There have been 13 failed attempts to decriminalise sex work in South Australia over the last 40 years. Angela Skujins examines the state’s political appetite to bring change to what some describe as an unregulated and unworkable industry.

“Crime is not a moral but a legal concept,” emeritus professor of criminology, Steve Hall, recently wrote.

In South Australia, sex work – often referred to as society’s oldest profession – is practised by an estimated 2000-3000 people state-wide, according to Kat Morrison, general manager of the Sex Industry Network (SIN). Despite these numbers, the work is still criminalised.

State legislation stipulates anyone procuring the services of a sex worker or living on the earnings of prostitution is breaking the law. In the Summary Offences Act (1953), under a subheading titled “offences against decency and morality”, paying someone for sex work can lead to a maximum of six months imprisonment or a $2500 fine. The same penalty goes for the sex worker.

In her role with SIN, a peer-based organisation, Kat says she had scheduled meetings with three recently installed ministers – Attorney-General Kyam Maher, Deputy Premier Susan Close and Police Minister Joe Szakacs – to discuss whether the Malinauskas Government is willing to take action to decriminalise sex work.

This meeting would have built upon four decades and more than a dozen failed attempts to bring sex work out of the criminal code. But the meeting never happened. Kat says it was “unfortunately postponed”.

“Over the last 10 years of fighting for sex industry law reform, and decriminalisation in particular, this is nothing new,” she says.

“We’re used to being postponed, we’re used to being rescheduled, we’re used to being prorogued, and we’re used to having our own needs and our voices swept under the carpet because the moral majority have an issue with our suggested framework and our choice of work in general.”

A spokesperson for all three frontbenchers said there had been “confusion” over the scheduling of the meeting, which has been rearranged for a later date.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher’s spokesperson says he “remains committed to reform” of sex work laws and has previously voted as such.

Deputy Premier Susan Close says she wanted to decriminalise sex work. “I believe that all workers should be safe and free from discrimination and harassment, and sex workers are no less worthy of these protections,” she says.

Decriminalisation needs to happen, Kat says, because currently the local sex work industry’s “gatekeepers” are the South Australian Police. They are both “protectors” and “prosecutors”.

Because of this, Kat says if a sex worker is a victim of crime they are often reticent to go to the police for justice or help for fear of recrimination.

“I know that my choice of work is criminalised and that I could actually be arrested or charged,” she says.

“I can certainly be logged onto a database. That will mean I may be visiting in the future and I may be arrested and charged or questioned or raided, or at the very least stigmatised and discriminated against, because of my sex work status.”

The Sex Industry Decriminalisation Action Committee (SIDAC) is a volunteer-based advocacy group also fighting for South Australian legislative change.

They recently supported a co-sponsored 2019 Bill to decriminalise sex work, which passed the Upper House but failed in the Lower House. Premier Peter Malinauskas voted against the Bill. 

SIDAC representative Georgia Thain says a combination of political factors resulted in this most recent failure, including low representation of women MPs in Parliament and the dominance of right-faction SA Labor members.

But she’s hopeful this new assembly – flush with female MPs with “strong workers’ rights values” – will progress with reform that acknowledges the reality sex work exists and “is not going anywhere,” she says.

“We have a responsibility to ensure sex workers have the same rights as any other worker in the state,” Georgia says.

“We’re hopeful the new iteration of Parliament is ready to have a discussion focused on what is fundamentally a workers’ rights issue.”