- Media Releases

Sex Worker Workplace Health and Safety Symposium

‘80% of us work illegally, so we can be safe’, say Qld sex workers

Scarlet Alliance, AFAO, AIDA, AIVL, ASHM, Hepatitis Australia, NAPWHA: National Strategies

Peak health and community organisations congratulate the Australian Government’s new National BBV and STI Strategies

AIVL & Scarlet Alliance Joint Media Release

CUSTODIAL SETTINGS & DECRIMINALISATION OF SEX WORK FEATURE IN NEW NATIONAL BBV & STI STRATEGIES

Scarlet Alliance and SWOP NSW: VALE Roberta Perkins

Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association and SWOP NSW mourn the passing of academic, researcher, author and trans and sex worker rights activist Roberta Perkins. Roberta passed away yesterday afternoon 26th June, 2018.

Joint Media Release, Scarlet Alliance, SWOP, ACT & AIDS Action Council

Sex workers welcome changes to the sex work regulations in the ACT.

SCARLET ALLIANCE and VIXEN COLLECTIVE: Sex workers slam Victorian Liberal Party support of harmful laws against sex workers

Yesterday the Victorian Liberal Party passed a motion to support the harmful Nordic Model of sex work regulation. The Nordic Model criminalises clients and the support structures of sex workers as well as isolating and harming sex workers.

HIV criminalisation stigmatises HIV and contributes to future HIV transmissions

Following a verdict handed down on 19/1/18 in the WA District Court, Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association, the National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPWHA), the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) have highlighted the negative impact of the use of criminal law on Australia’s HIV response.

SCARLET ALLIANCE, MAGENTA and SWEAR: Stigma, Discrimination and Incarceration in a Male Prison for CJ Palmer

In WA district Court CJ Palmer, who had previously worked as a sex worker, has today received a guilty verdict for the charge of grievous bodily harm in relation to the transmission of HIV to her ex-partner. CJ, a trans woman, has been remanded in a male prison until sentencing on the 16th February 2017 and will have to serve out her sentence in a male prison.

Sex Workers Applaud SA Select Committee Report on Decriminalisation of Sex Work Bill, joint media release with SIN and Scarlet Alliance

The South Australian Sex Industry Network (SIN) and Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association are today celebrating the decision of the South Australian Select Committee of the Legislative Council, to recommend the passing of the Statutes Amendment (Decriminalisation of Sex Work) Bill 2015 without amendment.

Federal Budget: Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients Costly and Pointless, 10 May 2017, joint media release with AIVL, AFAO, NAPWHA and Scarlet Alliance

The Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL), Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPWHA) and the Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association have warned that drug testing welfare recipients will be a costly and pointless exercise, particularly without additional funding for the alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment sector.

For Some Of Us, AIDS Is Not Over, 14 July 2016, joint media release with AIVL and Scarlet Alliance

Recent media reports have focussed on announcements made by researchers, clinicians and some community representatives declaring that “AIDS, as a national public health issue, is over.” While it’s true that significant achievements have been made in HIV, the benefits of this have not been experienced by all people affected by the virus in the same way.

Sex Workers Alarmed by Government Funding Decision, 20 December 2016, joint media release with Scarlet Alliance and Vixen Collective

Vixen Collective (Victoria’s peer only sex worker organisation) and Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association are deeply concerned at the Andrew’s Labor Government’s misguided decision to grant $300,000 of funding to the organisation ‘Project Respect’ to work with “sex workers and victims of trafficking”.

Australian Communities Unite to Condemn the Mass Murder of People Who Use Drugs in the Philippines, 13 October 2016, joint media release with AIVL, Scarlet Alliance, NAPWHA and AFAO

Since May 2016, it has been reported that over 3,700 people suspected of using and/or selling drugs have been murdered in the Philippines. These atrocities has been carried out with the explicit endorsement of Filipino President, Rodrigo Duterte: who has repeatedly encouraged the police and the general public to kill people suspected of being drug users and/or of dealing drugs. The bloodshed has drawn condemnation from the international community, including from here in Australia.

SALVATION ARMY AGAIN EXPLOITS DISCRIMINATION OF SEX WORKERS FOR FINANCIAL GAIN

The Salvation Army has once again perpetuated discrimination against sex workers in order to make money. This has happened too many times.

WORLD RENOWNED, BEST PRACTICE MODEL OF SEX WORK DECRIMINALISATION TO REMAIN IN NSW 10 May 2016

Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association; SWOP NSW and Touching Base welcome the NSW Government’s decision to not support a licensing system in response to the Legislative Assembly Inquiry into the Regulation of Brothels.