‘Crazy busy’: Hard times over for Coast brothel

Young men cashed up on JobKeeper payments kept business flowing according to workers at a Sunshine Coast brothel that suffered through the peak of the pandemic.

Lush Marcoola sex workers Beth and Aurora said the business had flourished since the legal brothel was able to reopen as pandemic restrictions relaxed. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Young men cashed up on JobKeeper payments kept business flowing at a Sunshine Coast brothel that suffered through the peak of the pandemic, its owner says.

 

Lush Marcoola owner Karen Evans has opened up on the struggles of running a brothel during a pandemic and how business has fared since.

She said her business endured some scary moments when it closed for four months but had boomed since reopening.

"Coming back after COVID has been amazing, really good. If anything, it has done our industry the world of good," Ms Evans said.

"Business has stayed busy, we are seeing more business, more clients.

"You couldn't get a park here the other day."

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Ms Evans said men in the 18-25 age bracket had been the most frequent clientele.

It was something she put down to JobKeeper payments which provided a larger source of income compared to what some of the men may have been accustomed.

"It was interesting, the payments they were on certainly increased in that demographic," Ms Evans said.

One of the sex workers, Aurora, has been at Lush for three years and said while things were tough during the closure and lockdown, it had been "crazy busy" since.

"When we opened back up I was straight on board and nailed it," Aurora said.

"It was busy. It was crazy.

"I just think a lot of people missed us."

 

Lush Marcoola sex workers Aurora and Beth have opened up on what it was like to work during a pandemic. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Ms Evans said the watertight health and safety standards that brothels had prior to the pandemic helped them recover from lockdown.

Where other businesses struggled to put in place strict hygiene and sanitation measures, she said brothels had to merely tweak existing practises.

Ms Evans said the demographic of clientele had returned to the regular market of all ages since stimulus payments finished up.

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"Now the younger ones are back working or the payments have stopped we have gone back to what it was before," Ms Evans, who has spent 15 years in the industry, said.

"Now it's back to 18 and our oldest client is 92. That's our range."

Ms Evans said one of the largest demographics which Lush serviced was the Coast's disabled community.

"We have had more disabled clients since the National Disability Insurance Scheme came on board, it's really picked up," she said.

"Men who have cerebral palsy, acquired brain injuries, autistic, men who have never seen a naked woman or have never been touched by a woman.

"A lot of our women are trained and we work with the psychologists and parents to just be aware of any behavioural problems.

"But it just improves their quality of life, it's almost cruel to think for some of them, and to see the looks on their faces and the feedback is very rewarding.

"A lot of our business is just providing a human touch, the human element."

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