Prostitutes in any country perform a service desired by some, and they should have the same protection and responsibilities as other businesses. If they are legal and regulated, they harm no one, and they should be free to ply their trade.

But, migrant prostitutes? “There is no visa for sex work in Australia”, and it is highly unlikely that there ever will be. So how do they get here? Are these “second-class citizens” really citizens at all?

This author is President of Scarlet Alliance, the Australian Sex Workers Association, and is a member of the National Roundtable of People Trafficking. So, she knows the business, and supposedly knows something about people trafficking. But she mentions nothing about how these foreign prostitutes were able to get into Australia to earn our sympathy.

We know that in Europe prostitutes are smuggled into different countries by criminals able to avoid immigration officials altogether. The traffickers are the criminals, and the prostitutes are called ‘victims’. Their ‘victim’ status - purely sentimental in the case of illegal entrants – gives them some leeway in places like the UK, a dog-loving nation always a soft touch for strays. The police use these ‘victims’ to dob in higher rung criminals; cooperation ensures that the police won’t hand the girls over to immigration authorities for deportation.

But to get into Australia, with its sea border, without passing through immigration and customs doesn’t work. These exotic prostitutes would need to have a passport, visa etc., perhaps supplied by their traffickers, to enter before they disappeared who knows where into the general population, to become over stayers.

Human traffickers are criminals and should be dealt with; but their so-called victims are also law-breakers and should be rounded up and sent home: not given a ‘better deal’ by Australian authorities to ply a trade locals are quite capable of providing.

Mr Right seems to support sex work but not illegal entry into Australia. Well he's half way there. People (like Elena Jeffries)trying to deal with this complex issue often come up against anti-sex work activists who see the whole occupation as a form of slavery.

Mr Right asks "How do they get here?" - I thought that was answered, the sex workers enter into debt contracts with people who obtain visas for them and find somewhere for them to work. Yes, its illegal. Sex workers who want to come to Australia to work make a decision to pay an 'agent' a large sum of money to fraudulently set them up with a visa. I think they mostly use student or working holiday visas. If they are lucky they manage to pay back the contract debt, then go on to earn some money for themselves before their visa expires and they have to return to their home country. I don't think they end up overstaying anymore than any other foreign tourist or worker would - unless of course they become embroiled in a prosecution and then no doubt the govt is happy to let them stay as long as they assist the court process.

Why do these sex workers agree to pay these large sums to gain entry? Because they can't get a visa to come here to work legally. I'm not fully across the visa protocols but I do know of a meatworks in Queensland that is bringing in labour from overseas - they obviously issue visas to foreign meatworkers. And I know if you are a 'professional' you have a good chance of getting a visa to work here. Why not sex work? It's a legal sole occupation in all states of Australia and in some states organised prostitution (brothels, escort agencies etc) is also legal.

What we are talking about here when we talk about 'trafficking' is mostly just visa fraud.

Mr Right: As far as I'm aware, working holiday visas and sponsored employment allow international visitors to engage in ANY lawful employment, skilled or not. In theory, that should also include sex work (lawful employment in almost all Australian states and territories). But in practice, anti-sex work sentiment in general and anti-trafficking strategies in particular lead to migrant sex workers being treated differently to other migrant workers and - the key point here - actually INCREASE the risk of trafficking, sex slavery and/or debt bondage occurring.

For starters, Australian brothels aren't allowed to sponsor visa applicants, so sex workers can't INDEPENDENTLY arrange employment prior to entry. In many states, brothels can't advertise for staff, so sex workers can't INDEPENDENTLY find employment on arrival. These and many other discriminatory practices often leave sex workers with no choice but to employ a 'middle man' to facilitate their entry and employment, leaving them open to huge debts and/or exploitative working conditions. Immigration raids and Federal sex slavery laws don't help, as Australian brothels increasingly become too scared to employ foreign (particularly SE Asian) sex workers, leaving them with even fewer legitimate employment options.

Global anti-trafficking policy and propaganda has conflated sex work with sex slavery, sex industry employers with 'traffickers' and (as you pointed out) sex workers with 'victims'. Human trafficking and sex slavery ARE hideous crimes that should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law - but they have nothing in common with an adult man or woman choosing to finance their working holiday with sex work income, especially in a country where sex work is lawful.

Scarlet Alliance is not asking for 'sex work visas' as such - just workable legislation and policy that allows migrant sex workers the same rights as other migrant workers. And anti-trafficking legislation that actually DISCOURAGES trafficking, rather than FACILITATING it.

Oops...I meant to add something about 'how they get here'. Migrant sex workers CAN work lawfully in this country (depending on the type of visa they hold, the legal status of their employer, etc). Sex workers caught up in immigration raids are frequently deemed to be working 'legally' and allowed to return to work.

It's just very difficult. Imagine planning a working holiday in a foreign country without having access to employment ads, sponsorship, contacts, etc - you can't even ask immigration authorities for assistance on what sort of visa you require. That's where the agents/middle men come in. If local and international immigration policies treated sex work as a legitimate occupation and sex workers had access to all the information they need to be able to migrate independently, agents would become obsolete.

Mr Right,
I am not a 'free trader' or 'globalist' I have hated to see us loose most of our industry and having to import so much. I try not to think about what could happen if a conflict arises somewhere and our shipping lanes are cut. We are hardly self sufficient. I mostly do concur with what you say in posts.

However I wonder if you can see any lodical reason why the Aus sex industry needs protection when in other industries our workers have to compete with foreign employees.

From an article in todays Tele, it would seem the sex industry is quite bouyant and does not expect a downturn.

Funny though, I would have thought that a person representing workers, like the author, would be all for keeping their workers jobs protected rather than arguing to make it easier to bring in more competition.

Candi F and ashkara,
you both seem familiar with the industry. Can you tell me why we need to import workers? is the demand that strong and cannot the work be done by locals?

Right on the money, Banjo. What we need to fix this is for young unemployed Australian girls who refuse offers of work at brothels to be denied the dole on the grounds that they have failed the work test.

Another useful reform would be to require all brothels to be housed in single storey buildings. This would keep down the f**cking overhead.