Mining boom sparks a clash over sex worker rights in small-town Australia
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A lone woman checking into a motel in the Australian mining town of Moranbah can expect a blunt question from the owners: "Are you a working girl?"
Like the miners, many sex workers find working the remote mining towns more lucrative than the economically moribund cities in which they live. But not everyone in small-town Australia welcomes them.
Their arrival has fed into broader fears that transient workers and their urban values pose a threat to a close-knit, rural way of life.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The two main mining states of Queensland and Western Australia have promised or passed laws restricting sex work, which is legal in Australia.