Vic Parliament Passes Historic Reform To Decriminalise Sex Work

Victoria has become Australia's third jurisdiction to decriminalise sex work, after a bill finally passed Upper House on Thursday night.

The new law reform will come into effect in 2023, in a repealing of the Sex Work Act 1994.

Laws passed by Parliament ensure sex workers are given the same legal protections and entitlements as any other job.

It will also include anti-discrimination provisions for workers, coinciding with a new public health framework to improve healthcare access and safety standards under the Equal Opportunity Act.

The industry will now be regulated like all other sectors, with criminal offences no longer applying to street-based workers in various settings.

Victoria join New South Wales and Northern Territory in decriminalisation, abolishing the current brothel licensing regime.

Reason Party MP Fiona Patten was at the coalface when debating the new laws, Patten was a former sex worker who has attempted to change the way the industry is perceived since the 1980s.

"This has been a campaign that really started in the early 1980s and we have seen iterations of legislation designed to control and effectively stigmatise sex workers," Ms Patten said.

"We have legislation currently in place that is not fit for purpose. It doesn't work on any meaningful level, it doesn't protect anyone and, in fact, it does quite the opposite."

Get the latest breaking news from SCA newsrooms around Australia. Short, simple and everything you need to know.