Abigail tried to bring back amendments to the Equality Bill in relation to critical sex worker rights and protections, which were stripped from the original version of the bill after Labor refused to support them.
Of course, Labor yet again didn't support these amendments and they were voted down. Abigail said in her contribution to debate that we will not stop fighting for full rights and protections for sex workers.
Abigail moved her amendments, then said:
These amendments seek to put back into the bill the provisions in relation to sex work that have been removed. In particular, members will recall that I brought to this place in the last term of Parliament a private member's bill titled the Anti‑Discrimination Amendment (Sex Workers) Bill 2020. The substance of that bill has been replicated in the original draft of this bill that was put forward by the member for Sydney. It sought to give protections to sex workers from discrimination, the importance of which was set out at length. There were a lot of conversations about that within the group of members of the Legislative Council in the last term of Parliament. Notably, there was majority support for that bill.
Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile supported that bill because he understood, even though we come from very different perspectives on a lot of these issues, that when it comes to the health and safety of sex workers—regardless of whether people think that is a profession they would like to undertake—it is legal work like any other work. The idea that someone would be discriminated against because of their line of work results in, not just some unfair and nasty things, but also a real danger to health and safety.
In New South Wales we are proud we decriminalised sex work when we did. When we refer to the statistics since then, they show there has been an incredible improvement and record when it comes to the health and safety of the sex work industry in New South Wales that far exceeds what we have seen in other countries that have not decriminalised sex work. That goes for things like rapes and sexually transmitted diseases. Sex workers have high rates of consulting doctors and nurses and taking incredibly good care of their health, which is because it is so vital to the product they are selling and to the work they do. That is what decriminalisation can achieve. We could have full health and safety if we had anti‑discrimination provisions as well.
As set out in the bill, The Greens introduced protections in the last term of Parliament—and I again thank Scarlet Alliance, the Sex Workers Outreach Project and Touching Base, who I worked with closely at the time to draft that bill—that tried to address the countless stories of discrimination that sex workers have put on record. It included everything from a nudge and a wink to the loss of housing or employment, the denial of essential services and serious assault. I will repeat some of what I said in the second reading debate of the 2020 bill.
One sex worker put it this way:
[Discrimination] means not answering the question "what do you do?" without considering that at best, I'll probably end up answering a bunch of naff questions to satisfy someone's curiosity, at worst, someone will cut off from me and do something hostile. Discrimination means applying for a job and leaving big chunks of things out, hoping the police check doesn't disqualify me. Discrimination means trying to rent a place, to work without being able to declare my income, give a job reference or tell the landlord what I really intend to do there …
The sharp end of discrimination is assault. Study after study has shown that because sex workers are far less likely to report high rates of assault and harassment, and the feeling that, because of the stigma and discrimination, police will not take the action that is needed, perpetrators then feel they can get away with assaulting a sex worker in a way they would not be able to assault any other kind of worker.
We also heard a lot of stories of councils approving sex work premises, but only if they were in the middle of industrial zones, which set up sex workers to conduct operations at night‑time in a place that was unsafe and where they were not likely to get help when they needed it. If we are going to have—and we do have, proudly—an evidence‑based approach to sex work and to allowing sex work in New South Wales, we need to be consistent with how we treat that work.
It is not right to continue to deny sex workers the same financial services that other people get. It is not right to deny them the ability to keep a check on each other and to work in premises alongside each other. We need to do everything we can to keep workers safe. That is what this is about. I feel incredibly strongly about it. On the basis that I do not think the bill will pass today, I flag that The Greens will work to introduce a new bill to bring in, finally, provisions that give much‑needed protection for sex workers as a matter of workers' rights.
Finally, I note that when I say we had majority support for the bill in the last term of Parliament, it was because Labor supported the bill. But it said that, when in government, it would first review the Anti‑Discrimination Act. I am holding Labor to its word on that. I look forward to that happening. I also will not be afraid to introduce a Greens bill, if we have to, because every single day we are putting sex workers in danger by not introducing those protections. On that note, I commend the amendments to the Committee.
The amendments were voted on, and negatived.