Amendment VC217 – Decriminalising sex work
The State Government has decriminalised sex work with the aim of achieving better public health and human rights outcomes by improving the safety of sex workers, reducing the stigma around sex work and addressing discrimination against sex workers so that every worker in the industry has the same rights and access to entitlements and protections under law, as they would in any other job.
In March 2022, the Victorian Parliament passed the Sex Work Decriminalisation Act 2022 which repealed the Sex Work Act 1994 and terms in other legislation, including, ‘brothel’, ‘sex work’ and ‘sexual services’, and introduces a new defined land use term ‘sex services premises’, to replace the former land use term ‘brothel’.
As part of these changes, the State Government has made state-wide changes to all planning schemes, including the Monash Planning Scheme, to allow a sex services business to operate the same as any other business in Victoria.
These changes to the planning scheme came into effect on 1 December 2023.
From 1 December, a sex services business, formerly called a brothel, will now be treated like any other business, subject to the same rules and regulations. A sex services business will be able to operate anywhere a shop can operate and will be subject to the same conditions and requirements that apply to a shop in all zones. The changes will also allow anyone to undertake sex work from their home, subject to meeting home-based business requirements (Clause 52.11 – Home Based Business).
The sign requirements for a sex services business will be the same as any other business. There are no specific requirements in the planning scheme for signs associated with sex work. The content of signs is not regulated by the planning scheme. The Australian Associate of National Advertisers (AANA) and Ad Standards have advertising codes and a complaints process when it comes to signage content complaints.
More information
Should you wish to discuss these statewide changes, we direct you to contact the Department of Transport and Planning on 9655 6666.
If you have a question about a specific property in the City of Monash and what planning controls apply, please contact the Statutory Planning Team on 9518 3555.
For more detail on the changes to the planning schemes, licensing and regulation requirements and the role of Victoria Police as Victorian transitions to the decriminalisation of sex work, please see: Decriminalisation of sex work in Victoria