Like many of Queensland’s sex workers, Delaney* doesn’t trust the police.
It was an unsettling encounter with an undercover officer that caused her distrust and fear of the authorities.
“A [client] turned up, asked some really odd questions and then left,” Delaney says.
“It was frightening. I was in my work clothes and all dressed up.”
Delaney says she soon realised it was a setup and the awkward client was actually a police officer.
Now, after 20 years in the business, if something goes wrong at work she’ll think twice before making a report.
“It’s a practice that nobody should be subjected to,” Delaney says. “That a person’s trying to trick you into borderline or possibly illegal sexual behaviour to charge you – it’s perverse.”
Elle Coles, a trans sex worker says there would hardly be a sex worker in Queensland who hadn’t spoken to an officer over the phone at some point in their career.
“It’s a victimless crime,” Coles says. “Why anyone would be proactive about prosecuting a person defies humanity.”
In a major shake-up, the Queensland government this week committed to decriminalising sex work and bringing the industry “out of the shadows”.
The government says it is “broadly supportive” of recommendations by the Queensland Law Reform Commission, which includes repealing laws that allow police to pose as clients and entrap workers.
Respect Inc and DecrimQLD’s campaign manager, Janelle Fawkes, is calling for a moratorium on these police powers while sex workers await legislative changes.
“As sex workers, we don’t trust the police and that’s not only because they appear to … charge us for really minor offences,” Fawkes says.
“But it’s also because … there are hundreds of stories of sex workers being treated really badly.”
Queensland’s police minister, Mark Ryan, says: “Like all Queenslanders, I expect all members of the Queensland Police Service to act in accordance with the law.”
A Queensland police spokesperson says the “QPS is obligated to investigate offences against Queensland legislation [and] this includes illegal prostitution”.
They said it was “not appropriate to release specific details of methodologies and ongoing police investigations”.
Sex work is currently under a licensing framework in Queensland, with the majority of workers considered “unlawful” or unlicensed.
Decriminalisation would change sex workers’ lives in many small but significant ways. Private workers will be able to share accommodation with other sex workers, employ a receptionist and text other workers before or after a booking to check they’re safe.
They will also be able to advertise what services they offer – a big win for trans and gender-diverse workers – and work at the same hotel as another sex worker without being charged.
Hope, an Aboriginal sex worker says she’s felt unsafe a few times at work but has been unable to message a friend under the current laws.
“I’ve had times where a client has wanted to keep me for longer or where things started to feel unsafe … if they got violent, nobody would’ve known where I was,” she says.
Hope says current work options in Queensland are limited, with only 20 brothels operating across the state.
“You will raise … safety concerns or OH&S issues … and then you’re been labelled as the troublemaker and they basically say, ‘there’s no shift for you this week’,” Hope says.
“If you’re somebody that speaks out in a couple of those, you end up not being welcome in any of them.”
There are other issues, like exemptions to the state’s anti-discrimination act that allow sex workers to be discriminated against when working in other jobs whcich involve children, or in securing accommodation.
The state government is expected to introduce legislation to address these issues before the next election.
“That kind of vilification has a major impact on people’s sense of self, safety and housing stability,” Fawkes says.
But despite the decades of stigma and vilification, sex workers are feeling optimistic about the changes to come.
“Decriminalisation will mean being able to run our businesses, look after our clientele, working as professionals without any stigmatising labels,” Coles said.
“Sex workers aren’t going to hold grudges … we look forward to a brighter future.”
*Names have been changed
