Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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CRIMINAL CODE AMENDMENT BILL (NO. 2) 2001

Mr Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.

The purpose of this bill is to create offences relating to sexual servitude and deceptive recruiting for sexual services. The Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Hon Daryl Williams, AM QC MP, raised the issue of the adequacy of existing state and territory laws concerning sexual servitude or sex slavery in February 1997, after the discovery in Melbourne of an international prostitution ring recruiting women in Thailand to work in Australia under slave-like conditions. The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General requested that the Model Criminal Code Officers Committee examine a Commonwealth proposal to develop laws relating to sex slavery. The MCCOC Report, which was released in November 1998 after a widespread public consultation process, proposed the enactment of model legislation covering slavery, sexual servitude and deceptive recruiting for sexual services. This international trade in people for the purposes of sexual exploitation is increasing. The trade involves recruiting people from one country and relocating them to another to work as sex slaves in servile conditions for little, if any, reward. Workers are often guarded by heavy security and their movements strictly controlled. Intimidation, threats and use of force are apparently commonplace.

To comprehensively prohibit such conduct, Commonwealth and state/territory legislation is required. Commonwealth legislation applies where the conduct has an international element, for example, it prohibits the conduct of persons outside Australia in procuring persons to come to Australia to provide sexual services in conditions of servitude. The Commonwealth legislation also creates new slavery offences which is solely within their jurisdiction. State/territory legislation is required to prohibit persons forcing people to act as prostitutes within Australia. It also makes it an offence to recruit for commercial sexual services using deception, and to use children in any way for commercial sexual purposes. This bill will form part of a package of complementary state and territory laws. South Australia and the ACT have already enacted the model state/territory legislation and it is under active consideration in Victoria and New South Wales.

This bill targets people who, by the use of force or threat, assert a degree of dominance over a worker that effectively denies the worker the freedom to stop providing sexual services or to leave the place where the services are being provided. The force or threats need not be against the sex worker but may be against another person, such as the sex worker’s child. It will be an offence to cause someone to enter into, or remain in, sexual servitude and it will also be an offence to conduct a business that involves the sexual servitude of others. The definition of ‘sexual services’ is wide enough to cover other sex work, such as erotic dancing and pornography, and not just prostitution. The question of whether a person is in sexual servitude will be a question of fact, to be determined according to whether a reasonable adult would consider, in the circumstances, that the person is not free to stop providing the services or to leave the place or area.

The maximum penalty for sexual servitude offences against an adult is 15 years imprisonment, 20 years if the offences involve a child of or over 12 years of age, and life imprisonment if a child under the age of 12 years is involved. These penalties reflect the serious and abhorrent nature of the crime. This bill also makes it an offence to deceive another person about the fact that they are being recruited for sexual services, for example, where a person is told they will be employed as a waitress when the intention is they will be employed as a prostitute. It is not necessary that the deception involve an element of sexual servitude.

‘Sexual services’ is defined as the commercial use or display of the body of the person providing the services for the sexual gratification of others. Therefore, the deceptive recruiting offence will apply if the recruit is deceived into entering an engagement that will involve sex work generally and not just prostitution. The deceptive conduct offence has a maximum penalty of ten years and when the person deceived is a child, the offender is liable to imprisonment for 15 years.

The bill is an important component of the network of national protection to ensure that women are protected from this abhorrent behaviour.

I commend the bill to honourable members.

Debate adjourned.

 

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