HAYLEY SORENSEN

work on principle should acknowledge ignoring its existence won’t help.

People will continue to provide paid sex just as sure as people will continue to seek it.

It’s common sense that we should make sure we have the right laws in place to ensure those things can happen as safely as possible (an argument it would be great to see the Gunner Government adopt when it comes to pill testing, as an aside).

Nowhere sex work has been decriminalised has then experienced an increase in the number of sex workers.

Another popular argument against decriminalisation, that the industry encourages unscrupulous operators to take advantage of workers, is also flawed. Exploitation occurs in every industry.

But when a dodgy bread shop owner underpays workers, there’s no gnashing of teeth about the immorality of the bakery industry.

It’s disappointing to see the Country Liberal Party is yet to commit to supporting decriminalisation.

Deputy Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro’s wishy-washy response to today’s Sunday Territorian, that the party was yet to form a position, only gives credence to retrograde views.

It’s time to have a grownup, respectful and in touch with reality conversation

“Some former sex workers have had the repercussions of being on that register follow them for decades”

about what is the best and safest model for the Territory’s sex industry.

While we’re at it, we might be able to answer the question posed this week by ex-Palmerston Raiders vice president Damian Hale.

“Is there really an appropriate way to treat a woman with her top off?” the ex-Solomon MP and current Palmerston alderman asked in Facebook messages to a group of the club’s executive committee members discussing the wash up from a front page NT News story which exposed the drunken antics of a number of former players at a 2017 Mad Monday celebration.

Hopefully the conclusion we come to is “yes, with courtesy and respect”.

Hayley Sorensen is the Sunday Territorian’s resident columnist