Contact Admin. Posted September 29, The legal brothel trade in Queensland has shrunk to its smallest size in 14 years, thanks to "hook-up apps" and illegal "massage parlours", a parliamentary report has found. A review by the state Prostitution Licensing Authority PLA revealed only 20 licensed establishments were operating at the end of the financial year.
In the past five years, the legal sex industry has been copping a sustained hit as several brothels were forced to close their doors. One of the latest to do so was Bluebirds on Carmel in Townsville, which left Queensland with its lowest number of licensed brothels since , and almost all of them are in the state's south-east.
The PLA report revealed that, apart from one business in Cairns, there were no brothels north of the Sunshine Coast or west of Toowoomba. The PLA said it had received complaints from brothel owners over the past two years about illegal operators being "unfair competition". For the period, there were only four applications for new brothel licences in Queensland.
But after the PLA knocked back two and one withdrew, only one will be considered in the current financial year. In a bid to help reduce "red tape" for applicants, the PLA has introduced changes to the licence application forms. Despite the changes, the report said the industry's future growth prospects were "limited at best" because of general economic conditions, casual sex "hook-up apps" and illegal prostitution.
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