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Darwin City and Waterfront Retailers Association committee member and restaurateur Jason Hanna said he supported the full decriminalisation of sex work.
“The most important thing to understand is that safety is paramount, and these women and men they deserve to be safe at all times,” he said. “They should never feel uncomfortable calling the police. “Occupational health and safety should come first.”
Mr Hanna said there were a lot of sex workers who lived in the NT, and contributed in a positive way to the economy.
“These workers they make their money and they spend their money here,” he said. “From an economic perspective, regulating the industry and changing tax could be a benefit.”
Mr Hanna said creating a ‘sex precinct’ where security guards could patrol would also help keep Territory sex workers safe from harm, and make sure families wanting to avoid the area could easily do so.
“Maybe we could have a bit of fun with it and call it ‘rub and tug alley’,” he said. “It’s important to understand that prohibition has never worked in any case. The industry isn’t going anywhere. We need to look after the workers.”
LEAH Potter hasn’t worked in the sex industry since 2002. But almost two decades later, she is still on the Territory sex worker register and unless changes are made, will be for the rest of her life.
“Now I’m an old grandmother with a soup kitchen, but I’m on a sex register for life,” she said. “It’s not fair, and it’s not necessary. Who is that keeping safe?”
The stigma of lifelong registration meant some sex workers chose to work outside the law, she said. If they were then assaulted by a client, those workers were reluctant to report it to police, she said. •
“If a client knows that you’re doing something illegal then they’re in the position of power,” she said.
Ms Potter employed 13 sex workers at Princess Escorts, the Darwin agency she owned in the ’90s. The laws, which haven’t been updated since, put those employees at risk, she said.
“If they come in and close those massage places down, those girls are still going to work, they will just work from unsafe places. “And if you kicked all the hookers out of this town, all that money which goes back into the economy would go too.”
She called for commonsense reform to bring the industry into the open. “This isn’t civil disobedience,” she said. “We’re not running around in anarchy wanting to get our vaginas out. We just want to work safely and have proper working conditions.
SEX work will be decriminalised in the Northern Territory. A discussion paper to be released Saturday by the Labor Government calling for input into how best to make the change has lifted the lid on our sex industry, detailing how the Territory’s confusing and outdated laws have pushed operations underground. Hamstrung by regulations which put their safety at risk.
“The most important thing to understand is that safety is paramount, and these women and men they deserve to be safe at all times,” he said. “They should never feel uncomfortable calling the police. “Occupational health and safety should come first.”
Mr Hanna said there were a lot of sex workers who lived in the NT, and contributed in a positive way to the economy.
“These workers they make their money and they spend their money here,” he said. “From an economic perspective, regulating the industry and changing tax could be a benefit.”
Mr Hanna said creating a ‘sex precinct’ where security guards could patrol would also help keep Territory sex workers safe from harm, and make sure families wanting to avoid the area could easily do so.
“Maybe we could have a bit of fun with it and call it ‘rub and tug alley’,” he said. “It’s important to understand that prohibition has never worked in any case. The industry isn’t going anywhere. We need to look after the workers.”
LEAH Potter hasn’t worked in the sex industry since 2002. But almost two decades later, she is still on the Territory sex worker register and unless changes are made, will be for the rest of her life.
“Now I’m an old grandmother with a soup kitchen, but I’m on a sex register for life,” she said. “It’s not fair, and it’s not necessary. Who is that keeping safe?”
The stigma of lifelong registration meant some sex workers chose to work outside the law, she said. If they were then assaulted by a client, those workers were reluctant to report it to police, she said. •
“If a client knows that you’re doing something illegal then they’re in the position of power,” she said.
Ms Potter employed 13 sex workers at Princess Escorts, the Darwin agency she owned in the ’90s. The laws, which haven’t been updated since, put those employees at risk, she said.
“If they come in and close those massage places down, those girls are still going to work, they will just work from unsafe places. “And if you kicked all the hookers out of this town, all that money which goes back into the economy would go too.”
She called for commonsense reform to bring the industry into the open. “This isn’t civil disobedience,” she said. “We’re not running around in anarchy wanting to get our vaginas out. We just want to work safely and have proper working conditions.
SEX work will be decriminalised in the Northern Territory. A discussion paper to be released Saturday by the Labor Government calling for input into how best to make the change has lifted the lid on our sex industry, detailing how the Territory’s confusing and outdated laws have pushed operations underground. Hamstrung by regulations which put their safety at risk.
... now its surely time to tackel QLD!!!!