Tuesday saw Victoria become the third jurisdiction in Australia, and the fourth globally, to decriminalise sex work. This will see the local industry operate in accordance with regular business laws, as well as the improvement of standards and the enhancement of sex workers' wellbeing.
The Sex Work Decriminalisation Bill 2021 passed the lower house on 22 February, however this was merely a formality, as the government bill was guaranteed the final vote, and the real work had been done in amending the legislation and passing it through the upper house on the 10th.
The driving force behind the bill – which sees an end to the problematic two-tiered legalised licensing system of the mid-1990s – was Reason MLC Fiona Patten, who led the 2019 decriminalisation parliamentary review, which made the recommendations that shaped the laws.
