Illegal brothels thriving in Melbourne’s inner south, Australian Adult Entertainment Industry warns

THERE are more than 40 illegal brothels in the Moorabbin and Cheltenham area, the Australian Adult Entertainment Industry claims — and it says the authorities are passing the buck on the issue.

Fire Banana Massage in Mentone was declared a proscribed brothel this year, but the adult industry’s peak body says many more are operating in the inner south. Picture: Supplied

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THERE are more than 40 illegal brothels operating in Kingston and Glen Eira, the Australian Adult Entertainment Industry claims.

Spokesman William Albon has backed Kingston Council’s push for better police resources to wipe out its illegal brothel industry.

“But frankly that would be years in the making and the number of illegal brothels would be 1000 before the Kingston proposal had an impact,” Mr Albon told Leader.

“What is required is good old tough policing.”

Mr Albon said despite the AAEI reporting 14 unlicensed brothels in Kingston to police last year, 12 were still trading.

“The number is about 30 illegal brothels in Kingston plus another 10 in parts of Glen Eira and they are near schools and not far from the Moorabbin police station,” Mr Albon said.

He said his estimate came from investigations his ­organisation carried out after allegations of illegal activity from customers and sex workers.

Mr Albon claimed Victoria Police’s Sex Industry Co-ordination Unit, established in 2012 to disrupt illegal brothels, had “failed abysmally”.

But Victoria Police spokeswoman Hannah McDonald said while the SICU identified unlicensed brothels and illegal sex work, the investigation and response was delivered by local police.

She said the SICU worked with the Australian Federal Police and the Department of Immigration and Border Security to tackle the illegal industry.

“SICU is attached to the Transit and Public Safety Command’s Operations Response Unit, which can supply extra resources,” Ms McDonald said.

Magistrates’ Court of Victoria data provided to Mr Albon shows police successfully took action against three unlicensed brothels in the SICU’s first four years.

In the 2016-17 financial year, 13 premises were declared a proscribed brothel after police investigations, but none had been shut down by September 30.

Mr Albon said he was passed from the SICU to various police departments when trying to report illegal activity.

“No one is putting their hand up to say ‘we can deal with this’,” he said.

Kingston Council said it had spent “substantial” resources exposing brothels masquerading as massage parlours and wants an “interagency” taskforce to be created to deal with the issue.

It has successfully taken action against four illegal brothels this year.