Yet NorMAC was unsuccessful in gaining a meeting with Young Labor to present our research and testimonies from Survivors about the failure of decriminalisation to protect those who sell sex from health impacts or violence from procurers, pimps and sex buyers. The motion for decriminalisation at the ALP State Conference received strong opposition from a few members but was finally passed. The Northern Territory is currently considering changes to their sex trade laws and they are well placed to take a lead role in Australia by recognising that the sex trade is underpinned by inequality for women.
The Northern Territory, if they listen carefully to the evidence base from Survivors, could become the test ground for Nordic model laws in Australia. The Northern Territory could lead a shift in cultural attitudes towards girls and women in Australia and recognise they are not commodities to be bought or sold for male entitlement. Jurisdictions which have gone down the decriminalisation experiment have all failed with a massive increase in women being exploited in both the legal and illegal sectors as has happened in New Zealand and Germany and many other jursidictions.
The ongoing marginalisation of survivors from many research and policy discourses about systems of prostitution raises a number of important questions about policy advocacy and industry-supported researchβ¦β¦. The potential for industry capture in research on systems of prostitution in Australia should therefore be of serious concern.
For Young Labor to ignore the Voices of survivors or requests for meetings from stakeholder groups seeking consultations is little different to the cultural blindness of yesterday. But it is a particularly disturbing form of bias considering that Young Labor have not heard from the men who buy sex and why they do so. The sex trade is underpinned by inequality with issues of male power, dominance and privilege at the core of sexploitation of vulnerable girls and women.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand provides the best example of why decriminalisation has failed yet it is touted by sex worker front groups as the best model to follow.
