Scotland’s Prostitution (Offences and Support) Bill represents a watershed moment in global efforts to address sexual exploitation. AAWAA has formally submitted our support for this groundbreaking legislation to the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee. The Bill’s approach — criminalising buyers whilst decriminalising and supporting those exploited — offers a model that Australia must not only match, but surpass.
Previously, we have called for comprehensive prostitution law reform in Australia and, crucially, a National Apology for all women and girls criminalised and exploited through prostitution. Scotland’s Bill demonstrates what principled leadership looks like … and why Australia must go even further.
What makes Scotland’s bill groundbreaking
The Scottish Parliament’s proposed legislation represents the most comprehensive approach to prostitution law reform attempted in the English-speaking world. Its four core elements fundamentally shift responsibility from the exploited to the exploiters:
Criminalising sex buyers: The Bill creates a new offence of paying for sexual acts, targeting the demand that drives sexual exploitation. International evidence from Sweden demonstrates that this approach reduces prostitution markets and trafficking whilst improving safety for vulnerable women and girls.
Decriminalising those who sell sex: Repealing section 46 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 removes criminal penalties from women in prostitution, recognising that they should never be criminalised for circumstances often shaped by poverty, trauma, or coercion.
Expunging historic convictions: Perhaps most significantly, the Bill would quash previous convictions under section 46, removing formal barriers to employment, housing, and services whilst sending a powerful message that the state recognises these women as having been wronged rather than as wrongdoers.
Mandating state support: Placing a statutory duty on Scottish Ministers to provide assistance creates enforceable rights to housing, healthcare, and other support services, moving beyond discretionary provision to genuine entitlement.
Why we support the bill
Our submission to the Scottish Parliament makes clear that this legislation correctly identifies where accountability should lie: the demand created by male buyers drives the market for sexual exploitation, often targeting women experiencing poverty, trauma, or coercion. By criminalising purchase whilst decriminalising sale, the Bill appropriately shifts accountability from the exploited to the male exploiters.
The Bill’s commitment to quashing historic convictions is particularly significant. Women previously criminalised under existing law have been penalised for circumstances often beyond their control, creating lasting stigma that affects employment, housing, and other life opportunities. Removing these convictions represents genuine restorative justice.
The statutory duty to provide support also advances beyond previous approaches that have relied on underfunded or discretionary services. However, as we emphasise in our submission, success will depend entirely on adequate resourcing and trauma-informed implementation designed in consultation with women who have lived experience of prostitution.
The Australian context: going beyond the Scottish model
Whilst strongly supporting Scotland’s Bill, we call for reforms that go further. The Australian Abolition Approach (‘Triple A’) for Absolute Protections, outlined in our joint letter to the Prime Minister and Minister for Women, incorporates all of Scotland’s provisions whilst adding crucial elements:
National coordination: Using federal constitutional powers to create uniform national laws, closing state and territory loopholes that currently allow exploitation to flourish across jurisdictional boundaries.
Comprehensive criminalisation: Targeting not only buyers but all forms of profiteering, including brothel-keeping, pimping, facilitation, and advertisement, dismantling the entire infrastructure of sexual exploitation.
Prevention and education: Properly funded programmes targeting demand reduction through changing attitudes, particularly among men and boys, whilst addressing root causes of vulnerability.
A National Apology: Crucially, formal acknowledgement of historical injustices through a National Apology delivered in Parliament to all women and girls criminalised and exploited through prostitution.
Why a National Apology matters
This final element distinguishes our Australian approach from even Scotland’s progressive Bill. As we argue in our analysis of the need for a new national settlement on prostitution, a National Apology is not merely symbolic: it constitutes essential restitution for women and girls who have endured criminalisation, stigma, and exclusion.
Precedents exist within Australian public life, notably apologies to the Stolen Generations and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. These necessary acknowledgements show that as a nation, we are capable of recognising great wrongs and providing foundations for healing and renewed accountability. In the case of prostitution, such an apology would constitute formal acknowledgement of harm experienced by women and girls criminalised for circumstances shaped by systemic disadvantage and lack of protection.
Australia’s fragmented failure
The urgency of comprehensive reform becomes clear when examining Australia’s current legal landscape. The fragmented approach across jurisdictions amounts to legislative failure. States such as New South Wales, Victoria, the Northern Territory, and Queensland have embraced ‘decriminalisation’, effectively transforming sexual exploitation into a legal business model. Elsewhere, partial criminalisation and licensing systems perpetuate confusion whilst leaving dangerous gaps.
In not one Australian jurisdiction is the safety, dignity, or agency of women and girls genuinely prioritised ahead of the interests of sex buyers, brothel owners, or profiteers. This patchwork has not resulted in protection for women and girls; instead, decriminalisation and partial regulatory models have entrenched the interests of those who profit from exploitation whilst leaving those at highest risk without effective safeguards or viable pathways to exit.
Constitutional power and moral duty
Australia has both the constitutional power and moral duty to implement comprehensive reform. Section 51 of the Constitution grants the Commonwealth necessary legislative scope through external affairs, corporations, and trade and commerce powers. Federal Parliament can introduce uniform laws, outlaw sex buying, criminalise third-party profiteering, and coordinate national strategy against sexual exploitation and trafficking. Current federal law already addresses slavery and trafficking—there is no principled obstacle to extending these powers to prostitution.
International evidence and momentum
Scotland’s Bill builds on substantial international evidence. The Nordic Model has operated in Sweden for over two decades, demonstrating that targeting demand reduces prostitution markets and related trafficking. As we noted when the Scottish Bill was first introduced, these gains have never been realised under decriminalisation, which instead sees increased trafficking, violence, and normalisation of exploitation.
Scotland’s proposed legislation advances beyond existing Nordic approaches by incorporating restorative justice principles through conviction quashing and mandating statutory support. This represents a new standard for principled prostitution law reform globally.
Implementation and accountability
In our submission to the Scottish Parliament, we emphasise that the Bill’s success will depend on robust implementation mechanisms, including adequate training for police and judiciary, clear protocols for supporting rather than criminalising women in prostitution, and sustained funding commitments. We recommend that Scotland consider regular monitoring and evaluation of outcomes, particularly regarding women’s safety and wellbeing.
These implementation considerations apply equally to Australia’s proposed Triple A approach. Comprehensive reform requires not only legislative change but cultural and institutional transformation that prioritises the dignity and rights of women and girls above industry profits or bureaucratic convenience.
Global leadership opportunity
Scotland’s Bill represents an opportunity for global leadership in addressing sexual exploitation. The legislation moves beyond demand reduction to incorporate restorative justice principles that acknowledge historical harm whilst providing practical pathways to recovery. Australia has the opportunity to build on this foundation whilst advancing the additional elements outlined in our Triple A approach.
Both Scotland and Australia can demonstrate that governments are capable of acknowledging past policy failures, providing genuine redress to those harmed, and creating frameworks that protect rather than punish the most vulnerable. This represents the kind of moral leadership that historic moments demand.
The path forward
Our submission to the Scottish Parliament and our joint letter to Australian leaders represent coordinated advocacy for comprehensive abolition approaches that centre the dignity, safety, and rights of women and girls. Scotland’s Bill demonstrates what principled leadership looks like—Australia must now show courage and vision to match this standard whilst going further through our Triple A approach and National Apology.
The infrastructure of sexual exploitation can be dismantled through legislative courage and adequate resourcing. Real pathways out can be created for women and girls trapped by violence and poverty. Historic injustices can be acknowledged and addressed through formal apology and restitution.
Both Scotland and Australia have the opportunity to honour the dignity and rights of women and girls whilst sending clear messages globally that sexual exploitation will not be tolerated under any guise. The question is whether political leaders will demonstrate the courage that justice demands.
AAWAA remains ready to assist governments in advancing this agenda. We will continue pressing for substantive responses that place the rights, safety, and futures of women and girls at the centre of national law and policy. The time for half-measures and jurisdictional fragmentation is over—comprehensive abolition and genuine restitution are now essential.
