The Law Handbook 2024

170 SECTION 3: Fines, infringements and criminal law accused took all reasonable steps to find out the age of the child and believed on reasonable grounds that the child was aged 18 years or more. Under the Crimes Act it is an offence for a person to enter into or offer to enter into an agreement under which a child provides commercial sexual services (punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment) (s 53J). It is not necessary to prove that the accused knew the other person was a child. It is a defence if at the time the child was aged 16 years or more and the accused took all reasonable steps to find out the age of the child and believed on reasonable grounds that they were aged 18 years or more. A person must not knowingly live wholly or in part on, or derive material benefit from, the earnings of commercial sexual services provided by a person in any of the above circumstances (s 53N). This is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. Pursuant to section 38C of the SO Act it is an offence for a person who carries on a business that provides commercial sexual services, or who assists in the management of that business, to allow a child who is over 18 months of age to enter or remain on premises, unless those premises are primarily used as residential premises. This is punishable by 120 pu or imprisonment for one year. It is a defence if the accused took all reasonable steps to find out the age of the child and believed on reasonable grounds that the child was 18 years of age or over or a child who was 18 months of age or under. If a police officer has reason to believe that a person in such premises is under 18 years of age, they can demand the particulars of the person’s age and if they suspect that this information is false may require the person to provide evidence. A person cannot refuse, fail to give particulars or give false evidence or particulars. This is punishable by 20 pu. Sex work at or near certain places It is an offence to solicit, loiter to solicit or invite any person to engage in commercial sexual services in a public place that is near a school, educational institution, care service, or children’s service. For a first offence, the penalty is a fine of 10 pu, or imprisonment for up to one month. A person must not intentionally solicit, loiter to solicit or invite any person to engage in commercial sexual services in a public place that is at or near a place or worship between 6 am and 7 pm or on any prescribed day. For a first offence, the penalty is a fine of 10 pu, or imprisonment for up to one month (s 38B SO Act)). The terms ‘ solicit ’ and ‘ loiter ’ in relation to commercial sexual services offences mean: • solicit : to offer your commercial sexual services or someone else’s; • loiter : to stand, wait or walk slowly with no obvious purpose. Discrimination against sex workers Section 6 of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 includes the protected attribute ‘profession, trade or occupation’. Discrimination on this basis is prohibited in the areas defined in the Act. This protects people who provide commercial sexual services, aka: sex workers. There is an exception to discrimination on the basis of this attribute set out in section 26(5) of the Act, “[an] employer may discriminate on the basis of a person’s profession, trade or occupation in relation to the offering of employment if experience in a particular profession, trade or occupation is relevant to the employment or offer and is a genuine occupational requirement for the position or role on offer and it is reasonable to discriminate on that basis in the circumstances.” For more information, see the Victorian Equal Opportunity&HumanRightsCommission’s Guideline: Sex Work Discrimination (www.humanrights.vic.gov. au/static/bb9bc7cd2bf5f934b039d89d0f0baab6/ Resource-Sex_work_discrimination-Guideline- English-May_2023-2.pdf) . Contacts Programs for sex workers Resourcing Health and Education in the Sex Industry (RhED) Tel: 1800 458 752 Email: sexworker@sexworker.org.au Web: www.sexworker.org.au The service provides site-based and outreach services in collaboration with relevant programs and agencies.