A sex work sector that protects against exploitation and violence is expected to be at the centre of a Queensland government response to a major review of the industry.
Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman wants sex work brought "out of the dark" through a properly regulated industry that prioritises the safety of workers.
"Current laws stigmatise sex workers, it increases their vulnerability to exploitation and violence," Ms Fentiman told Seven News Brisbane on Sunday night.
While the decriminalisation of sex work is a question for individual states, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared to back a more regulated approach.
"Clearly criminalising prostitution doesn't really work and drives it underground and leads to worse behaviour and worse treatment of people who are involved in what can be, of course, a dangerous industry," he told KIIS FM on Monday.
Victoria became the third jurisdiction to fully decriminalise sex work in 2022 after NSW in 1995 and the Northern Territory in 2019.
There are two legal forms of regulated sex work in Queensland: services provided in a licensed brothel, not including outcalls from the premises; and those provided by sole operators in-house or as outcalls.
Any other form of sex work is illegal including services provided by escort agencies, unlicensed brothels, massage parlours, street work and two or more sex workers operating from a single premises.
The state has 20 licensed brothels and most sex work occurs outside the regulated or licensed sector.
The attorney-general asked the Queensland Law Reform Commission to review and investigate the regulation of a new framework for the industry in August 2021.
"Decriminalising sex work will mean sex work is no longer a crime. But it does not mean no regulations or safeguards," the commission said in a review updated in November.
"People in the sex work industry will have protections and obligations under standard workplace, health, planning and other existing general laws."
Some 160 submissions have been received, with input from individual sex workers, brothel managers, clients and advocacy organisations.
More information on the state government plan will be released on Monday.
© AAP 2023