news, act-politics

The Barr government has rejected a last-minute plea to retain mandatory registration for sole operator sex workers, in an overhaul of the ACT's decades-old prostitution laws. The Legislative Assembly passed major changes to the laws governing Canberra's sex industry on Tuesday, which will force brothel owners to provide free condoms to their staff and allow HIV-positive sex workers to operate. References to "prostitute" and "prostitution" have also been expunged from the legislation, and sole operators no longer have to register with Access Canberra. ACT Justice Minister Shane Rattenbury said the register had been a failure, with only 14 sex workers recorded. "All you have to do is open the Canberra Times one day and go to the back section and you will see there are clearly more than 14 sex workers in Canberra," Mr Rattenbury said. However, Opposition health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne said dumping the register also discarded the chance to offer more support to sex workers, particularly those who wanted out of the industry. "What would be wrong with making registration the trigger for sex workers to access the services they need? If privacy is an issue why couldn’t the government set up an independent registration body with appropriate protections for sex workers and the information they provide?" Mrs Dunne said. "Instead of taking the opportunity to be a friend the government is abandoning some of the most vulnerable in our community." Mrs Dunne also said scrapping the register for sex workers was unfair to other professions, like lawyers or doctors who also required registration. "In a way this move singles out one occupation for what could be called positive discrimination while other occupations are still required to register," Mrs Dunne said. Mrs Dunne tabled 19 amendments to the bill, all of which were voted down by Labor and the Greens. Mr Rattenbury said the removal of the register did not amount to positive discrimination. “You have to take these industries on a case-by-case basis. That’s what we’ve done here, we’ve looked at why people have been required to register, the impact that it’s having and if the alternate approach is better. That’s why we have adopted the alternate approach," Mr Rattenbury said. “To put that in context, a person who runs a hairdressing business from home does not need to register with Access Canberra, they still need to meet certain work health and safety requirements but they are not required to register to go about their business." Mr Rattenbury said without the register, sex workers who had been the victim of a crime could come forward knowing they would not be penalised for working without registration. “Whether we like it or not, the sex industry is an industry that does attract stigma and about which people make assumptions. It is not necessarily something you want to have on the public record for life," Mr Rattenbury said. "This amendment in fact increases the health and safety of workers, reducing barriers to access safety and support because they can now report a crime to police without fear of being charged and prosecuted. The reality is no one was registering." Curiously, the bill does not kill the register entirely - only remove the need for sex workers to sign up in future. Details of the 14 workers already on the register must be retained under the Territory Records Act. An earlier version of this story incorrectly said there would be tougher penalties for those who procure underage sex workers. Instead it makes causing anyone under 18 years to provide commercial sexual services an absolute liability offence.

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