Illegal city brothels will proliferate in Melbourne’s city centre, according to the owners of legal brothels, unless the State Government cracks down on their operators.
The warning came after the Melbourne City Council last night decided against resuming its former policy of paying private investigators to have sex in illegal brothels, to gather evidence of a breach of planning rules.
Instead, Lord Mayor John So will join with the Municipal Association of Victoria to put pressure on the State Government’s Consumer Affairs Department to do more about illegal brothels.
Planners say illegal brothels in the city centre are growing.
Under the 1994 Prostitution Control Act, which legalised prostitution in Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria is charged with enforcement action against illegal operators. But critics say the department never takes action against illegal brothels.
Municipal Association of Victoria president Dick Gross wrote to Premier Steve Bracks earlier this year complaining that the department had never taken “successful enforcement action against an illegal brothel”.
Cr Gross said last night he was pleased the Lord Mayor was taking up the issue.
But the Australian Adult Entertainment Industry, the group representing legal brothels and escort agencies, dismissed the Lord Mayor’s response as “half-baked”.
