Deeming to force vote on children in homes used for sex work

Family First Victoria Leader Moira Deeming MP will force Parliament to vote this Wednesday on one plain question: should a child be allowed on premises where a client comes for paid sex?

Mrs Deeming will use the final debate of this parliamentary term to put it to the Legislative Council directly. A child cannot consent to being used this way. Yet Victorian law still calls a child a "provider" or "client" of commercial sexual services. And there is no longer a clear rule keeping a child away from where those services happen.

This is one of the four things Mrs Deeming promised to fight for in her first speech to Parliament. She named transparency and responsibility care with taxpayer money. She named sex-based rights for women, the same rights supported by the men and women who gathered at the "Restore Women's Rights" rally on Spring Street, outside Parliament, last Saturday, 19 September. She named her concern about the transgender affirmation of children. And she named this: fixing the law that lets children be in brothels.

"This is not complicated," Mrs Deeming said. "A child is not a sex worker. A child is not a client. And a child should never be in the house when a man is brought in as a customer."

In 2023, Labor repealed the Sex Work Act. In doing so, they scrapped the old rule that a child could not be in a brothel. They put nothing in its place.

"The old law protected children. Labor tore it up and left a hole," Mrs Deeming said. "The current law only covers a sexual act done in front of a child under 16. It does nothing to stop a child sitting in the next room while a client is in the house. That is the gap. We intend to close it."

The motion asks the Government to change the law in two plain ways. Describe the child as a victim, not a participant, and make it an offence to run in-person paid sex services where a child is present — including in a private home.

"The risk is the man at the door," she said. "No child, of any age, should have to meet him. Not in the room. Not in the hallway. Not in the next bedroom. Not ever."

Family First National Director Lyle Shelton said Mrs Deeming was doing what the major parties would not.

"I am proud that Family First is leading this in Victoria," Mr Shelton said. "Moira Deeming has put the protection of children on the agenda in the last sitting week of the term. That is leadership. It shows Victorians exactly what a Family First vote is for: families first, children first, no excuses."

Mr Shelton said Mrs Deeming's decision to lead Family First into the Victorian election had lifted the party's prospects and given it a clear run at Parliament.

"Victorians now have a leader in the Chamber who will not look away," he said. "We want that momentum to carry through to 28 November. If the major parties vote against protecting children, voters are entitled to remember it."

Mrs Deeming said Wednesday's vote would sort out where every party stands.

"Labor created this problem when they tore up the old Act and left children exposed," she said. "Parliament can put it right this week. If they vote no, they will have to explain that to every parent in this state."

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Media contact: Stephen Paton - 0408807959

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Moira Deeming, Family First Member of the Legislative Council for Western Metropolitan Region

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