Peter Rosengren, editor of the Catholic Church's The Record newspaper, has attacked Attorney-General Jim McGinty's proposed prostitution laws, which would allow brothels to operate legally."The evidence we have indicates pretty comprehensively that in Australia and elsewhere around the world, when you simply decriminalise or legalise prostitution, you get an explosion in the sex industry,'' Rosengren said.
"But one example, which almost everyone universally points to as improving the welfare and the status of women and girls, is the Swedish model. It has decriminalised the women and girls, and it has criminalised the clients who create the market, which helps take away that market and reduces the incidence. It has offered exit strategies to women trapped in prostitution because it destroys them. The victims are always the girls and women. They are, first and foremost, victims of sexual violence.''
In the latest edition of the Catholic newspaper, he says prostitution is a form of slavery. "The Record does not believe that you can put a dollar value on a woman or a girl,'' he said. "Simply to decriminalise it is, essentially, to decriminalise slavery.
"You wouldn't apply that principle to anything else, like the manufacture of cocaine or heroin, or methamphetamines, or any other thing which is considered to be harmful to the individual.''
Exit strategies, combined with a push to change police attitudes, should include tackling drug addiction and providing refuges. He said the Prostitution Law Reform Working Group, whose recommendations were the basis of the Government's new laws, should not have discarded the Swedish option in favour of a decriminalised model.
In February, Mr McGinty announced the Government was drafting laws after the working group recommended a ``minimalist, decriminalised model''.
Brothel and escort agency operators and managers would be regulated by the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor. Brothels would be subject to local government planning approval.
Streetwalking and kerb crawling would remain illegal.
Prostitution is not prohibited, but it is illegal to manage a brothel and live off the earnings of prostitution. Mr McGinty would not be drawn on Rosengren's comments.
He has previously said he did not expect the laws would lead to more brothels, but would regulate existing ones.
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