I write, albeit a little late, in response to the lead story in the Sunday Telegraph of January 21st. To truly follow your convictions Sunday Telegraph there is only one thing for it - refuse to take any more paid ads from the sex industry. However, this would create a financial dilemma I’m sure, as it no doubt provides your paper with a lucrative little earn.

You can’t have it both ways. Drumming up fear and loathing against sections of the sex industry while receiving hard earned dollars across the board is hypocritical. Just have a look at your adult services pages in this same issue and fire up your Casios. Even taking an average of $80 an ad which is an underestimate - some spending upwards of $500 an ad in your paper - no doubt covers a good chunk of the print costs of the publication.

If you’re going to write stories on the sex industry please do yourselves and your readership a favour and get it right. There are a number of eminent individuals, organisations and publications readily available to provide factual and balanced information. For future reference you would be well advised to seek out the Report of the Brothels Task Force 2001 initiated by the State government. The Brothels Taskforce was formed to review the success of the legislative changes and assess occupational health and safety programs for sex workers following decriminalization in 1995. A similarly initiated and recently released document known as the Sex Services Premises Planning Guidelines provides a comprehensive resource for anyone wanting to understand the whys and wherefores of decriminalization and particularly, it was meant to provide guidance for councils in decision making and best practice in planning for sex services premises.

In getting one’s head around the reality of the existence of the sex industry in our communities requires that one understands the legislative status and the reasons for the relatively recent reforms. It also requires that one be a realist and acknowledge that the sex industry has been with us since the dawn of human kind; it’s just more open these days as it should be. Sending in private investigators to obtain a sexual service can obstruct safe work practices and it certainly denies human rights for workers. Additionally, such reporting fuels the stigma and discrimination that most sex workers face on a daily basis and sometimes even leads to violence and death.

A brothel or the more appropriate term sex services premises is not illegal or legal nor does it require the licensing of an individual or premises such as in Queensland or Victoria. Following decriminalization in 1995 it gave local governments the opportunity to regulate sex services premises as they do any other commercial use of land. Herein lies the problem, Councils are either busy denying the existence or creating prohibitive planning controls making it almost impossible for operators to gain development consent unless they can spend thousands of dollars fighting it out in the Land & Environment Court.

Julie Bates A sex worker rights advocate

Link to original article that Julie is replying to.