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.

Banjo, you are right I am familiar with the industry, this question about why Australian sex worker activists seem happy to support an influx of foreign workers comes up quite a bit. There are some diverse attitudes out there in the sex industry (just like anywhere else) but sex workers who work in rights groups see that the issue of trafficking gets so overblown by moral values they would rather have visas for foreign sex workers than continue with the morally-hyped trafficking framework that says we are all victims.

Its not good for Australian sex workers to see workers from Asia be pulled into prosecutions, treated badly, and then have to go home with no money to show for their ordeal. Help one of these workers in any way other than going to the police and you risk being charged with assisting sexual slavery!

Its not good for the Australian sex industry to have the Australian Federal Police place ads (in places where clients and workers search for services and jobs) which tell people to, essentially, 'dob in a mistreated Asian worker and be a good citizen'.

Its not good for Australian sex workers who are of Asian appearance to be treated by police as if they are illegal immigrants with a big potential for getting them a 'trafficking' bust.

No-body is saying that the Australian sex industry NEEDS foreign workers but foreign workers are coming here anyway and they are fellow sufferers of sex work stigma just like anyone else who works here. Its not sexual slavery but no-one (with a heart) wants to see a fellow sex worker pay a big debt contract if they don't have to.

Brilliant post, Candi.

Cheers

“Its not good for Australian sex workers to see workers from Asia be pulled into prosecutions, treated badly, and then have to go home with no money to show for their ordeal.”

Volenti non fit injuria

“they are fellow sufferers of sex work stigma”

Maybe if they got out of that business, they would not suffer the stigma.

I could go on but why bother….

I migrated to Australia

I needed to first provide / evidence

A full understanding of English
A skill which was listed as being in high demand by Australian commerce
A financial capacity (money in the bank)
A clean police record and of good character
A clean health / medical report

I then waited, in a queue, for an interview by an Australian government official before my visa was issued and I came here, legally.

I see no reason for Australia to “lower that bar” which I had to climb over for the benefit of “women of ill repute”

Col,
I believe Candi is talking about workers entering Aus on temporary visas not permanant residents. The need for migrants to jump over the bar like you had to is long past. I do not agree with the ease that migrants are now favoured by, but that is the situation. Generally, we should be far more discriminatory with our migrant intake.

I think the biggest problem Candi and her fellows could face, if visas are made available to foreign sex workers, is that many will come here and undercut prices and make it difficult for locals. Also I could foresee a rise in STD which may be a problem.

Personally, I have no need for the services they offer but recognise that there has always been a sex industry and i have no moral issue with that. Where there is a demand a supplier will provide service.

I have to admit this is a problem about which I had no idea at all.

But, once encountered, it does indeed strike one as being not only unfair but smacking of hypocrysy. Given that sex work is legal employment, what possible reason could there be for not allowing workers in that industry to come on working holidays?

Does the Government wish to give the impression that there is no such industry in Australia? We would, in that case, be a completely unique country, wouldn't we?

*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.*

Well in this industry the real competition is more likely those
girls down at the pub, giving it away for nothing, after a couple
of drinks :)

Good to see some people using their own critical skills, Romany, Banyo and Yabby, instead of adopting the same old righteous, culturally conditioned, arguments.

Col, saying stuff like 'get out of the business and you won't suffer the stigma' is just moral bullying. Why shouldn't I do it? Because the moral majority say that sex is so precious and so sacred an act that a price can't be placed upon it? I'll decide what's sacred about my own sexual activities, not you, Col.

In response to Banyo's concerns about the rise of STI's, very recent research by Basil Donovan from the National Centre in HIV found that the clinical rate of STI's amongst current sex workers is lower in decriminalised states (like NSW) and higher in criminalised states (like Western Australia). This is a classic case of prohibition creating negative social consequences. Sex workers presenting to clinics have lower rates of STI's than the general population anyway and there is a culture of condom use in the industry. It's also logical to assume that a worker coming into an occupation legally and openly can more easily access health information and services than someone who is on the down-low, don't you think?

*Why shouldn't I do it? Because the moral majority say that sex is so precious and so sacred an act that a price can't be placed upon it? I'll decide what's sacred about my own sexual activities*

Ah Candi, but the same moral majority would most likely be proud and
happy, if their daughter married a rich guy! There are many hypocrites
out there.

Personally I have far more respect for a practical girl, rather then
one who can't remember who she slept with last night, as she was
too drunk, or one who is a pushover after a bit of the required
schmalz and pushing of emotional buttons etc.

So yes, they claim its somehow sacred, when it fact its quite normal
and natural. Many species swap sex for resources, humans are just
one of many.

When it comes to sex, our society is still very much in denial,
yet we understand the fundamentals pretty well, through our
understanding of biology. Yet many humans somehow want to deny all this,
deny that we are simply another species that evolved, our
evolutionary niche being larger brains, deny that we are even
related to other species, as the religious claim.

Pairbonding, sexual urges etc, all evolved for good evolutionary
reasons. We can choose to deny these things as much of society does,
or understand and accept them.

Or we can watch Hollywood movies and kid ourselves that this is the
way the world should be, also pretty common.

Fact is that swapping sex for recources will continue, as it has
for eons of time, not just in our species but in many. Some will
marry a rich guy and be admired for doing so. Others will be
a bit more honest about things and lay their cards on the table.

If a female takes the trouble to give some guy the pleasure he wants,
why should he not return the favour and give her some money to go
shopping or whatever? Surely she is being far more honest, then
the female who married for money.

Candi,
Thanks for the info on STD, now termed STI. I will keep it in mind.

Yabby, You are correct with your comments,

There was a show on SBS recently called "Footy Chicks". It was about girls who chased footballers and some of them had pretty loose morals.If they had a child then he could easily say that his daddy was a football team.

Also I shudder to see those girls that are legless after a night out. Not knowing who or how many they had sex with.

Yet some people look down on professional prostitutes. As you say simply hypocrites.

In all likelihood, authorities have no idea how many foreign prostitutes are working in Australia and nor can they effectively monitor whether they have originated from countries where HIV or other diseases are in endemic proportions.

It is also probable given the inevitable link between prostitution and crime that there are other compelling reasons why authorities are concerned about foreign prostitutes entering the country to work. Yes, decriminalising prostitution in a country could lessen the influence of criminal gangs, but foreign prostitutes are likely to come from undeveloped countries and be bankrolled by criminal gangs.

It strikes that whilst it is all very right to talk about the individual rights of people who falsify documents and abuse the conditions of their approval to visit Australia, there are very troublesome community health and safety issues that arise from their activities and authorities have to do their level best to treat and contain those risks.

Although one report indicated that decriminalising prostitution might help to reduce the incidence of STIs, there is no confirming evidence that the finding is universally true. There is certainly no evidence that it would necessarily work that way in the case of foreign prostitutes. Foreign prostitutes are strongly motivated to maximise their return on their travel (and for the crime boss who probably found them and organised things), so they would be less inclined to undergo health tests on arrival or during their stay. There would be no way of controlling the flood of prostitutes from countries where HIV is prevalent for easy pickings in Oz.

There is nothing to suggest that prostitutes who presently do not declare the correct reason for their visit will be any likely to do so if their prostitution was made legal. It would still be a case of catch me if you can, but this time the penalty would be a smack on the wrist. If that doesn't encourage more to take advantage of perceived leniency in Australia what would? The problems are complex and the solution is no where near as simple as proposed.

Candi, you are not only providing an important service for many people in your work, but your posts continue to edifying and clarify the sex workers' industry. Your understanding of the situation for foreign sex-workers is spot on. If we can agree for men from areas like the South Pacific to work in Australia to help their families back home, why can't women arrive here with a legal work visa which would protect them from predators, enable them to access medical checks (which are vital) and to have the same rights as other workers in Australia?

To the boys-club...

Why is it always women who are judged "immoral" or "loose" if they sleep around; clearly they must do the 'dirty deed' with someone, but somehow men are never mentioned let alone judged for their moral behaviour.

Oh, the great double standard lives on.....

The boys club and the double standard?

Women are the most trenchant critics of the morals of other women. Such criticism is not limited to morals either.

Women's preference for bad boys is one of the most common criticisms one hears from men.

Maybe it is not just men who have double standards.

*but somehow men are never mentioned let alone judged for their moral behaviour.*

That is clearly not so Fractelle. Think of Clinton or Spitzer for
instance, to name a couple of many.

But there is a good biological explanation. In nature its always
the gender which makes the largest investment in raising the offspring,
which is the fussy one. David Attenborough, in his
"Life of Birds" showed a species where the males raise the chicks
and build the nests, the females merely lay the eggs. Those males
are pretty fussy, about who they mate with and who can lay their
egg, in their nest!

In humans its not much different. Males will commonly freely
volunteer an ejaculation if asked, as long as females don't want
commitment :) So to obtain sex as a female, as long as you agree
to say yes, that is all that you need to obtain a bit of nookie.

For males generally, a little more talent is required. They have
to bluff, lie, cheat etc their way into womens loins a good deal of
the time, some are better at it then others. So some talent is
actually required

Thank you Fractelle, and yes you are so right, the cultural double standard (that is, the standard that its natural and even praiseworthy for men to have indiscriminate sex but that slutty women are aberrations).

This cultural double standard continues to be fueled by the sort of biological/evolutionary argument that Yabby proposes - which I tend to agree with, those animal studies are very revealing - there is definitely a hormonal difference between males and females but with humans its hard to know how much of that is just biology and how much is also cultural conditioning playing on peoples' psychology.

I do agree with Cornflower though that this standard is upheld by women just as much as men (maybe even more so?) - we are all products of our cultural conditioning. I think a lot of men understand that its possible to have sex without emotional connection but they too have been taught that that's something that only men can do and that women who do it are just abnormal. A lot of men will say they like hookers, but not many want to marry one. Women on the other hand, may envy the freedom and money, but generally look down on sex workers for bringing the feminine standard down

Candi - well, I don't know. Some of these ideas seem just a tad dated to me. Particularly Yabby's contention that all women need to do if they want sex is to ask while many men "...have to bluff, lie, cheat etc their way into womens loins a good deal of the time..." I found that as puzzling as his idea that men don't want committment. It also seems a somewhat sad and disparaging comment on the "many" men who engage in such games.

To me it appears that the tables have been steadily turning: so many women are deciding that committment carries with it far too heavy a price while men over 25 are looking to propogate the species and not finding too many comers. Also, post-divorce, more men seem to want to jump back from the frying pan into the fire while growing numbers of women have decided not to get burned again.

In fact, on numerous other threads on OLO bitter gender wars have been played wherein this very argument has been bitterly and rancorously laid at the feet of the feminist movement.

None of which has any bearing, of course, on the original injustice which was the cause of this article - except insofar as many respondants still discuss sex-workers as though involving one gender only.

I am at a loss to see why this situation (i.e. the refusal of visas) is still ongoing and can only conclude that the majority of non sex-workers are simply unaware of it. So I applaud the writer for bringing it to public notice and encourage more awareness of the fact that, once again, Government policy seems contradictory and not in compliance with current mores.

*Particularly Yabby's contention that all women need to do if they want sex is to ask while many men "...have to bluff, lie, cheat etc their way into womens loins a good deal of the time..." I found that as puzzling as his idea that men don't want committment.*

Romany, there have actually been many experiments done with this one.
Now I'm not sure about China, but as a female, go to any Australian
pub and ask the blokes if anyone would volunteer for a bit of sex and
I bet you that you would have plenty of volunteers. Ask the females
the same question and your result will be quite different.

There is an old saying that women need a reason to have sex and blokes
just need a place. There is some truth in that :)

If that was not the case, the people like Candi would be out of a
job.

*A lot of men will say they like hookers, but not many want to marry one*

Candi,the evolutionary psychologists that I have read, such as Buss
and Wright etc, suggest that this is due to what they call the
Madonna/whore dichotomy, IIRC. In other words, it is of evolutionary
benefit for a male to spread his genes far and wide, as his only
investment is an ejaculation, she is left holding the baby.

OTOH if the deal involves commitment, its in his interest to make
sure that the kids are his and he is not raising somebody elses kids.
If he's going to invest all those resources over many years, its
in that case best to marry a Madonna, where the likelyhood is far
higher, that she was faithfull and the kids are in fact his.

We'll be here forever discussing the apparent differences between men and women's sexual selectivity - its obvious that sex is tied to reproduction therefore there must be 'selfish gene' impulses and all that. Yabby all those evolutionary theories do make sense to me but also with humans one has the influence of culture - we are sentient and we are social, which alters everything, people act emotionally, in the West we believe in love and men do often invest in supporting other men's children. I think age makes a big difference too - young males and females fit with the evolutionary models much better than older people, where the tendency seems to reverse somewhat. Older men seem to want commitment more than older women, maybe this is happening with younger men now too? As Romany says, things are changing - cultural roles are starting to even out a bit - but males are still the huge majority customers in the sex industry. Male escorts who see only women charge a lot less - women just don't seem to be prepared to pay as much and the bookings are longer and tend to include much more social/emotional activity. Make of that what you will, it could change as women become more economically independent and sexually demanding (if that happens).

However, we've gotten off the topic of Australian visas for foreign sex workers - the majority of those would be females and the customers are male.

"However, we've gotten off the topic of Australian visas for foreign sex workers"

Candi, frankly I don't like your chances, for the following reasons.
To bring about change, you would need the support of politicians,
but politicians are largely hypocritical, self interested individuals,
like most of humanity.

The married with children, family doting politician, might well
pop down to his local escort service as instinct kicks in, but he
would keep it a secret. Not wanting to upset those little old ladies
in his electorate who are against prostitution, he would be seen to
do nothing to encourage it. Thus your problem. Human nature.

*but also with humans one has the influence of culture - we are sentient and we are social, which alters everything,*

I don't know why you think that other species don't have culture,
you have clearly never read much about primatology :)

What is learned and what is instinctive in humans and other species,
is much debated and we can argue to death if its 50/50 or 60/40 or
whatever.

The thing is, psychology got it very much wrong in the 70s, with their
tabula razza theory, where they thought that the mind is like a blank
slate and everything is learned. That is clearly not the case, as
neuroscience has since then shown.

What we do know is that we humans are aware of only a tiny portion of
what is actually going on in those brains of ours and only a small
section of the human brain is there for thinking. There is huge
competition within the mind, from various centres and it depends on
many things, including neural wiring, which dominates at the time.

Hormones, peptides, neurotransmitters, all interacting.

Yes we fall in love, in the animal world its called pair bonding.
That is very much instinctive