LOCAL councils and the State Government have failed to effectively use laws passed 12 months ago to crack down on illegal brothels, the former tax office auditor and legal brothel lobbyist, Chris Seage, says.
Describing the new laws as "a joke", Mr Seage resigned in disgust last week as a consultant to the Adult Business Association of NSW because of the failure of councils to enforce the legislation.
He also criticised the NSW Government for its failure to act on recommendations from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) more than a year ago to further tighten the laws.
The new Brothels Act took effect on October 1 last year and gave councils the power to issue an order to close, in five working days, to anyone associated with managing an illegal brothel.
If the order is not complied with the council can cut off the brothel's water and electricity services and it can prosecute the operator. Councils had complained that the previous legislation was too difficult and time-consuming to enforce.
Mr Seage said it was pointless to contine lobbying the NSW Government to tighten the law because it was "ineffectual, unresponsive and prone to lobbying by the extreme left-wing views of the Greens, sex worker organisations and some academics".
He was equally scathing of local government. "Local councils are often reluctant to get involved with illegal brothels because of the time and money associated with closing them.
"Instead, what many of them do is offer the opportunity to the owner to lodge a development application. Where is the deterrent factor in all this?"
He had noticed a rise in "phoenix" brothels, "ones that have been closed down by one council but rise from the ashes and re-emerge in another locality".
He said: "The majority of councils are content to close illegal brothels and allow the owners to simply walk away instead of prosecuting them. This allows them to set up business somewhere else. Again, there is no deterrence factor."
Some councils had been slow to respond to his complaints about illegal operators.
"Waverley Council would not close down an illegal brothel until I threatened them with a referral to the ICAC, while Strathfield Council would not close an illegal establishment because the previous occupiers ran a legal brothel.
"Even though they did not have consent from council to operate as a brothel, council advised me they might have 'existing rights'. No deterrence again," Mr Seage said.
The NSW Government had not responded in 13 months to the ICAC's recommendations from its investigation into corrupt conduct in regulating brothels in Parramatta, he said.
The ICAC had recommended a review of the corruption risks of councils regulating brothels, a ban on advertising by illegal brothels, and a system to prevent unsuitable persons operating brothels.
"Any Tom, Dick or Harry can still apply for a brothel licence while Rupert [Murdoch] and The Daily Telegraph continue to bank their rivers-of-gold adult advertising," Mr Seage said.
"I enjoyed the ride and I could have kept taking the money but in the end I was hitting my head against the brick wall that is the NSW Government."
hgrennan@smh.com.au
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