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Victoria has passed legislation to become the third jurisdiction in the nation to decriminalise sex work, ending a decades-long wait for advocates.
Following hours of debate on Thursday, the upper house voted 24 to 10 in favour of a bill to repeal offences and criminal penalties for consensual sex work between adults.
There were cheers and applause in the chamber when the final vote was confirmed.
The Sex Work Decriminalisation Act 2021 will partially abolish street-based sex work offences and associated public health offences, remove the licensing system and move to regulate the industry through existing agencies.
It also strengthens anti-discrimination protections, making it unlawful to deny sex workers accommodation.
New South Wales and the Northern Territory decriminalised sex work in 1995 and 2019 respectively, with Victoria drawing on their legislation.
Reason Party leader Fiona Patten, a former sex worker who led Victoria's review into decriminalising the industry, said she had been fighting for reforms for 40 years and they were long overdue.
'This bill is for everyone who has been working under these draconian laws that have not protected us,' she said during the upper house debate.
'They haven't protected the people in the industry: the
