Brothels as Workplaces: Exploring Labour Regulation and Compliance in Australia's Legal Sex Industry

Brothels have been legal in much of Australia for the past several decades, but have received limited attention in labour law scholarship. Further, while there continues to be considerable debate surrounding the regulation of commercial sex, public policy discussion seldom considers how brothels function as workplaces, or the rights of brothel-based sex workers as workers. Instead, emphasis is placed on other regulatory imperatives relating to public health, residential amenity, and concerns regarding organised crime and trafficking. This thesis situates sex work within a labour law frame. It argues that labour performed voluntarily by consenting adult sex workers is ‘work’, and that legal sex workers in Australia are rightly regarded as potential subjects of labour law. Focusing solely on the largely female group of workers who perform sexual services in exchange for payment in Australian legal brothels, this thesis examines the extent to which these workers are currently covered by labour regulation (including laws relating to workplace safety), and whether they have access to the same rights as other Australian workers. To explore the compliance of brothels with applicable labour regulation, two states with legal brothels are selected for in-depth comparison: New South Wales, which has a decriminalised sex industry, and Queensland, which imposes a brothel licensing system. This thesis draws on 30 qualitative interviews with sex workers, brothel operators, and other stakeholders with experience of workplace relations in the legal brothel sector. The interview findings are triangulated by a qualitative content analysis of 806 weblog entries describing brothel working conditions, derived from 54 weblogs written by Australian sex workers. Ultimately, this thesis concludes that while legalisation of the brothel industry has enabled sex workers to have the ‘right’ to work lawfully (without the risk of attaining a criminal record), this has not translated into legal sex workers having workplace rights. The failure on the part of Australian regulators to supervise labour law compliance in the sex industry means that the legal brothel sector is predominantly regulated by market forces, and sex workers are vulnerable to exploitation. The final part of this thesis provides recommendations for regulatory reform

Evaluating the relevance and effectiveness of AF8 since the project began in 2016

The work of AF8 is fundamentally about supporting good planning and coordination of all key agencies in the South Island to effectively respond (in the first seven days) to a significant future earthquake on the Alpine Fault. Work to date has focussed on bringing leading science research into the development of an Alpine Fault magnitude 8 scenario, which then informed the response planning phase, culminating in the SAFER Framework. Engaging in wider engagement and outreach activities has been on-going, aimed to increase the understanding and access to information by the wider community around how to plan and respond to a future Alpine Fault earthquake. A key feature of AF8 has been that is has represented a collaborative effort across a range of agencies, organisations, and locations. An additional aspect of AF8’s work has therefore been testing and demonstrating how to undertake a complex collaborative project, that requires the integration of knowledge, skills and expertise. Given the period of time that has elapsed since the AF8 was established, it is timely to conduct an evaluation of the project to identify: - the extent to which it is contributing to its intended outcomes - any other unintended outcomes (positive and negative) - lessons learned, that could be usefully applied to other similar types of projects. In essence, this evaluation research aims to understand the relevance, need and coherence of AF8’s efforts, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of the work produced. Key informant interviews will be conducted over the next two months to ascertain the contribution AF8 has made to building resilience. This process is vital to continuing the co-creation approach taken by AF8, which requires reflection and listening to feedback from across the network of stakeholders who have helped to make AF8 a success

The role of the ‘genuinely try to reach agreement’ requirement in the protected industrial action regime under the 'Fair Work Act 2009'

The requirement genuinely to try to reach an agreement (GTRA) is one of a number of criteria that employees must satisfy before they can take protected industrial action in the course of enterprise negotiations under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). It is tested before the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in the process of making a Protected Industrial Action Ballot Order (PABO), and such an order cannot be made unless the FWC is satisfied that the requirement has been complied with. While there is a well-developed jurisprudence on the meaning of GTRA, there have been no attempts to study how the requirement operates in practice. To address this gap in the literature, this article draws on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of PABO applications, and interviews with stakeholders including unions, employers and members of the Fair Work Commission. The analysis of this data demonstrates that the success rate of PABO applications is very high, with few PABO applications being contested by employers and even fewer being rejected by the FWC on the basis that the application has failed to meet the GTRA requirement. However, while few PABO applications are denied on this ground, the empirical findings also suggest that the GTRA requirement plays a signalling role in the enterprise bargaining regime, helping to establish accepted norms of conduct by trade union bargaining representatives seeking to take protected industrial action