Please try again later. The number of street sex workers charged with solicitation in St Kilda has dwindled to almost zero. Credit: Fairfax Photographic. Street prostitution has declined so dramatically in Victoria that police recorded only five solicitation crimes against sex workers last year — down from almost offences 14 years ago.
Days after Victoria announced a wide-ranging review that could pave the way for the decriminalisation of the sex industry, new figures reveal that street-based workers are rarely ever charged anymore, even though street prostitution is still illegal. But while Victoria Police agrees that new technology has kept some sex workers off the streets, it also argues that proactive policing, particularly across the once-notorious red-light district of St Kilda, has also contributed to the reduction in the crime rate.
Data from the Crime Statistics Agency reveals that in , there were solicitation offences against street-based sex workers in Victoria.
By the following year, that figure had fallen sharply to offences, dropping to a record low of two offences in and five last year. Only five solicitation offences were recorded by Victoria Police last year.
Credit: Kitty Hill. The figures also show that the number of solicitation offences against clients decreased over the same period, from 95 in to six in Port Phillip Mayor Dick Gross, whose council had sought to make St Kilda safer for workers and residents over the years, said there was no doubt there had been a shift. Crossbencher Fiona Patten will oversee the inquiry, with the government planning to bring on a bill in — the year before it seeks a third term in office.
