Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Summary Offences (Prostitution Law Reform) Amendment Bill 2023, introduced by my friend and colleague the Hon. Nicola Centofanti MLC in the South Australian state parliament last week, seeks to decriminalise the selling of sex but criminalise the buying of sex and profiting from it through pimping, managing a brothel and so on. This approach is called the Nordic model, and it has reduced the prevalence of prostitution in various countries, including Norway, Sweden, France and Israel. The evidence suggests that it would be instrumental in reducing the demand for prostitution in South Australia and could help women escape the cycle of exploitation, degradation and violence that is prostitution.

Since its implementation in Sweden in 1999, the Nordic model has successfully reduced demand for prostitution and has made it more difficult to profit from it, as opposed to standard decriminalisation laws, which only help the pimps and harm women. The Swedish government has helped many women exit prostitution by providing programs to help them overcome addiction and trauma as well as find suitable housing and meaningful employment. The strength of the Nordic model is that it recognises that prostituted women are overwhelmingly the victims of childhood abuse and may be considered victims deserving of help to escape this lifestyle.

Prostitution is a scourge, yet many on the Left argue for its decriminalisation. Any society that does so finds that the demand for sex-buying increases along with rates of sexual assault, human trafficking, violence, drug addiction, isolation and death, as all of these are inextricably linked to prostitution. Prostitution is dehumanisation. It reduces the entire person to an object to be bought and sold. Prostituted women are often the victims of abuse in childhood and are groomed into this lifestyle feeling that they have no other recourse. One excellent report on the Nordic model's efficacy by Dr Ingeborg Kraus says:

They are not the daughters of well-to-do families. No, women in prostitution are extremely vulnerable: Poverty, experiences of violence, dysfunctional families, marginalization, vulnerability.

These women are not empowered. They're traumatised. They're not taking control of their lives or their bodies. They're dominated by men.

To quote one study which surveyed over 800 prostitutes across nine countries: 'Sixty-three per cent were sexually abused as children, with an average of four perpetrators against each child. As adults in prostitution, 69 per cent of these respondents had been threatened with a weapon, 71 per cent had experienced physical assault, 63 per cent had been raped. Current or past homelessness averaged 75 per cent across countries.' In what other line of work are these experiences typical? Furthermore, women trapped in brothels don't have the option to decline sex buyers. Here's what one former prostitute had to say about the notion that sex work is real work: 'Consent relies on three preconditions: the freedom to choose your sexual partner, the freedom to select the nature of the sexual activity and the freedom to choose the timing. Women in prostitution do not choose their clients, they do not choose their timing, and, in most cases, they hardly have any freedom to determine the nature of the acts performed.'

If we wish to be a society that elevates women, we must dispense with the lie that prostitution is in any way empowering. Would you want a brothel operating in your local area, or megabrothels, common in Germany, opening in the city centre? I suspect there are some in this building that would celebrate this, but the average Australian recoils at the notion. If we promote the dim views of those who support so-called sex work, we shouldn't be surprised when the next generation of boys and girls grow up accepting the objectification of women. I commend my colleague Nicola Centofanti MLC. I support these efforts, and I urge the South Australian parliament to pass this bill.