Jump to navigation. Sex workers in Queensland are campaigning to decriminalise sex work 30 years after this was recommended by the Fitzgerald Inquiry into state police corruption. Janelle Fawkes from the DecrimQLD campaign told Green Left Weekly that for the past two decades Queensland has effectively had a licensing model, whereby it is not illegal to set up a brothel but there are significant and costly hurdles. As a result, only 20 legal brothels exist in the state.
This legal framework disadvantages erotic massage parlours that do not want to operate illegally but are prevented from getting licences under current law. It is also particularly egregious for individual sex workers who want to work independently. Internationally, sex workers have developed strategies to improve safety, such as calling or texting a fellow worker before and after a session, sharing information about abusive clients and taking calls for or driving a worker to a session. But many of these practices are deemed illegal by Queensland police.
Police essentially regulate the sex industry, she said, meaning they have a lot of power β which is often abused. According to Fawkes, this targeting is not focused on identifying victims of trafficking; rather, it has resulted in the deportation of migrant sex workers on visa issues.
Sex worker advocacy group Respect Inc, which is part of the DecrimQLD campaign, has said it constantly receives calls from workers wanting assistance relating to police charges. Often police scrutinise sex worker advertisements, looking for a word out of place to use as an excuse to set up a covert operation.
Police then pose as clients to entrap the worker, leading to seizure of cash, phones and laptops. The Fitzgerald Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct uncovered extreme levels of police corruption relating to the sex industry.
