A support service for sex workers is seeking budget funds from Hobsons Bay council to help women in both licensed and illegal brothels.
Project Respect has applied for $15,000 to $20,000 to continue its work with “the most marginalised, stigmatised and vulnerable women” who, it says, often fall through the gaps of mainstream support services.
The not-for-profit organisation supports women in accessing essential services, making police reports, gaining child custody and sometimes applying for jobs in a new industry.
Hobsons Bay has five licensed brothels.
Project Respect executive director Cindy Smith said that for every licensed brothel there were four unlicensed ones.
“That means an estimated 20 unlicensed brothels in Hobsons Bay and somewhere between 50 and 200 women in the sex industry,” she said.
“Our outreach to brothels has found that many women working in them can’t speak English well, if at all, and they experience a range of issues, including addiction and homelessness.
“Women in the sex industry experience significant family violence, and this was recently highlighted in the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence.”
Ms Smith said brothels in Hobsons Bay had been known to use women trafficked for sexual exploitation, while many other women were abused or had their pay withheld, and drug use was predominant.
The council is yet to make a decision on budget funding submissions. For more information, visit projectrespect.org.au
