In past four years Kingston Council has shut 18 illegal brothels
FOLLOWING a joint Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police and Border Force raid on brothels in Kingston, the council has revealed 18 illegal sex shops have been put out of businesses since 2014.
Inner South
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A Kingston Council crackdown has resulted in 18 illegal brothels being shut down over the past four years.
The council’s general manager of planning and development Jonathan Guttmann said they had responded to community concerns by embarking on a determined bid to eradicate illegal brothels since 2014.
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Mr Guttmann’s statement comes after a joint Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police and Border Force operation saw a number of alleged illegal brothels in the municiplaity raided on October 11.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the raids, which also sought to uncover illegal workers, targeted several remedial and therapeutic massage businesses.
The Leader understands one of the targeted businesses was in Highett.
“The investigation remains ongoing,” the spokeswoman said.
Mr Guttmann said he was delighted to see Victoria Police and the Border Force “taking positive action in our community to stamp out illegal brothels”.
In 2017, former Kingston Mayor David Eden wrote to Police Minister Lisa Neville calling for more resources to tackle the increasing proliferation of illegal brothels in the area, saying there was too great a burden placed on the council to deal with the issue.
The council later put forward a motion at the Municipal Association of Victoria’s State Council meeting in October 2017, calling for a review of the Sex Work Act 1994 and the creation of an interagency taskforce to fight the rise of illegal brothels.
Ms Neville said police already had the resources to do that and said Victoria Police’s Sex Industry co-ordination Unit, which was directly involved in the recent spate of raids in the Kingston area, helped to co-ordinate responses and communication between relevant agencies.
Three illegal brothels in Mentone, Fire Banana Massage, Florence Massage and QJY Massage were shut down by court order last year following action by Kingston Council.
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