I wholeheartedly support Timkins doubts about the intent and accuracy of this article.

Because Vicki Dunne information is so scanty we should rely on the only post that seems to be authoratative - that is from "Princes' rule" I'll therefore quote it at length

"As a brothel worker for the past 23 years (on and off so to speak!) I thought you might like to know some antidotal facts.
- there is no distinction made between sex workers who visit Australia to work and those who decide to work after visiting. I have worked with many "Asian" and "European" women who have been brought up in Australia and choose to work but find themselves caught up in the "migrant" net,
- if I had a choice of slaving for a pittance in bad conditions or being taken to Australia for work in the sex industry for a couple of years where I can take my lifetime income home with me, I know what I would choose,
- yes, there is organised crime by the triads but it is not as large as some would make it out to be, but what exists is really bad, it also (at least in Queensland) preys on private sex workers who have very limited english language skills and community networks,
- most of the women comming to Australia for sex work know what they are getting into and most get the choice to go home or stay and apply for visa when their tenure runs out,
- for all the talk about "rescuing the poor women" why not work on getting rid of the crime so we can go about earning a living. Alot of us actually like our jobs, both migrant and aussie alike!

Posted by princes' rule, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 12:26:14 AM"

How about relying on this kind of information, particularly "why not work on getting rid of the crime so we can go about earning a living" rather than the perpetual, circular, uninformed (and largely morality driven) arguments on whether you think (or morally hope) these woman are being exploited?

And sccording to an SMH article today, a sex industry union agrees...

“Most Asian sex workers trafficked into Australia want to go on working as prostitutes and should be given visas, says a sex industry union. A sex workers association forum in Melbourne was told Asian sex slavery in Australia was largely a myth. And panel members said the federal government should provide 300 working visas a year, instead of raiding brothels and deporting women.”

http://www.smh.com.au/news/NATIONAL/Union-pushes-for-sex-worker-visas/2005/10/14/1128796701858.html

This Australian Institute Of Criminalology study is from the year 2000. Didn't find much evidence to support the notion that sex slavery is rampant here.

http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/24/full_report.pdf

"A close reading of media accounts of “trafficking” frequently reveals that the issues of migrant prostitution and trafficking, as defined for the purposes of this report, have been conflated, with little regard for the important differences between these practices.

The academic literature on the subject notes that most undocumented workers in the Australian sex industry have entered that industry voluntarily, having come to Australia for that purpose. These reports indicate that there are very few cases of women having been deceived about the nature of the work they will undertake in Australia. The issues of deception or coercion are more likely to arise in relation to the terms and conditions of their employment, including the amount of their debt and the time in which it will repaid.

For example, Brockett and Murray have studied the working conditions of migrant sex workers in Australia. They found that in 1993, 80 per cent of all female migrant sex workers in Sydney were from Thailand and 90 per cent of these women were on contracts which outlined the terms and conditions of employment, the scheduled repayment of debt for recruitment and passage, and placement within an establishment (Brockett and Murray 1994, p. 192)."

"..allegations require money and resources to investigate.." [Timkins]

That's a better way of putting it I think. However - the crux of my agrument was that if there are few migrant sex workers then the financial burden/cost should be relatively low. I still feel that to be valid.

On the residency bit... I'd suggest that this only be granted after successful prosecution. Otherwise it could be an incentive to press charges without regard to evidence.

In terms of the effect on accused. Well I have to assume that the "innocent until proven guilty" concept will be applied. Otherwise I'd oppose the vast majority laws.

Re-reading the article, I share some of your concerns about the way in which the topic is put. You have correctly pointed out (I now believe) that there is little evidence included. And it is emotive writing. So yeah. I'm agreeing now... that we need more evidence and more detail, however on balance I'd tend to support the proposal.

Australia is a slaving nation.

The Australian govt. were aware that thousands of females were obliged to perform sex without remuneration because of the 'unfair contracts' they had entered into.

They viewed that as a case of a bad business deal rather than slavery. By the standards that apply to civilized countries the govt. found thousands of slaves.

Being forced to do sex for nothing to repay a huge debt is slavery.

I had presumed that after millions of of dollars & years of lobbying by human rights advocates that Australians might simply accept that straightforward position as valid.

Consent in civilized countries is also usually 'voiced' as opposed to a laminated easi-wipe schedule with pictographs of anal sex. Australia is up to its eyeballs in trafficking.

The problem would still seem to be the lack of a moral vocabulary to understand the basic concepts.