Selling, buying and running a brothel are not criminal offences. A 1995 amendment to the Restricted Premises Act 1943 abolished the common-law offence of keeping a brothel, and brothels have since been regulated as a land use under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979; the Brothels Legislation Amendment Act 2007 (in force 1 October 2007) added council brothel closure orders and court-ordered utility cut-offs for unlawful brothels, which do not apply to lawful brothels or single sex workers. Part 3 of the Summary Offences Act 1988 keeps offences of causing prostitution by coercion or undue influence (s 15A), prostitution in premises held out as massage, sauna or photographic studios (ss 16-17), advertising that premises or a person are available for prostitution (s 18), advertising for sex workers (s 18A), street soliciting near dwellings, schools, churches and hospitals by sex workers (s 19) and clients (s 19A), and public acts of prostitution (s 20). Source: Prostitution Laws (prostitutionlaws.org), https://prostitutionlaws.org/countries/australia/, reviewed 2026-11-04, CC BY 4.0.