Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Prostitution Control Act 1994 - SECT 20

Prostitute working while infected with a disease

20. Prostitute working while infected with a disease



(1) A person must not work as a prostitute during any period in which he or
she knows that he or she is infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

Penalty: 20 penalty units.

(2) If it is proved to a court that a person worked as a prostitute during a
period in which he or she was infected with a sexually transmitted disease, he
or she must be presumed to have known that he or she was so infected unless he
or she proves that at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed-

   (a)  that he or she 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)  he or she believed on reasonable grounds that he or she was not
        infected with a sexually transmitted disease.