For around two weeks, four Upper House MP’s have been in exile, banned from entering the parliament and prevented from voting on any bills. Three of these crossbench MP’s, Tim Quilty, David Limbrick and Catherine Cumming, set up a ‘parliament in exile’ inside a small underground nightclub – the Chaise Lounge club in Melbourne’s CBD. Their suspension as it stands was to apply until early February 2021, well after a vote on the new sex work decriminalisation bill had passed.
So what do these three ‘rebel’ MP’s have to do with sex work? In order to pass law, the Victorian Government needs the votes of at least 3 additional crossbench MP’s. All three of these are MP’s the government needs to help get sex work decriminalisation across the line.
Last night and this morning, all three announced they would comply with vaccine mandates and return to parliament to vote on a number of bills, including the Sex Work Decriminalisation Bill 2021.
David and Tim are supportive of sex work decrim, and will likely vote for the bill. This very much helps us get the numbers needed to get this bill over the line.
