Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Prostitution Control Act 1994 - SECT 19

Permitting prostitute infected with a disease to work in a brothel etc.

19. Permitting prostitute infected with a disease to work in a brothel etc.



(1) A person who-

   (a)  is a prostitution service provider; or

   (b)  manages a brothel or an escort agency or any other business that
        provides prostitution services-

must not permit a prostitute to work (whether under a contract of service or a
contract for services) in a brothel or for the escort agency or other business
during any period in which he or she knows that the prostitute is infected
with a sexually transmitted disease.

Penalty: 50 penalty units.



(2) If it is proved to a court that a person referred to in subsection (1)
permitted a prostitute to work as mentioned in that subsection during a period
in which the prostitute was infected with a sexually transmitted disease, that
person must be presumed to have known that the prostitute was so infected
unless that person proves that at the time the offence is alleged to have been
committed that person believed on reasonable grounds-

   (a)  that the prostitute had been undergoing-

   (i)  regular blood tests, on at least a quarterly basis, for HIV (as
        defined by section 3 of the Health Act 1958) and each other sexually
        transmitted disease for which blood tests are appropriate; and

   (ii) regular swab tests, on at least a monthly basis, for the purpose of
        determining whether he or she was infected with any other sexually
        transmitted disease; and

   (b)  that the prostitute was not infected with a sexually transmitted
        disease.