Behind a closed door, anything can happen. No camera's, no audio, no evidence. Only the knowledge of the beholders. And with no intentions of making this information public, a bunch of hidden secrets accommodate the rooms which are hidden behind these closed doors.
In the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, lies the City of Knox. A location at the edge of the Dandenong ranges, with scenic views and family-friendly neighbourhoods. But it also holds one of Victoria’s highest statistics in alleged illegal brothels, with 21 being recently reported to Victoria police.
"That’s pretty bad…it’s embarrassing, and it shouldn’t be."
Unaware of the illegal sex industry in Knox, Nicole Hibbert, resident of Boronia, said it makes her “feel really angry” and “protective towards [her] kids” that illegal brothels are reportedly located in her suburb at premises unknown to her.
“I think it’s not ok to have them. I think it’s pretty gross actually, that somebody would be paying for that kind of stuff, and that girls would feel like they would have to put themselves in that position to make money,” Nicole said.
For Jackson Taylor, Councillor of Collier Ward in Knox, safety of locals is a priority, especially when it comes to the sex industry.
“I think people are quite passionate about [the sex industry]. And they think about their children, and they think about their family members that are growing up around local neighbourhoods, and not knowing where these places…these illegal brothels may be, I guess scares them and worries them.”
The City Development sector of the Knox City Council recently released the report Sex Work Industry in Knox, which explains the issues involving the sex industry in Knox, and solutions that could be taken to resolve them.
The report states that illegal Brothels in Knox occur mainly at premises that offer relaxation massages, and that “it is also quite possible that there could be breaches involving sex slavery or human trafficking”.
“The issue here isn’t going after [or] attacking the legal sex industry. That has a place in society and that’s not for me to say. But I think the illegal sex industry puts a lot of people at risk, especially vulnerable people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds as well, so it concerns me,” Cr Taylor said.
Cr Taylor hopes that in the future, Knox Council will partner with agencies, such as Victoria Police or the Adult Entertainment Industry, to further regulate the sex industry and make it safer for its workers.
“If you have one illegal brothel operating within any municipality I think that’s one too many…and if it is as high as 21…then that is very concerning for me, for the people that work within that illegal brothel, who don’t have the same protections and safeguards as those who work in the legal industry. And I think it would also be concerning to [the] local community to obviously learn and understand that there are those number operating if that is the case.”
While the Sex Work Industry in Knox report stated that action had to be taken to resolve the issues of illegal sex work in Knox, it also acknowledged that investigating illegal brothels may be a challenge, as sexual services will need to occur for any evidence to be collected.
“Inevitably, sexual services are neither advertised nor offered to men off the street, which leaves Councils in the position of having either officers or private investigators pose as customers – to obtain the necessary evidence that sexual services are taking place from a premises,” the Sex Work Industry in Knox report stated.
While local Councils try to find resolutions to deal with the illegal sex industry in their areas, a wider view should be considered at the regulations Victoria currently has for the sex industry. One element, that is also acknowledged in the Sex Work Industry in Knox report as having “several negative public health and rights-based implications”, is the two-tiered system for the regulatory model of licensing that Victoria currently has in place.
This two-tiered system divides the regulated businesses that comply with the licencing criteria, from the ones that don’t comply.
Rachel Payne is the General Manager at The Eros Association, an adult industry association for retail, wholesale and entertainment. She said that “the growth of unlicensed brothels are a poor outcome for the brothel licensing system in Victoria and for those who operate within it. It creates a 'two-teared’ system where one group of workers are protected by law and others are not. This in turn raises quite complicated issues regarding worker’s rights, public health and organised crime.”
Rachel also raised the issue that obtaining a Victorian brothel license is “incredibly burdensome” and creates “strong incentives for illicit markets to flourish”.
Scarlet Alliance is the peak national body that represent sex workers and sex-work organisations, and is run only by former and current sex-workers. Chief Executive Officer, and current sex worker, Jules Kim, also agrees that the licensing system is “unworkable” and that the illegal industry is “basically a biproduct of a very unworkable system”.
“Legalisation is very problematic, and that’s the framework in place in Victoria, and it’s often called licensing, as well. But why it’s problematic is because it basically, by its very nature, creates an illegal sector, because it has a very narrow, unworkable framework…and very onerous conditions which most sex workers are unable to comply with, thereby creating a so-called illegal industry,” said Jules.
“The term illegal sex work or illegal sex work premises kind of implies that something bad is going on or that it’s exploitative. But…a lot of the times, it is by nature because of the system, the regulative system that exists, that creates a two-tiered industry where only a very small percentage of the industry can meet the compliance requirements, while the majority of the industry cannot, and is therefore forced to work outside the legal framework,” Jules said.
Scarlet Alliance advocates for the decriminalisation of sex work in Victoria, as it’s “the best model for the rights, health and safety of sex workers”. They disagree with the regulatory system, strongly because it is monitored by the Police.
“The Police routinely hassle street-based sex workers…the problem with the license system is that it is heavily Policed, and the Police should not be regulating the sex industry and it just results in harassment of sex workers. The Police should be accessible to sex workers in an event of a crime, they shouldn’t be playing the role of sex industry regulators,” Jules said.
Cam-model, Alecia Woods, also agrees that the sex industry should be legalised, but her views of the Police are positive, stating that if the sex industry was legalised, then the Police will help increase the safety of sex workers.
“I think that, [the illegal sex industry] is quite hard to distinguish…It would be easier to have it be legalled because then it would be policed. So it’s quite hard when they’re so against it and massage parlours and stuff because it’s so secretive. It’s so hard to do safely. I feel like people are going to do it, no matter what.”
While Alecia’s work is only camera based and she doesn’t meet up with any clients, the illegal sex industry is still apparent in her area of work.
“It’s definitely brought up a lot, just because people struggle to work out the differences between illegal and the legal side. So it’s kind of easier to just lump everyone into the illegal side. So, a lot of the time, us, as sex workers, we have to defend ourselves, and we basically have to prove to people that we’re not all bad,” said Alecia.
“[The illegal industry] brings about a lot of misconceptions and a lot of people not really understanding our work. They sort of…don’t recognise us as people actually doing a job. They see it as easy money or they often just think that we’re all sluts, because the idea of massage parlours are usually really sleazy and you go in and it’s going to be a dirty place,” Alecia said.
While there are many views on how Victoria should approach its regulatory system of the sex industry, for Knox Council, it’s focus will be on lowering the number of allegedly reported illegal brothels and making the city safer for its community.
