Unpacking the proposed criminalisation of clients in South Australia – Scarlet Alliance

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Unpacking the proposed criminalisation of clients in South Australia

Home / Research
December 17, 2025

The Bill introduced on the 30th of August by Nicola Centofanti, MLC, titled “Summary Offences (Prostitution Law Reform) Amendment Bill 2023”, re-visits a legislative framework first implemented in Sweden in 1999.

The Bill criminalises clients of sex workers and would create the following harms:

 

  • Police repression of the sex industry; this is also an ongoing waste of police resources.
  • Increased violence and discrimination. against sex workers, erosion of trust with authorities and less reporting of crimes committed against sex workers.
  • Barriers to health and social services for sex workers, insecure housing, irregular income and lower quality of life for sex workers and sex workers’ families.