a brothel licensing regime.



“Queensland has already tried brothel licensing,” he said. “It didn’t work. Even after the introduction of brothel licensing, 90 per cent of prostitution in Queensland is carried out illegally.



“Brothel licensing won’t do anything to stem the tide of women being trafficked to Australia and forced into prostitution. It is time for a new approach.”



The Australian Christian Lobby recently made a submission to the NSW Government inquiry into brothel licensing and called on the state government to adopt the successful Nordic approach which prohibits the purchasing of sex.



Recent facts about prostitution in Australia:



·         July 2012 – Korean police arrested 18 pimps and traffickers allegedly involved in trafficking women to Australia



·         June 2012 – the US State Department identified Australia as a destination country for trafficked persons



·         June 2012 – NSW Land and Environment court overturned the City of Sydney’s refusal to grant a development application for Australia’s largest brothel



·         April 2012 – Watcheraporn Nantanhkum became the first person convicted of slavery in the Australian Capital Territory for holding a woman in sex-servitude



·         February 2012 – Federal police rescued three trafficked, Thai girls from a legal, Western Sydney brothel

Click here to read the ACL's submission to the NSW government's review of brothel legislation.

MEDIA RELEASE

For release: Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has recommended the New South Wales Government join the growing list of progressive countries that are prohibiting the purchase of sex, in a submission to the government’s review of brothel legislation.

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The Western Australia Director, Rhys Vallance, letter to supporters in the state is now available online.



The past few weeks have certainly flown by! My time has been spent visiting churches, meeting with politicians and showing this great state of ours to staff from over East.



Click here to read the rest.