Along with the rigorous historical scholarship which is her trademark @WhoresfYore regularly delights her followers with images of sex workers at work and play across the centuries. But sometimes it’s what sex workers do with their clothes on which can make history. That was the case in the state of New South Wales on Australia’s eastern seaboard in the 1980’s and 90’s when sex workers fought for and eventually helped to achieve decriminalisation of sex work in NSW. ;xNLx;;xNLx;Australia is not often singled out for its leadership in the area of human rights. But in 2015 Amnesty International adopted decriminalisation of sex work (as is in the case NSW) as supported policy. In making their announcement, Amnesty joined human rights bodies like UNAIDS, the venerable medical journal The Lancet, the WHO and over 237 sex worker rights organisations across the world who maintain that decriminalisation of sex work best protects workers and their families from violence and discrimination. But despite this consensus, there are only two countries in the world, New Zealand and Australia that have adopted and sustained this approach. ;xNLx;;xNLx;Some would be aware that NSW decriminalised brothels in 1995, but most might not realise that the process of decriminalising prostitution in NSW began in 1979, with the removal of soliciting laws for street-based sex work. In following years, a series of laws governing sex work were repealed and enacted in response to campaigns by police and residents who resented the consequences of the reforms. Both conservative and Labor state governments played a role as they rode the law and order platform in their election cycles. ;xNLx;;xNLx;Organizing and advocacy by sex workers contained the backlash that accompanied reforms - particularly when HIV/AIDS emerged in the mid 1980s. The partial decriminalisation that had already occurred enabled sex workers to work with government in preventing the virus from spreading into the sex work community. During this period sex workers and their organizations also lobbied government and produced unprecedented research that informed and influenced reform. They exposed the police corruption that finally forced the state government to enact the decriminalisation of brothels in 1995. ;xNLx;;xNLx;Many would say that decriminalisation NSW style does not go far enough. Problems persist for sex workers with some councils, who adopt strict regulatory controls that make it difficult for sex workers. So this timeline is both a celebration of what can be achieved and a cautionary tale for those who are just beginning the journey. ;xNLx;;xNLx;The B&W professional photos of Sydney sex workers in this timeline are courtesy of the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives in Melbourne. Other images originate from private collections including those of Julie Bates, Erica Red, Victoria Principle, Debbie Homburg and Roberta Perkins. Many thanks to each of you beautiful souls. ;xNLx;;xNLx;Timeline designed in collaboration with Laura Lister (2016) and Julie Bates (2018) and is a live ongoing project. Please get in touch if you wish to contribute material.;xNLx;;xNLx;[Eurydice's articles on sex work can be accessed here](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eurydice-Aroney);xNLx;
The NSW Labor Government holds a public seminar on victimless crimes. Prostitution laws, especially those that apply to street based workers, are widely criticised.
And effectively becomes the first place in the world to decriminalise street based sex work. The Summary Offences Act is replaced by the Prostitution Act that retains the power to prosecute those ‘living off the earnings’ of prostitution.
Sex worker Sallie-Anne Huckstep tells 60 minutes that crooked cops murdered her boyfriend drug dealer Warren Lanfranchie. She also reveals that as a sex worker she's been paying off the cops for 10 years.
A group of Inner Sydney residents call for the NSW government to set up a red-light district where sex workers can operate in a legal setting.
The NSW Government forms a committee to address complaints from police and residents about the increase in street based sex work in inner city Sydney.
Police unearth previously little used laws to regain control over the sex industry. They charge street based sex workers with 'offensive behaviour' and 'alarm and affront'.
The 1979 repeal of the Summary Offences Act means that women who choose to work in 'parlours' as they are called or small collective style 'houses' can no longer be arrested for IF they work on the street. But they still face eviction from their working premises under the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act. This act enables landlords to evict lessees simply because prostitution is being carried out on the premises. Most working women cannot afford to own their own premises so they are booted out.
In an effort to claw back control over the sex industry police dig up an old disused law the 'Disorderly House Act' and begin to close brothels. Sydney City Council joins in and brings proceedings against two brothels for contravening planning regulations laws.
On one night alone 40 people including sex workers are arrested in Kings Cross and Darlinghurst. They are charged with offences ranging from possessing weapons and drugs to disturbances and serious alarm and affront.
Roberta Perkins publishes her first book which details the lives of twelve trans women working as club performers and sex workers in Sydney's Kings Cross.
Sex worker representatives meet with the NSW Attorney General. The sex workers claim the proposed new law which will banish them from red light district side streets will only attract petty criminals who will then be able to exploit the women in the name of ‘protection'.
Soliciting in a public street, near a dwelling, school, church or hospital becomes an offence (s.8A).
As a consequence of ongoing tensions and media controversy about the regulation of prostitution, the government appoints the bipartisan NSW Legislative Assembly Select Committee ‘[t]o investigate and report upon the public health, criminal, social and community welfare aspects of prostitution in New South Wales’.
The Australian Prostitutes Collective (NSW branch) is formed at a meeting at the Wayside Chapel in Sydney.
Up until this time the use of condoms by sex workers on the job was limited because condoms were used by police as evidence of sex work taking place. But with HIV/AIDS emerging in the community the APC doubled down on efforts to encourage their use.
Frustrated with a lack of action on legal and social reform the Australian Prostitutes Collective call for workers to boycott sex with politicians.
The Australian Prostitutes Collective is awarded $120,000 by both NSW and the Federal Governments to combat HIV/AIDS in the NSW sex work community. The APC headquarters and drop-in centre opens in Kings Cross and staff immediately begin outreach to brothels and street workers across NSW. As far as is known this is the first time a sex worker run organisation has been funded by government.
The Select Committee of the NSW Legislative Assembly on Prostitution discloses its findings and recommends decriminalisation of the NSW sex industry. It proposes that local councils should regulate brothels with planning laws. It recommends the main laws used to target brothel workers and owners - such as Living on the Earnings and the Disorderly Houses Act - be repealed. However the committees recommendations on law reform are not adopted by the government and the report is effectively buried.
Staff from the newly funded Australian Prostitutes Collective NSW travel to Brussels for the 2nd World Whore Conference
Due to disagreements over accountability the Australian Prostitutes Collective (NSW) erupts in an internal dispute. The management committee is dissolved and Roberta Perkins one of its founding members sacked.
Labor is defeated by the Liberal-National coalition led by Nick Greiner. Greiner has campaigned on a law and order platform.
The new Conservative government acts on its election promise to ‘do something’ about street soliciting. They repeal the 1979 Prostitution Act replacing it with the Summary Offences Act 1988.
The Court of Appeal in Sibuse Pty Ltd vs Shaw holds that a brothel is a disorderly house regardless of whether it is disorderly in the usual meaning of the word.
The Australian Sex Industry and AIDS Debate Conference is held in Melbourne.
The year is 1989, Sharleen Spiteri is a sex worker, a drug user and she's HIV positive. In other words, she's a walking invitation to moral panic.
Scarlet Alliance a national network of Australian sex worker organisations is formed.
The Attorney General (the Hon P Collins QC MP) introduces the Disorderly Houses (Amendment) Bill 1992.
The Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service otherwise known as the Wood Royal Commission is established.
NSW State election. The Labor Party defeats the conservative Liberal Party and Bob Carr becomes Premier.
The Minister for Police, Paul Whelan, introduces into parliament The Disorderly Houses Amendment Bill 1995. Whelan noted that this was in part an attempt to eliminate the potential for police corruption.
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