Qld sex work: Everything you need to know about law changes

It’s hard to escape the stigma but Queensland’s sex worker industry is trying. Here is what it all means.

It’s hard to escape the stigma but Queensland’s sex worker industry is trying.

With the Queensland Law Reform Commission report recommending 47 sweeping changes to decriminalise sex work, this is the state of play and everything you need to know for the oldest profession in the world.

WHAT IS A SEX WORKER?

A sex worker is a person who provides sex for pay.

It’s believed the term “sex worker” was coined in 1978 by sex worker activist Carol Leigh, and was a way to avoid using the word “prostitute” which had stigma associated with it.

WHAT ARE THE SEX WORKER LAWS IN QLD?

There are currently just two forms of legalised sex work in Queensland – services provided at a licensed brothel, when a person is working alone from a premise, providing in-house calls, outcall services, or both.

All other forms are illegal, including escort agencies, unlicensed brothels, massage parlours, street workers who publicly solicit, and those who work in small groups.

Women cannot operate in pairs, check in with a colleague before or after calls, work with another person providing security, or employ someone to screen or book clients.

#DecrimQLD Campaign Leader Janelle Fawkes said in December 2021 that the 20 licenced brothels in Queensland accounted for only 10 per cent of the industry in the state.

Venues operating outside the framework included massage parlours, sex worker cooperatives, BDSM parlours and escort agencies.

There could be big changes for the sex worker industry in Queensland.

Ms Fawkes believed it’s not necessarily the case that workplace health and safety was inferior at unlicensed venues, as they worked hard to attract staff and didn’t pay the excessive overheads.

“The licensing laws are such excessive overreach that it reduces financial viability and sex workers options,” she said.

“If sex workers are unhappy with conditions at a particular licensed brothel in some locations there is only one other venue which may offer the same conditions.

“Some sex workers choose to work in massage parlours because they can get a higher percentage or cut from the price of a booking and others choose working independently in order to not share the booking price with a brothel owner.”

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF SEX WORK IN QLD?

Queensland’s corruption watchdog had suggested regulating sex work like businesses in the aftermath of the Fitzgerald inquiry three decades ago, arguing it would reduce the risk of “serious criminal involvement” and noted the approach of strict control had failed.

But the Goss cabinet of 1992 was unmoved – according to unsealed documents, slamming the Crime and Justice Commission’s (CJC) regulation option as an approach which brought “another set of problems” rather than provide a solution “to the problem of prostitution”.

A sex worker in The Viper Room.

Instead the government chose “strict enforcement” of criminal law toward prostitution, particularly clients and those profiteering from it while pushing for health and social programs that aimed in part to “discourage acceptance” of the world’s oldest profession.

Among the recommendations of the CJC was to let solo sex workers operate out of their homes, as long as they received council planning approval, not unlike how other home businesses operate now.

WHERE ARE QLD’S BROTHELS?

As of 2021 it appeared the most paid sex was happening south of the Brisbane River with two brothels in Woolloongabba, three near Coopers Plains, one at Sumner Park and one at Yeerongpilly.

The Viper Room licensee Joan Leeds was treasurer of the Queensland Adult Business Association when it commissioned a confidential private investigator to probe illegal prostitution on the Gold Coast in 2021.

The investigator’s report revealed there were 49 illegal brothels allegedly operating under the guise of massage businesses.

“I could take you for a drive around a 2km radius of my brothel in Yeerongpilly and I could probably point out at least 10, if not more, illegal brothels to you,” Ms Leeds said.

In November 2021 crime data revealed the dramatic increase of illegal prostitution across the Sunshine Coast in the last few decades.

At the same time it was reported that the Gold Coast had 30 illicit brothels operating, all mapped.

WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL SEX WORKER CHANGES FOR QLD?

Sex work will be brought “out of the dark and properly regulated” Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman declared in April 2023, as the state government signed off on the decriminalisation of prostitution in Queensland.

In the largest shake up to the industry in decades, State Cabinet ticked off on a landmark Queensland Law Reform Commission review into how sex work could be decriminalised that is understood to have made 47 recommendations.

Ms Fentiman reaffirmed the government’s intention to regulate the industry like any other business.

“Current laws stigmatise sex workers, it increases their vulnerability to exploitation and violence,” Ms Fentiman said on 7 News.

“We need to bring sex work out to off the dark and properly regulate the industry particularly for the safety of workers.”

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman says the sex work in the state needs to be properly regulated. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

It is expected further consultation, including with local government, will be undertaken before sex work is decriminalised.

Campaigners in April 2023 insisted police should put a pause on the use of covert powers on sex workers while the state government irons out laws to decriminalise the sector.

However Queensland Police signalled they aren’t about to budge, pointing to their obligations to stick to the laws as they stand.

It was also revealed changes could mean sex work services could be advertised on television and radio, police powers purged and the prostitution licensing authority abolished.

WHAT ARE THOSE IN THE INDUSTRY SAYING?

Queensland sex workers in February 2023 declared a decriminalised industry would reduce violence, abuse and stigma.

DecrimQLD campaign leader Janelle Fawkes said current legislation outlawed sex worker safety strategies such as letting another sex worker know where you are on a booking, checking in at the end of a booking, driving another sex worker to an outcall, hiring a receptionist to screen bookings and working in pairs.

“No Queenslander should have to choose between working legally and being safe at work – including our sex workers,” she said.

Queensland sex workers in November 2021 said the number of licenced brothels in the state is not an accurate reflection of paid sex happening in the suburbs.

Just 20 brothels were registered with the Queensland Prostitution Licensing Authority which The Viper Room licensee Joan Leeds said costs her almost $40,000 a year.

She was confident decriminalisation was on the way and brothel owners weren’t opposed to it.

The Viper Room owner Joan Leeds spoke passionately about change in late 2021.

“We certainly don’t have an issue with sex workers being seen as real workers – it’s a real job and not smutty rubbish that people seem to get all excited about,” Ms Leeds said.

“Our issue is that we think the whole system that was set up after the Fitzgerald Inquiry was flawed in that it was set up to fail because it didn’t allow the Prostitution Licensing Authority to licence anything other than brothels.

“The cost of just us paying for our own regulator means we were never going to be very viable – there’s only a few of us that will be and interestingly we’re close to the CBD.”

Brisbane escort Amber King was hopeful the review into the industry would also bring positive change for independent sex workers who she said operated under “unsafe and archaic” rules in the current system.

QABA President Neil Gilmore at the Pentagon Grand brothel at Ashmore. Picture: File

“Because I’m unable to describe my services and boundaries in my ads, I can find myself in dangerous situations,” Ms King said.

Ms King believed decriminalising sex work would be a step towards reducing stigma, increasing safety and improving the industry’s relationship with police.

In February 2023 sex workers and brothel owners spoke about their hopes for the industry.

Originally published as Qld sex work: Everything you need to know about law changes