Matthew Roberts never imagined his bank would discriminate against him because of his job.
But when he lodged an application for an eftpos machine for client transactions, the financial institution rejected his request – because he was a sex worker.
Matthew Roberts had his application for an eftpos machine rejected because he is a sex worker.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Roberts took Mint Payments to court and, utilising Victoria’s anti-discrimination protections, won the landmark case. He is among the growing number of sex workers taking legal action under the new laws, which he said were “life changing”.
The industry has undergone a dramatic shift, accelerated by the rise of online platforms through COVID-19 lockdowns and the decline of street-based sex work.
The Age reported last week the number of sex workers standing along Grey and Greeve streets in St Kilda had diminished over the past 20 years. Many have attributed that to the internet, which has provided both sex workers and their clients with greater mobility and anonymity.
But Nickie Gyomber, chief executive of sex worker support service St Kilda Gatehouse, said the reasons were more complicated.
A street sex worker in St Kilda in 2004.Credit: Wayne Taylor
“Online sex work is only possible with a degree of stability,” she said.
“This is not always possible for those whose housing, drug use, and mental health issues impact their stability.”
Housing affordability in St Kilda has plummeted, alongside the closures of three-storey rooming house the Gatwick and boarding house Oslo Hotel in Grey Street, pushing many people, including sex workers, out of the suburb in search of secure housing.
Sex worker Blaire Hunter has observed a wave of her colleagues turn to the internet and subscription sites such as OnlyFans since the pandemic, seeking to diversify their incomes.
Sex worker Blaire Hunter. Her image has been blurred to protect her identity.Credit: Supllied
Hunter, who is in her early 30s and has been a sex worker for about seven years, said in many ways this shift was positive.
But she said hidden risks lurked in the online world of sex work, including a rise in image-based abuse.
“It has helped normalise the adult industry,” said Hunter, who also runs Ivy Societe, an online escort directory created for independent sex workers.
“When I tell people what I do for work, the reactions are much more accepting now and the use of social media like Instagram and Twitter has almost become essential.”
Roberts, who has worked in the industry for more than a decade, said sex workers increasingly required online payment services – and banks continued to refuse services to them.
In his case, Mint Payments emailed him to tell him the fintech’s risk management considered his business to be within “a restricted category”.
“If I relied on cash, I would have lost more than half my income,” the advocate for sex workers’ rights said.
“This win is an example of how these laws can actually change lives.”
Victoria passed anti-discrimination protections as part of its broader decriminalisation of sex work and associated providers, including brothels, in May 2022.
Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell.Credit: Eddie Jim
Animal Justice Party politician Georgie Purcell said she had been overwhelmed by the number of sex workers reporting discrimination due to their work.
“I’ve had sex workers come to me after being discriminated against at work due to the fact they are a current or former sex worker,” she said.
Purcell, who used her first parliamentary speech to reflect on her own experience of being outed as a stripper and a topless waitress without her consent, said many sex workers were taking legal action to get justice.
She said sex work had shifted dramatically since the lockdowns, when the industry was severely challenged by people not being allowed to physically interact outside their households.
It is a trend that has seen the number of street-based sex workers continue to decline as privately run or online businesses boom.
“A lot of sex workers moved to the digital space and platforms during the pandemic, like OnlyFans and webcamming. They began working privately in the online space, and they have stayed there,” Purcell said.
“That’s been a really good thing in terms of acceptance and normalisation of sex work. But, of course, it has raised other challenges.”
Gyomber said the rise of online platforms had created a more competitive marketplace for street-based sex workers.
While sex workers on the streets were less visible in St Kilda, the demand for support endured. The Gatehouse’s drop-in centre, which is open to all sex workers irrespective of where they work, reports about 4000 visits a year from roughly 370 people.
Gyomber estimates about 68 per cent of them are working as sex workers. Only about five per cent of them use online platforms for their work.
She said the National Disability Insurance Scheme had also been a lifeline for many sex workers, who had physical or mental health disabilities. Once they had been provided with a support worker, their engagement in street-based sex work significantly decreased, she said.
But Gyomber said the mental health of many street-based sex workers was poorer now than ever, amid a shift from heroin use to polydrug consumption driven by the increasing availability of methamphetamines.
“We have noticed an increase in aggressive behaviour among the women we serve and greater difficulties in reducing drug use,” she said. “This leads to a continuing need to work in a highly flexible context.”
Since the legislation was fully enacted in 2023, Southside Justice – a free legal service in St Kilda which has the state’s only specialist sex-work lawyers – has reported a 118 per cent increase in sex workers seeking legal support for discrimination or abuse.
This includes instances where sex workers had been discriminated against for accommodation, employment, education and at banks due to their profession.
But Purcell and sex work advocates warn Victoria’s laws do not go far enough.
Purcell also noted while the decriminalisation act introduced many vital improvements for sex workers, the laws retained some criminalisation of street-based sex workers, including at certain places and on certain days.
Emily Smith, acting manager of the sex worker legal program at Southside Justice, said the trust and relationship between street-based sex workers and police needed to be improved.
“Until all sex work is decriminalised we’re not ready to completely celebrate,” Smith said. “We want to see the full decriminalisation of street-based sex work.”
A spokesperson for Vixen Collective said the peer-only sex worker organisation was thrilled to see sex workers able to fight discrimination under the new laws.
“We call for the removal of the remaining criminal penalties that still exist for street-based sex workers, and will continue to fight for full decriminalisation,” the spokesperson said.
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