Victorian Current Acts Victorian Current ActsS. 11(1) amended by Nos 48/1997 s. 70(7), 1/2010 s. 42(2)(Sch. item 19) (as amended by No. 63/2010 s. 27).
(1) A person who owns or occupies any premises or who manages or assists in the management of any premises must not allow a child to enter or remain on the premises for the purpose of taking part in an act of sex work, whether as the sex worker or as the client or in any other capacity.
Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).
(2) An offence against subsection (1) is an indictable offence.
(3) In a proceeding for an offence against subsection (1)—
(a) it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove that the accused knew that the person concerned was a child; but
(b) it is a defence to the charge for the accused to prove that, having taken all reasonable steps to find out the age of the person concerned, the accused believed on reasonable grounds, at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed, that the person concerned was aged 18 years or more.
(4) If in a proceeding for an offence against subsection (1) it is proved—
(a) that a child was on premises used for the purposes of the operation of a brothel and in respect of which a permit is required under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 for their use or development for those purposes; and
S. 11(4)(b) amended by No. 1/2010 s. 42(2)(Sch. item 20) (as amended by No. 63/2010 s. 27).
(b) that the child was on those premises for the purpose of taking part in an act of sex work—
the accused must be presumed to have allowed the child to enter or remain on those premises for that purpose unless the accused satisfies the court on the balance of probabilities that he or she did not know, and could not reasonably have known, that a child was on those premises for that purpose at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed.
S. 11A inserted by No. 99/1995 s. 26.