Illegal brothels rife in residential areas
ALMOST 50 illegal Gold Coast brothels touting as massage clinics are being operated out of suburban shopping centres, near residential housing and above post offices or medical suites.
A confidential private investigator’s report commissioned by frustrated members of the Queensland Adult Business Association (QABA) into illegal prostitution on the Glitter Strip reveals 49 illegal brothels are allegedly operating under the guise of massage businesses.
The privately-commissioned sting, which ran during a one month-long period at the height of the coronavirus pandemic on the Gold Coast this year, found no records of female signatures on any COVID registers placed at the front counter of the alleged illegal rub and tugs but a “substantial” number of male signatures.
The report was done to identify the extent of competition to licensed brothels on the Gold Coast and the associated impact for the businesses. It comes after Queensland brothel owners have repeatedly spoken out about the problem and unsuccessfully lobbied the state government for crackdown.
In each case, more than 90 per cent of business owners and members of the public spoken to in the area of the massage parlours believed the businesses were in fact brothels, the report – sighted by the Bulletin – revealed.
Most businesses were operating in areas regularly frequented by children and one was even above a post office, it said.
One operator at Oxenford was located near doctors’ rooms, the report indicates.
The Bulletin understands many of the illicit businesses offer full sex services, but are unregulated by the legal brothel licencing watchdog – the Prostitution Licensing Authority (PLA).
These alleged illegal brothels are suspected of taking advantage of workers by paying them small amounts and in some cases engaging in “sex trafficking” to get the women to work there, industry sources say.
The cost of sexual services in these illegal establishments is often less than $100, clients have told the Bulletin.
Many women do not verbally offer sexual services but they are provided in a “slight of hand” manner, the Bulletin understands.
Separate investigations by the Bulletin reveal the number of illegal brothels could be much higher and a number of massage parlours previously shut down after a police operation in September 2019 have now reopened.
Molendinar licensed brothel owner Neil Gilmore said illegal massage parlours operating as brothels were cruelling an industry already under threat from single operators working without the same regulations or overheads that govern the legal industry. Legitimate brothels must pay tens of thousands of dollars in licence fees every three years, cover sexual health testing and deal with fastidious audits.
“We are so over regulated yet there is no regulation of these other businesses, which are breaking the law,” he said.
Mr Gilmore said brothels masquerading as massage businesses have “proliferated” on the Coast and do not offer protection from sexually transmitted diseases, treat their staff poorly and encourage organised crime – the very thing legislation governing prostitution was designed to stamp out.
“These places have run rampant. I don’t think any of us (licensed brothel owners) have an issue with competing with another licensed and legal brothel that goes through the same checks and the same audit process as we do, but the problem with these parlours is they’re not following the same rules or regulations,” Mr Gilmore said.
He also said while sole operators were able to attend call outs to clients, Queensland laws still prohibit licensed brothels from sending workers to addresses, meaning they struggle to compete with a growing market of online sex advertisements on websites including classifieds finder Locantor. At the time of writing it had more than 350 listings for “sex” on the Gold Coast.
“Our biggest strength is we are regulated, which is good for the clients and for the workers. The girls talk when they are all here, they have a body to go to with complaints. I can guarantee if there was a problem it would get back to the PLA,” Mr Gilmore said.
Mr Gilmore is Queensland’s longest-running brothel licensee, having bought the Pentagon Grand some 19 years ago, and said the fact illegal brothels were popping up in suburban areas was entirely inconsistent with legislation that mandated his business operated away from schools and homes in an industrial estate.
Some brothel owners in Queensland are trying to get out of the industry because they believe it is an uneven playing field and since 2019, the number of legal brothels in the state has fallen.
“For us, we have to be here in an industrial estate, but these other businesses, they’re on the street right outside pubs and clubs. It is getting harder now for new people to enter the industry because dance studios or things like that are popping in industrial estates so new business can’t be near those,” Mr Gilmore said.
“At the end of the day, you can’t establish an industry like this and license it and regulate it and then allow an unregulated competitor to come in.”