News of a corruption charge against West Australian Independent MP Shelley Archer should also reignite public concern about her role in the passage of legislation to decriminalise brothels earlier this year, the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) said today.

ACL West Australian Director Michelle Pearse said that in March Ms Archer questionably traded off her ‘balance of power’ vote to enable the passing of the Prostitution Amendment Bill 2007 despite her previous commitment to the ACL to send the bill to a committee for review.

“It was immensely disappointing to see a bill with such devastating implications traded off in this way,” Mrs Pearse said.

“Ms Archer allowed her vote to be ‘bought’ by a $1 million Government grant to her region.

“Thankfully the new Government is planning to repeal this legislation after Ms Archer departs from Parliament. If it was allowed to stand, the legislation would inevitably lead to a dramatic increase in the numbers of brothels in WA, meaning far greater exploitation of women and children and increased trafficking in women.”

Mrs Pearse called on the Barnett Government to act as quickly as possible to uphold its election promise to repeal the prostitution legislation and also urged Mr Barnett to honour his commitment to consider the successful ‘Swedish model’, which makes it an offence to buy sex, in any review of prostitution.

“The Government’s plan to licence brothels in designated areas needs a rethink. Even if they are limited to specific areas, legalising brothels is a bad idea,” Mrs Pearse said.

“At a ‘Make it Count WA’ event prior to the election Mr Barnett told close to a thousand Christians that he would take another look at the Swedish model and we urge him to follow through on this.

“The Brown Government in the UK has been the latest to adopt elements of the Swedish model, recently proposing a new criminal offence for men buying sex from a woman who has been trafficked or is being exploited by a pimp. The Swedish model is also successfully curbing prostitution in several European countries.

“Western Australia could benefit greatly from being part of this growing international trend and we urge the Government to give high priority to properly reviewing this proposal.”

Media Contact: Michelle Pearse on 0400 869 107 or Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979

Australian Christian Lobby
Canberra, Australia

Tel: (02) 6259 0431

Fax: (02) 6259 0462

Mob: 0448 602 878

www.acl.org.au