On Thursday evening, the Victorian parliament handed legal guidelines to decriminalise intercourse work within the state, with the higher home voting 24-10 in favour of the invoice. There have been cheers and applause within the chamber because the vote was learn out. Victoria is now the third jurisdiction in Australia to decriminalise intercourse work.
Melissa Horne MP, Victorian Minister for Shopper Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, shares this open letter within the wake of the historic day.
***
For a lot too lengthy, intercourse work has been unfairly stigmatised by archaic guidelines and laws which have harmed numerous staff.
Yesterday we modified all that, when the Victorian Parliament handed legal guidelines to decriminalise intercourse work.
That signifies that quickly in Victoria, intercourse staff shall be given the identical protections as each different employee.
Beneath these vital reforms, intercourse staff can get the help they deserve from healthcare suppliers, the justice system, or different authorities providers.
They are going to quickly have the identical rights, entry to entitlements, and protections below regulation as they’d in another job.
These are fundamental human liberties that shouldn’t be withheld just because somebody works within the intercourse work trade.
Prior to those new legal guidelines coming into impact, intercourse work was regulated below a legalised mannequin in Victoria which had not been up to date for shut to a few a long time – it was outdated and intensely tough to navigate.
On the coronary heart of this reform is an easy however core worth that the Andrews Labor Authorities holds expensive – each Victorian employee deserves the identical rights after they go to work.
By prolonged consultations, intercourse staff advised us that their present working circumstances have been unsafe throughout each the licensed and unlicensed sectors, together with experiences of violence within the office, deterrents to reporting violence, and an absence of compliance with safe-sex measures.
We additionally regarded to New Zealand, the place intercourse work is already decriminalised. Their expertise confirmed that intercourse staff expertise a decrease danger to violence and extra confidence in reporting points to the police.
I wish to thank every one who advised their story about how they have been excluded from fundamental protections which might be afforded to each different employee.
Intercourse staff deserve the independence to make free, honest and secure decisions about their life and participation in a authorized trade – which is why we’ve decriminalised intercourse work in Victoria.
The modifications will be sure that intercourse work is secure work and handled like another profession. It’s going to additionally maximise intercourse staff’ security, well being, and human rights.
It’s the suitable factor to do. The honest factor to do. Feeling secure at work, no matter your career, is a non-negotiable human proper and one we’ll proceed to struggle for on behalf of each employee in Victoria, day-after-day.
