Topic: Community and Society. When he arrived at her apartment in Brisbane, he was nervous โ nosey even. Then the barrage of questions began. Where was she from? Who was she working with? Will she have group sex? Does she offer natural services sex acts without a condom? While Isabel was used to awkward, middle-aged men prying about her services, she felt uneasy. Queensland's sex industry is home to a labyrinth of complex laws that are tightly regulated, with sex only legally sold in about 20 licensed brothels across the state or by people working alone.
Despite it being legal to be a sex worker in Queensland, workers are criminalised for explicitly advertising their services, working in pairs or offering "natural services" โ sending much of the industry underground. Sex workers describe Queensland's prostitution laws as dangerous and draconian. Now the state's Attorney-General, Shannon Fentiman has committed to referring the regulation of the industry to the state's Law Reform Commission in June. The strict regulation stems from the Fitzgerald Inquiry , which uncovered decades of police corruption linked to the sex work industry.
Isabel had heard stories in the sex worker community of Queensland police actively enforcing what advocates have described as the most "draconian and outdated" laws in the country. Eager to "progress the booking", Isabel directed the man into the shower โ then he told her she was under arrest. I was trying to get some sort of detail. I started asking questions quite quickly, things like, 'What am I being charged with?
What did I do? Suddenly several police officers were in the room, rifling through her belongings and threatening to call immigration. At one stage, an officer pulled out Isabel's fake handcuffs and asked his partner if they could be used as evidence for a weapon's charge. After a "terrifying" night alone at the Brisbane watchhouse, Isabel said she was released with no clarity over what she had done wrong.
She was eventually told by her lawyer that she had been charged with knowingly participating in the provision of prostitution, advertising prostitution services and possession of tainted property.
