I made a post last week about Melbourne Sex worker Matthew Roberts and his historic win in the Victorian courts to get access to EFTPOS services for his sex work business. I received an email today from Matthew promoting his ongoing efforts to have federal laws that are used against sex workers changed and I want to share it with you.
While this fight is mostly about giving sex workers fair access to financial services it is also about us being able to provide you our customers with a greater range of payment options. So it would be great if you could follow Matthew on X/Twitter: @sexworkervbanks or subscribe to his mailing list – email “YES” to sexworkervbanks@protonmail.com
Hi there,
I’m reaching out to you as you’re interested in sex workers’ rights and efforts to combat financial discrimination. Financial discrimination is a huge problem for Australia’s sex industry, and as Australia moves away from cash, this problem is only getting worse.
New laws protect sex workers from discrimination. It’s time to enforce these laws.
My name is Matthew and I’m a self-employed gay male sex worker. When two financial service providers denied me use of EFTPOS machine services, I took the matter to the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria. In a landmark anti-discrimination law case, I settled the case on my terms and forced both companies (Mint Payments and First Data Merchant Solutions) to end their blanket sex worker ban.
In 2022 Victoria, Australia decriminalised sex work and protected sex workers with anti-discrimination laws based on ‘occupation’. My case is a huge win for sex workers and proof that enforcing these new laws can result in real change.
But more needs to be done. The two companies initially tried to use a legal loophole to justify discriminating against me. A section of Federal anti-money laundering laws is routinely being used by financial companies to discriminate against entire groups of customers, including law abiding customers like me. The Federal Government needs to amend these federal laws to stop financial service providers from getting away with unlawful discrimination.
Want to be kept in the loop as I extend my fight against financial discrimination and form a new advocacy movement? Reply ‘Yes’ to this email to be added to my email list.
Maurice Blackburn lawyers represented me in court. You can find me on X at @sexworkervbanks
ABC TV’s The Business: Why sex workers are facing discrimination from banks and financial providers
The Age: Sex stays the same, but sex work changes [behind a paywall]
Q News: Fed-up Melbourne sex worker sues financial providers and wins
Banking Daily: Illigit to debank s*x workers
Lawyers Weekly: Sex worker wins ‘decade-long battle’ against debanking discrimination
Yours sincerely
Matthew RobertsEmail: sexworkervbanks@protonmail.com
Media enquiries: Chee Chee Leung at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers 0412 560 584
Thank you for your support of our industry. We really appreciate it! And thank you to Matthew for taking on this fight for all of us sex workers and clients alike.
John