Hundreds of brothels tipped to shut as Western Australia legalises prostitution
WESTERN Australia is set to legalise prostitution in a bid to improve health standards and keep brothels out of residential areas.
Hundreds of suburban brothels are expected to close when WA Attorney-General Christian Porter ends decades of "turning a blind eye" and starts regulating the sex industry next year.

Prostitution is illegal in WA, but police rarely lay charges unless they are related to underage sex or unsafe practices.

Under the new legislation, brothels will be licensed and confined to designated commercial and industrial areas, and police will be given powers to investigate and forcibly close those which fail to comply.

Sex businesses will need to follow health and safety standards to obtain and maintain their licenses.

Individual sex workers will need to register with a central agency and will undergo compulsory health and blood checks.
They may also be required to carry ID cards.

Mr Porter said suburban operators would be given a grace period from next year to either close or move to a licensed area.

Applications for brothels would first be put to local councils and then assessed by state regulators.

Mr Porter said the new regulations would limit problems in non-residential areas.

WA brothel madams welcomed the move over the weekend, but feared the bid to register individual prostitutes would drive some underground.

While most agreed the new regulations would improve health and safety in the industry, they said some sex workers would be loathe to have their personal records on file.

"This will lead a lot of workers into going underground," North Perth brothel owner Donna McGuirk told The West Australian newspaper yesterday.

"We are quite lucky in WA in that we don't have girls working with organised crime, but the sensitivity of this information that they want the girls to hand over means that many will try to work outside the system."

Kalgoorlie madam Bruna Meyers told the paper she was opposed to a central register, but welcomed plans for a licensing system and health checks.

She said it would crack down on operators advertising unsafe sex, which was currently illegal but not widely policed.

Opposition attorney-general spokesman John Quigley said confining brothels to industrial areas would create "sex ghettos".
link here:
http://www.news.com.au/breaking- ... rfku0-1225881924706

so, they are going to be working like 141 instead?

can't really understand what they're thinking. can't stop it as just saying it's illegal, many history tell us this will still happen and helping other illegal business up.

Do you know anything about australia?
WA sex industry is very much different to 141. The fact that it's legalised is a good thing

Moves like this are smart, and should serve to reduce the levels of violence, drugs and disease that come with the territory. Thumbs up.

This is good and reflects what is happening in New Zealand.  Wonder whether this will ever happen in HK.

Wow... so with them saying that prostitution is not linked organized crime, are prostitutes basically working for themselves?

It just won't happen in Hong Kong.
You should notice that similar opposition in starting casino business in HK?

[ Last edited by  alfredku at 21-6-2010 00:22 ]