Legal
» general
Legal information, policies and submissions that may be of interest to everyone, but are especially important for service providers and policy makers.
Age of Consent
The age of consent for a person to legally enter a "Restricted Premises" is eighteen years or older.
Touching Base Committee seeking legal opinion from the Disability Discrimination Legal Centre
On behalf of the Touching Base Committee, the DDLC has commissioned a pro-bono Barrister's opinion to clarify the legal rights of people with disability, sex workers, carers and service providers in a range of different scenarios. We are awaiting results as of September 2003. When available, we will post information about the outcomes of this legal opinion to our News page.
» DADHC, Sex Worker and Sex Aids policy for service providers
New South Wales Department of Disability, Ageing and Home Care Sex Worker and Sex Aids policy for service providers. The New South Wales Department of Disability, Ageing and Home Care recognises the rights of clients with disability to access sex workers and sex aids, with respect to their privacy.
» Legal Impediments to Sexual Expression: Fact or Furphy (PDF)
This discussion paper dated June 2001 was prepared for the Touching Base Committee NSW, by the Intellectual Disability Rights Services Inc - IDRS. “The purpose of this paper is to raise some of the laws that are relevant to the issue and to consider whether, in fact, they prevent disability workers from supporting consumers in expressing their sexuality…”.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Since "Legal Impediments to Sexual Expression: Fact or Furphy" was published the legal age for homosexual intercourse in New South Wales has been lowered from 18 to 16 years of age, equal to the age of consent for heterosexual intercourse. Therefore information provided under Section 3.1.2.3 "minors" is no longer accurate. If you choose to print "Legal Impediments to Sexual Expression: Fact or Furphy" - please update the printed document by make a note of this change on page 5.
» Touching Base seeks support to amend New South Wales - NSW procurement laws (PDF)
The Touching Base Committee is seeking support to change the current laws relating to the procurement of sex workers in NSW. This documents outlines why we believe an amendment may be required.
» Private Worker Alliance (PWA) submission regarding barriers to accessibility caused by local council policies (PDF)
This document highlights many issues raised by the practice of local councils to ban brothels from ground floor premises. These restrictions create obvious barriers for people with mobility impairments to gain equal access to these premises.