A sex worker at The Viper Room says that business has been affected by the rise of dating apps such as Tinder. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams "If you speak to most people who go onto internet dating sites, it's a hook-up, most of them are expecting sex, that is what happens ... Tinder especially." Ms Leeds, who bought the business in March 2006, claims she has seen no growth in her business for the past four years and suggested there would only be about six out of the 22 licensed brothels operating in Queensland that were making "any real money". "I would suggest the industry is dying out," she said. Ms Leeds said she was losing customers who would often frequent brothels over the weekend.

Ms Leeds said you have to treat the clients and staff well to maintain a happy house. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams "These guys used to come into the brothels all the time because they are the people who don't commit to anybody," she said. "They are the sorts of people who will come into a brothel after they didn't pick up and it would be a notch on their belt, they would never see the same girl twice. Ms Leeds said her licensed brothel was a happy place where clients felt they could return. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams "They would be the bread and butter of your Friday and Saturday nights. Well, they don't come in anymore because they just jump on Tinder, it's free."

Ms Leeds, whose annual registration fee of $42,435 is coming up fast, said brothels had to evolve with the times and create a point of difference. Dating sites are taking away The Viper Room's "bread and butter" weekend business. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams "(I am offering) someone that is happy on the desk, that is happy to chat to them (the customer), I make them a coffee when they come in the door, I know a little bit about them, I recommend girls to them once I know them and I keep a happy house," she said. "If he (the client) thinks it is a happy place to come to where people care about him and he is not scared to walk through that door and be treated like dirt just because he is paying for sex, then you will have good regular clientele and that is what you have to rely on and that is all I have been relying on." Call for ban on mobile phones in sex ads

More than 27 brothel licensees and managers met in Brisbane on Sunday to discuss problems within the industry and how they could best protect themselves against illegal sex workers who were taking away a substantial amount of business, according to Cairns brothel owner Aart Brons. There are two legal forms of sex work in Queensland - sex work conducted in a licensed brothel, from which outcalls are prohibited, and sole operators who are sex workers that work privately from a premises. Escort agencies, unlicensed brothels, massage parlours, street workers and two or more sex workers operating from a single premises are considered illegal. According to Prostitution Licensing Authority in 2011, the illegal sector was "likely to be larger than the legal sector". There were 22 licensed brothels operating in Queensland at the end of the 2015-16 financial year, the lowest number of brothels since 2005-06, according to the PLA.

Mr Brons, who owns Northern Belle, told brothel owners on Sunday he believed the best way to stamp out illegal operators would be to make landlines compulsory on all sex ads to make advertisers more accessible to the PLA. Legislation states a person must not publish an advertisement for prostitution that describes the services offered, states directly or indirectly that the person's business provides or is connected with massage services or be worded in such a way as to induce a person to seek employment as a sex worker. "To distinguish between illegal sex operators masquerading as genuine, legal sole operators, that is where the problem lies," he said. "The landline would have such an effect that it would throw a wrecking ball through the illegal industry. "The PETF (Prostitution Enforcement Taskforce) would have a pivotal tool to see whether that ad is genuine to the person it belongs to.

"An escort agency that might have three or four on the books, if there was such a thing and there is, it would then stop them. "Advertising would stop and therefore girls from interstate and overseas would only be able to work in Queensland if they had a premises and a landline." Mr Brons has put forward a petition, with signatures from 21 brothel licensees and managers, calling for the Attorney-General to make landlines compulsory on sex ads in Queensland. In a statement released in 2011, the PLA indicated advertising restrictions would be "insufficient" in stopping illegal operators. "The PLA remains convinced a multi-pronged approach is required to tackle illegal operators … (and) should include the lifting of the prohibition on outcalls from licensed brothels and the legislation of escort agencies," the PLA statement read.

"Advertising restrictions and police enforcement action are insufficient to make any significant long-term impact. "The current regulatory regime is restrictive and provides insufficient incentive to draw illegal operators into the licensed sector." Mr Brons has also called for the state government to adopt an outstanding recommendation that was laid out in the Crime and Misconduct Commission's 2011 review into the Prostitution Act, established in 1999. The CMC, now referred to as the Crime and Corruption Commission, had recommended the establishment of a Ministerial Advisory Committee under the Act with a legislative obligation to report directly to the Minister. It was recommended the committee include a wide range of representation from sex workers, brothel owners, police, to the state health department and local councils.

Ms Leeds said the committee was a good idea to make sure all brothel licensees worked together to improve their industry. "In terms of the committee, I think that is the best thing that we should be doing," she said. "I think the single biggest enemy of the brothel industry is ourselves because when we are all in fear of something, we all of a sudden try to do something about it but as soon as that fear for themselves disappears they all go, 'Oh, we will run our own race now'". A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General said there were no changes to the Act under consideration. "The Attorney-General understands there are diverse and strong opinions about the issue in the community. However, there are currently no changes to prostitution advertising under consideration."