Melbourne brothels: Secret red light districts revealed

Melbourne’s outer suburbs are home to more brothels than the well-known night jaunts of St Kilda or the CBD. Find out how many are in your area.

The number of illegal brothels has exploded, estimated to be more than 500 and employing more than 2000 sex workers.

Melbourne’s secret red light districts have been revealed with outer suburbs home to more brothels than well-known night jaunts, such as St Kilda or the CBD.

According to Resourcing health & Education (RhED), a service for the sex industry in Victoria, there are 78 licenced brothels operating in 45 suburbs across Greater Melbourne.

The top suburbs include Dandenong (6), South Melbourne (6), Thomastown (4), Coburg (3) Collingwood (3), Seaford (3), Moorabbin (3) and Huntingdale (3).

In terms of suburbs with the greatest concentration of brothels per head of population, South Melbourne (one for every 1820 people), Moorabbin (1:1965), Huntingdale (1:3155), Dandenong (1:4984), Thomastown (1:5130), Seaford (1:5487), Collingwood (1:7264) and Coburg (1:8728) lead the pack.

Across Melbourne’s 31 LGAs every area has at least one licenced brothel except Moonee Valley, Boroondara, Stonnington, Manningham, Nillumbik, Yarra Ranges and Cardinia.

The number of licenced venues is on the decline, dropping from 92 in 2006 to 78 in 2021 (a 16 per cent drop) with more closures expected due to the ongoing financial impact of Covid-19.

However the illegal industry is thriving and is estimated to number more than 500 venues, employing about 2000 workers.

Many are located in quiet outer suburbs and often disguised as massage parlours, beauty shops and karaoke bars.

Legal brothels, which reopened last month, are also experiencing a labour shortage as workers flock to the illegal industry according to Australian Adult Entertainment Industry (AAEI) spokesman William Albon.

Melbourne’s illegal sex work industry is thriving.

“When the licensed brothels closed their doors months ago, there was a mass exodus of sex workers from the licensed component to the thriving illegal sector,” Mr Albon said.

The AAEI estimates there are hundreds of illegal brothels operating across Melbourne with Whitehorse and Monash LGAs “hot spots”.

“(The) Clayton, Box Hill area, there is a strong presence and so we said to the police that there’s 500 of these places across metropolitan Melbourne,” he said.

“We want them to investigate these allegations, we want them to lay charges where appropriate … we can’t find any real evidence of (police) prosecuting anybody for running an illegal brothel.”

Illegal establishments advertise as massage shops on various classified websites, sometimes posting photos of workers in skimpy outfits and provocative poses.

The ads showcase services available in suburbs including Ascot Vale, Brunswick, Campbellfield, Craigieburn, Dallas, Essendon, Epping, Flemington, Footscray, Glenroy, Mill Park, Moonee Ponds, Oak Park, Pascoe Vale, Preston, Reservoir, Sunbury, Sunshine, St Albans and Tullamarine.

Victoria Police said they had seen a “slight increase” in the number of illegal sexual services during the pandemic.

“Since March 2020 169 fines have been issued for breaching the chief health officer directions,” a spokesman said.

“This included people believed to be operating unlicensed brothels and attending unlicensed brothels to obtain sexual services.”