The Western Australian Government has been reviewing its legislative response and policing practices for the sex industry in Western Australia. The proposed law reform and regulation to be imposed in Western Australia is of great concern to sex workers all over Australia including the sex workers of NSW. It is an issue NAUWU is following closely and our members are actively lobbying on. 

In this post we will outline what the proposed Prostitution Bill 2011 will mean for the WA sex industry, provide copies of the draft Bill, the submission peers submitted to the WA Govt and the Governments response. We feel it’s important to provide you with this information to show that sex workers are not defined by State or any other boundaries and what is inflicted on one sex worker affects us all. As one NSW sex worker stated…..

‘another fine example of the lobbying skills and efforts of individual NSW sex workers working collectively to challenge current and impending legislation that puts sex workers in harms way wherever we see it’

Members of NAUWU will be monitoring this post and encourage you to leave comments or questions either in the comments box or please feel free to email them to us at nothingaboutuswithoutus@gmail.com

Alternatively, sex workers are able to contact Scarlet Alliance to discuss what the proposed law reform will mean when working in WA and with any other questions you may have. Scarlet Alliance contact details can be found here

Western Australian Prostitution Bill 2011 – Draft Bill for Public Comment
The following document is the Draft Bill that outlines what the WA Government proposes to make the legislation for the sex industry in Western Australia. Sex worker activists and lobbyists read through this Bill and analyse it to find out what the Government proposes, how it will effect the sex industry including what this will mean in every day practice for sex workers, how it will effect OH&S, how the industry will be regulated etc. The Bill must be made available for public comment and submissions from the public collected. These submissions are then supposed to be taken into consideration to help inform and/or ammend the Bill.

 Western Australian Prostitution Bill 2011 – Draft Bill for Public Comment

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Sex workers in action
Sex workers activists and lobbyists, other key stakeholders and researchers are constantly behind the scenes working to inform Government on the best model of legislation for the sex industry. An example of this is the LASH Report which has already been posted on NAUWU here. Organisations like Scarlet Alliance are also in constant contact with politicians, health bodies etc to inform and educate them on the sex industry.

When this proposed Bill was made public, other individual sex workers, groups including NAUWU, e-list groups and sex worker organisations begin working on submissions as well as informing other sex workers on what’s happening. Again this is done nationally because it is not considered an issue that Western Australian sex workers should have to deal with alone. 

Scarlet Alliance put together an information pack on proposed sex industry laws for WA. This information pack breaks down the Bill into plain language and highlights the key points in the Bill so sex workers are better able to understand what the proposed sex industry laws will mean. The pack also informs sex workers on how to write a submission and letters, who to send them to, how to stay informed and how to help spread the word to other people. The more people writing, the more chance we have; the more people who know about the proposed law reform and it’s consequences, the more power and the louder the voice we have! To have a look at Scarlet Alliances info pack and to see what the proposed law reform will mean, please check the links below. One is to a downloadable pdf and the other a direct link where the info pack appears on the Scarlet Alliance website.

WA Law Change Information Pack_Scarlet Alliance

http://www.scarletalliance.org.au/library/wa_2011/

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Submission by NSW sex workers to the Western Australian Prostitution Bill 2011 – Draft Bill for Public Comment
Below is a submission that two NSW sex workers made to the WA Government’s proposed Bill. We’d like to acknowledge their bravery in outing themselves as sex workers to the WA Government in their submission. Making this decision is never taken lightly and when it’s done, it does add power to any submission, letter written or media contact made.

WA Prostitution Bill 2011_Submission in response to the WA Prostituion Bill 2011_Final

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Government of Western Australia Department of the Attorney General Response
Below you will find the response the Department provided to the submission above. It basically just states that the submission has been received and gives no further detail.

WA Prostitution Bill 2011_Response to Submission from Governmentof WA Department of the Attorney General Offic of the Director General

So what now?!
Now we wait and keep lobbying with phonecalls, letter writing, responding to media and trying to generate our own positive media. We keep watch and yet remain proactive. As to the stages of how a Bill progresses….

This Green Bill (draft Bil) closed for public comment on Friday 29 July 2011.

It then goes to the WA Cabinet for approval

Then the Attorney General will introduce the approved Bill into Parliament, where it will be debated in both Houses, ie the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.

It is then the decision of Parliament whether this Bill will become a law of Western Australia, as both Houses of Parliament will be required to pass and approve the Bill.

This process varies for each bill and therefore a time frame cannot be provided.

Once this Bill is approved by Parliament and assented to by the Governor of Western Australia, it will come into operation on a day that will be fixed by proclamation in the Government Gazette.

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 NAUWU will keep you informed!

We’d like to send out a special thank you to Saul Isbister, Julie Bates and Scarlet Alliance. Without their work and allowing us to publish just a tiny piece of the massive amount they’ve done, we wouldn’t be the group we are both locally as NSW sex workers and as a wider national sex worker family.

Note: NAUWU makes every effort to ensure the quality of the information available on this website. Before relying on the information on this site, however, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. NAUWU cannot guarantee and assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, currency or completeness of the information.

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