Decriminalise Sex Work in South Australia

image of Decriminalise Sex Work in South Australia

Consensual sex between consenting adults should not be a crime – and in most of Australia it isn’t.

There is a compelling case for overturning existing sex work laws in South Australia. The archaic criminal laws attached to sex work cause harm; putting sex workers’ safety at risk by preventing them from reporting real crimes committed against them.

Previous attempts to decriminalise sex work have narrowly not succeeded, however the Greens have new legislation to decriminalise sex work with a bill to repeal current sex work offenses. We need as many voices as possible to make sure sex work is decriminalised this time around.

Show your support by emailing your local MP and sharing this page with friends.

Consensual sex between consenting adults should not be a crime – and in most of Australia it isn’t.

There is a compelling case for overturning existing sex work laws in South Australia. The archaic criminal laws attached to sex work cause harm; putting sex workers’ safety at risk by preventing them from reporting real crimes committed against them.

Previous attempts to decriminalise sex work have narrowly not succeeded, however the Greens have new legislation to decriminalise sex work with a bill to repeal current sex work offenses. We need as many voices as possible to make sure sex work is decriminalised this time around.

Show your support by emailing your local MP and sharing this page with friends.

Email your MP

Contact your local MP and Members of the Legislative Council to tell them to support the decriminalisation of sex work.

Find your local rep

Subject:

I am writing to you as a constituent in your electorate asking for you to support the decriminalisation of sex work in South Australia.

Sex work is work and sex workers need rights, but our state has the most archaic laws in Australia. Under these laws, sex work is not considered work and sex workers cannot access their rights meaning workers are less safe because they cannot report crimes committed against them, they cannot access mechanisms available to other workers, and their safe work strategies are undermined by the threat of police entrapment and arrest. The sex industry cannot be regulated by existing frameworks for other adult industries while it is criminalised and throughout COVID-19, sex workers of South Australia were excluded from federal and state government support initiatives because their work is not recognised. The exclusion of sex work from legitimate industry regulatory frameworks and sex workers from access to their worker’s rights reinforces stigma and discrimination that pushes the sex industry underground and facilitates violence as well as other harms sex workers experience like barriers to accessing healthcare.

I ask you to recognise the evidence that shows decriminalisation to be the best model to safeguard rights, support harm minimisation, create safer working environments and to address human trafficking as well as other forms of exploitation. It is this wealth of evidence and the recognition of sex workers’ lived experience that has seen New South Wales, Northern Territory, Victoria and soon Queensland decriminalise sex work. This desperately needed reform must be based on evidence and lived experience especially concerning the dangerous Nordic Model that continues the criminalising of sex work and extends the associated harm.

As a voter committed to seeing the decriminalisation of sex work for South Australia, I urge you to accept your responsibility as a Member of Parliament for ensuring that this woman-dominated workforce can finally access the same rights and protections as any other workforce in line with progression made in many other states and territories of Australia.

I thank you sincerely for taking the time to read this letter and look forward to your reply that lets me know your intentions regarding the decriminalisation of sex work.

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