From Port Melbourne to Mornington dozens of legal brothels are booming, and councils are battling unlicensed sex dens

This part of Melbourne has an alarmingly high number of licensed brothels — and that hasn’t prevented a plague of illegal sex dens that councils constantly battle to shut down.

Melbourne’s southeast is home to 31 licensed brothels — including one that offers a monthly prize of free sex — with the biggest concentration in Port Phillip and Kingston.

Port Phillip houses 10 legal brothels, Kingston has eight, Greater Dandenong has seven, Frankston is home to four and Glen Eira and Casey each have one.

But that number hasn’t prevented a growing cohort of illegal sex dens from sprouting up across the region causing huge headaches for councils.

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Neighbours of brothel Venus Babes in Braeside have complained about girls dancing naked out the front. Picture by Wayne Taylor.

The drain on council resources to fight illegal brothels is no more evident than in Kingston.

The council has been involved in the shutdown of 12 illegal brothels in the past year alone.

Planning and Development general manager Jonathan Guttmann said they were “proactive” in tackling the problem.

“In 2017, Kingston initiated a Municipal Association of Victoria campaign urging the Victorian Government to take greater police action to crack down on illegal ‘massage’ businesses across Victoria,” he said.

“Kingston Council also wrote to the Victorian Minister for Police calling for appropriate resourcing to address this significant issue and urged Victoria Police to use full extent of their powers to investigate and shut down illegal brothels.”

The council has taken a matter related to an illegal brothel all the way to the Supreme Council but no hearing date has been set.

And one of Kingston’s legal brothels has not been without its own controversies.

Braeside’s Venus Babes came under fire from neighbours after it was revealed brothel works were walking and dancing in the street in skimpy underwear.

Mr Guttmann said the council became aware of concerns about Venus Babes via objections to the brothel’s permit application.

A Port Phillip spokesman said the council was aware of three premises classified as “proscribed brothels” in the past 12 months.

Fed-up neighbours have complained about semi-naked women dancing and walking in the streets outside Venus Babes brothel in Braeside.

Glen Eira’s sole legal brothel, Club 859 in Caulfield, has been in operation since the 80s.

It claims to be “Melbourne’s best brothel” which also has a monthly competition where entrants can win a free “sex session” worth $230.

Boroondara, Mornington, Stonnington and Bayside have no legal brothels but all bar Mornington have had issues with illegal sex operations.

Boroondara Council said it was aware of three illegal brothels which have been closed by police in the past three months.

“The Victoria Police are the lead agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting illegal brothels however Council provides the police with any relevant information,” a Boroondara director said.

In Bayside, a Beaumaris massage business which doubled as a suspected illegal brothel abruptly closed its doors in the middle of last year.

And a suspicious shop in Sandringham was found by a court to be an unlicensed brothel in September last year.

Bayside City Planning and Amenity director Dr Hamish Rei said the council supports police prosecution of illegal brothels by forwarding on complaints from the public.

In Stonnington, two businesses in Malvern and Malvern East were declared proscribed brothels in the past six months.

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