Illegal brothels operating under guise of massage parlours

ILLEGAL brothels are hiding under the guise of massage parlours and the City of Sydney must instigate “drastic change” to the way such activity is investigated, a councillor says.

THE City of Sydney is being called on to overhaul its investigative practices following claims it is being consistently hoodwinked by massage parlours operating illegally as brothels right under its nose.

In the past 12 months, the City has received 80 complaints relating to 49 premises allegedly carrying out illegal activity — and despite evidence available through simple internet searches that multiple premises are offering unauthorised explicit services, just seven prompted investigation with one search warrant issued.

Liberal councillor Craig Chung said it was time for the City to crack down on premises who allegedly offer sex services illegally.

Cr Craig Chung. Picture: Jess Husband

While the City claims staff have undertaken investigations into premises registered as massage parlours and found no evidence of illegal activities, “a simple online search provides graphic detail of the illegal services offered at the premises”, said Cr Chung.

Central Sydney found evidence in online forums of premises that allegedly perform unauthorised explicit services — four across just two streets in Pyrmont alone.

One such premises, which is located just 15m from a primary school, was reported to the City last year, but in a letter to a concerned resident it reported finding “no evidence to substantiate” that it offered sex services.

Another premises was reported to the City but “the websites of these premises ... didn’t indicate they were offering sex services”, the letter said.

The City says it is hamstrung when it comes to carrying out decisive physical action due to the burden of evidence needed.

“A significant level of evidence is required to pursue an investigation of non-approved use of a premise. The investigation process is often determined by case law of similar matters,” a City spokeswoman said.

The City is “hamstrung” by the burden of evidence when investigating non-approved use of premises.

The City is also restricted by the expense of hiring private investigators — an action which the City has declined to use at all over the past year.

Cr Chung called for a drastic change in the way the City investigated claims of illegal sex services.

“Obviously the way they’re doing it isn’t working,” Cr Chung said. “People write to me, saying that often local businesses have men coming to shops asking, is this shop I need to come to (for those services).”

Residents in Pyrmont have reported a general understanding in the community that the massage parlours offer much more than they advertise — with groups of men entering at all hours of the night, and reports of customers being told they “don’t do normal massages” when inquiring about services available.

“I don’t know why the City has been unable to take action, but it’s clear that a different approach needs to be taken,” Cr Chung said.

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The City would not comment on whether an overhaul of investigative practices was being considered, but the City spokeswoman said it was “constantly reviewing its processes to ensure compliance with the relevant legislation”.

The City also does not have a publicly available list of registered brothels in the local government area, leaving those seeking legal services unable to confirm whether the venue they are using has been approved.

Cr Chung said decisive action needed to be taken to stamp out illegal activity and a simple message needed to be sent to operators.

“Stop operating these illegal brothels or we will shut you down,” he said.