In each edition we feature the views of a Local Government Association President. The following is from Councillor Lynn Mason, President of the Local Government Association of Tasmania.
Councils in Tasmania have just finished the elections which should have taken place 12 months ago, but which were deferred to allow time to get the amendments to the Local Government Act through Parliament. The last couple of months have therefore been concentrated on the goal of election, rather than the business of government itself.
Meanwhile, the State Government has returned to Parliament with a revised piece of legislation on brothels. LGAT has been discussing proposed legislation to make the sex industry safer for its workers, and to legalise brothels in Tasmania over the past couple of years.
Our bone of contention was that the State wanted all brothel owners to apply for planning permission with their local Council, but was prepared to register the premises through the State system without making planning permission a prerequisite.
Eventually that legislation went into Parliament, but struck obstacles in the Upper House. The Attorney General then withdrew it. It has now returned to Parliament in a different form: this time the legislation will ban brothels altogether, and permit sex workers to operate only from home (interesting use of the word “home”).
The process has highlighted the relationship between Local and State, where the negotiations were intensive when Councils had a role as the planning authority; but were non existent once the Government decided to work only through its own instruments, especially Tasmania Police. Unfortunately that relationship has been too difficult for the Press to grasp, with repeated interviews demanding a response to proposed legislation which no longer touches Local Government at all.
Try discussing brothel legislation with Councils: it has been impossible to do without “sexual references” creeping unintentionally into the debate!
I hope the new legislation makes sex workers safer, though I doubt that it can; but I am glad it is no longer Local Government’s debating topic. Talking about the site for a pulp mill is much easier!
