Mayor Responds to MP’s Attack on City of Melville Over Alleged ‘Brothel’

Mayor Aubrey corrected Dr Woollard’s comments, saying it was wrong for her to claim that the City of Melville had the power to easily close alleged ‘brothels’ and home-based sex businesses in the municipality.

“Under the current legislation, prostitution is a criminal matter and needs be dealt with by the police,” he said. “Local government has limited powers to deal with home based sex businesses. We can only look at it from a planning/land-use perspective and must follow due process, which includes conducting thorough investigations to determine an improper land use and then taking the matter to the courts.

“As a State Government politician, Dr Woollard should be aware of State legislation and understand that police have substantially more power to deal with the issue,” Mayor Aubrey said. “So instead of wasting time trying to score easy political points by attacking local government, Dr Woollard should have been presenting her evidence to the police.”

The State Government’s new prostitution legislation, which gives local government more power to control the location of brothels and home-based sex businesses, is yet to be enacted.

In the meantime, the City of Melville has alerted the police to the claims of the alleged home-based sex business in Mt Pleasant as well as two others in the municipality. The City is also conducting its own investigations into each of the premises, including liaising with its solicitors and gathering evidence.

Mayor Aubrey said he questioned Dr Woollard’s motives by going directly to the media on the issue before corresponding with him. “She had previously spoken to our Chief Executive Officer, Dr Shayne Silcox who requested that she put her concerns in writing to the City and ask her constituents to do the same so they could be used as evidence,” he said. “However, before doing that, she decided to go the media to launch an attack on the City of Melville. Her press release was sent on Thursday, 22 May 2008 while her letter to me was dated Friday, 23 May 2008, which I didn’t receive until 26 May.”

The Mayor said the City of Melville was very concerned about the State Government’s new prostitution legislation, which could put a lot of pressure on local government in dealing with applications for home-based sex businesses in the City. “We would have liked to have worked with Dr Woollard to stop this cost-shifting exercise on local government, which will put an extra burden on our ratepayers,” he said. “The City of Melville will do what it can, within the parameters of the law, to stop a proliferation of undesirable business uses in the City and maintain the safety and amenity for our residents.”

The City of Melville is currently examining the State Government’s new prostitution legislation, including how it affects the City’s Town Planning Scheme. A report will soon be presented to Council so Elected Members can formulate a position on the issue.