She remembers receiving a call and taking a booking. When the casually dressed man showed up, he started asking unusual questions about the scope of her services and her business operation. The line of questioning got sketchy. Then he revealed he was a police officer, at which point in time he arrested me. Private sex workers in Queensland are not allowed to work with anyone else. They cannot text another sex worker, for safety, before and after a booking.
They cannot hire someone to help them with a website. They cannot employ a receptionist. The industry says these restrictions β particularly the inability for sex workers to contact a colleague β mean many are vulnerable because they have to work in isolation and without support.
Undercover officers from the police unit that proactively enforces these laws, the prostitution enforcement taskforce, work in pairs.
Janet remembers that after her arrest a second police officer entered her unit. They went through my stuff and even the guy that arrested me was being really gung-ho.
Decriminalisation has support from groups representing the sex industry, public health experts and doctors. Studies show the experience in New Zealand, which in became the first country to legalise sex work, had been successful in making the industry safer.
