Once again battle is joined between reality and religion when it comes to the sex industry. Every city has a red light district - whether it wants it or not - and for Wollongong that is Port Kembla.
This suburb used to be a thriving, industrial area but the retreat of manufacturing and the establishment of a huge shopping complex nearby doomed Port Kembla to become a suburb of boarded up shops and hard scrabble residents.
Nor surprisingly, it became the centre of this regions sex industry.
Now a proposal is before Wollongong council to legalise a " safe house " for sex industry workers. This has operated illegally for years, but prostitution is legal in this state and brothels are allowed subject to certain restrictions on proximity to churches, schools and dwellings.
What is unusual is that this " safe house " is not a conventional brothel with in-house workers under the direction of a " madam ". It is a clean facility where sex workers can take their clients and pay $ 11 an hour for a room in which to conduct their trade.
The proposal to formalise what has been going on for years has enraged shopkeepers and residents - the very same people who have been bitterly complaining about picking up used condoms outside their premises and the sight of sexual activity offending them in parks and on beaches. The outrage seems to have a religious base - so many people quote the bible in their demand that somehow sex be outlawed and banished.
The only attitude that has a hope of reality is " get real " ! Sex is here to stay - and has been since the days when the pyramids were being built. It is better to have a safe, controlled industry from both the communities point of view - and for the wellbeing of those in the industry.
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