Former sex workers rally against legalising the industry in South Australia

As Parliament prepares to debate a sex work legalisation Bill this week, former workers have taken to the steps to protest against it, saying it’ll lead to more women entering the industry and risking harm.

Protesters rallied at Parliament House on Monday to protest against the decriminalisation of sex work in SA. Pictured are survivor of the industry Annie and Bronwen Healy, with Labor MLC Claire Scriven and University of NSW sex work researcher Dr Helen Pringle. Picture: Dean Martin

• New Bill to legalise sex work in SA tabled in Parliament
• Police charges for sex work in 2017-18 tripled any other year

Legalising sex work in South Australia will encourage more women to enter the industry and do nothing to protect them from violent attacks, survivors of the prostitution trade warn.

Former sex workers, an industry academic and Labor MLC Clare Scriven took to the steps of Parliament House on Monday to rally against the decriminalisation of the industry.

Parliament is set to debate a bill to legalise sex work on Wednesday.

The bill aims to protect sex workers and is in line with a model supported by the World Health Organisation and Amnesty International.

However, protesters at the rally say decriminalisation will only magnify issues of violence and exploitation within the industry.

Survivor Bronwen Healy, of Brisbane, left the industry more than 20 years ago and now runs a foundation that helps women do the same.

She said sex work was legal in Queensland but crimes against workers remained rampant.

“Violent assaults are a daily occurrence for prostituted people and decriminalisation doesn’t change that,” she said.

Ms Healy said legalising the industry would result in more women becoming sex workers.

“I’m a mum of three teenage daughters and the thought of this being presented at a careers day at school makes me continue to use my voice (against legalising sex work),” she said.

Sex work researcher Dr Helen Pringle, from the University of NSW, said decriminalisation had “been proved to be an absolute failure in New Zealand and NSW”.

“It has done nothing to improve the situations for women and has resulted in huge increases in prostitution and the related issues of women and girls being trapped in exploitation,” she said.

Ms Health and Dr Pringle said the Government should instead focus on providing more support services for sex workers.

Ms Scriven said she would not be supporting the bill.

“(Sex workers say) it’s laughable to say that they will be able to report to police because the pimps don’t let them,” she said.

“The pimps know that it’s bad for business and they know that if there are calls made to police, their brothel will be avoided by the people who want to buy sex.”

Greens MLC Tammy Franks, who introduced the bill into parliament last year, disputed their concerns, saying decriminalisation would give sex workers more rights.

“Decriminalisation means less women on the streets; It means a safer environment; (and) It means people can call the police if they are a victim of a crime and not be treated like a criminal just because they’re a sex worker,” she said.