The following facts and statistics were found in Legalising Prostitution Is Not the Answer: The Example of Victoria, Australia by Mary Sullivan and Sheila Jeffreys. This excellent resource can be obtained through the Coalition Against Trafficking In Women, PO Box 1273, Nth Fitzroy, VIC 3068, Australia. If you use any of these facts please credit the above source.

• Legalisation of prostitution in Victoria has increased the number of legal brothels from 40 a decade ago, to 94 today. However the biggest growth since legalisation has been in the illegal sector. In 1999 over 100 unlicensed brothels outnumber the registered brothels and this number had trebled in 12 months. (The Age, 1 March, 1999)
  
  
• Each week in Victoria 60,000 men spend $7 million on prostitution. The legalised industry records a profit of over $360 million a year. These profits are made from the ab/use of some 4500 prostituted wimmin and girls. (The Age, 28 February, 1999)
  


• Tabletop dancing is seen in Victoria to be a 'harmless' form of 'adult entertainment' although the reality is that the wimmin are frequently assaulted and abused. For example, on 10 February 2000 the owner of Goldfingers, one of Melbourne's most popular tabletop dancing venues, was found guilty of assaulting and injuring one of the wimmin he made profits from. The wimmin in these venues endure heinous abuse from the male patrons. Penetration of the vagina and anus with objects such as mobile phones is common. (The Age, 11 February, 2000)
  


• The sex industry in Australia is estimated to have an annual turnover of $1.2 billion according to The Age newspaper, 1998.
  


• Victorian governments profit from the prostitution of wimmin. $999,000 was raised from prostitution licenses between 1995-1998. (The Age, 28 February, 1999)
  


• Prostituted wimmin in legal brothels in Victoria must hand over 50%-60% of any money earned to brothel owners and managers.
  


• According to Jocelyn Snow of the Prostitutes Collective of Victoria legalisation has not improved the conditions faced by prostituted wimmin. A study conducted by her found that '[t]he worst thing was the clients. The arrogance, the smelliness, the violence, the demands. One in five clients still request unsafe sex.' (The Age, 28 February, 1999)
  


• The Macfarlane Burnett Centre for Medical Research in conjunction with the Prostitutes Collective of Victoria found that 40% of men did not use condoms with prostituted wimmin.
  


• One third of prostituted wimmin in Victorian brothels earned less than 500 dollars a week, with only one in five earning more than $1000. Many have to work two jobs to make enough money to survive. (The Age, 28 February, 1999)
  


• According to a study called Off Our Backs, 1996, over 80% of street prostituted wimmin in Victoria are heavy drug users with a $100-$500 a day drug problem.
  


• Statistics produced by the Prostitutes Collective of Victoria prior to the passing of the 1994 Prostitution Control Act, reported that an average of two prostituted wimmin a week reported being raped. There was also one report of assault each night and there had been two prostituted wimmin murdered over that last year.
  


• A study conducted by the Sacred Heart Mission in 2001 found that out of the 35 prostituted wimmin it surveyed all of them had been sexually abused as girls. They were found to be living or had been living in an abusive relationship. All were homeless or in unstable housing. Of 15 whose mental state was known, 13 had been diagnosed as mentally ill. 22 were current or former heroin users. (Gay Mitchell, From Exclusion to Connectedness, Sacred Heart Mission, 2001)
  


• Legalisation of prostitution in Victoria has not eliminated organised crime from the sex industry. In fact it has never been easier for organised crime to operate in Victorian brothels. Fred Lelah who ran an inner suburban brothel called 'Sasha's International' was convicted in February 2000 for introducing girls aged between ten to fifteen years old into his brothel. This was the second time he had been before the courts for prostituting children.
  


• The Australian Instituted of Criminology found that an estimated $1 million was earned in illegal sex trade a week in Australia.
  


• ECPAT (End child prostitution and trafficking) conducted research in 1998 for the Australian National Inquiry on Child Prostitution. They asked youth and community agencies in Melbourne for information on how many young people that had used there services reported being ab/used in prostitution. The resulting findings were that one in seven children had been prostituted in Victoria.