Fly-in sex workers: Businesswoman exploits hole in market
Courier Mail, Brisbane/NT News
By Rajiv Mahara 25 March 2010
A HOLE in Alice Springs' prostitution market could be filled by an agency looking to cash in on a mining boom with its own fly-in fly-out operation. Businesswoman Julie Partridge, 52, has applied for a licence to set up an agency that would bring sex workers in from Darwin or interstate on a two weeks on, two weeks off roster.
"I am very positive about an escort agency business in Alice Springs because of all the mining activity that is going on," she told the Northern Territory News.
Another businesswoman said she was approached by an interstate group looking to take advantage of the surge of male mine workers, who spent their working week "in a hole" and emerged with cash to burn and "one thing on their mind".
She said they were looking to set up a "Shag Bus" in a refurbished Winnebago to service horny clients up and down the Stuart Highway.between Alice and Tennant Creek.
"It's ... the Love Boat but on wheels," she said.
"It's quite clever - a new take on the phrase 'sex tourism'."
The idea that a mining boom was attracting sex industry entrepreneurs to Alice Springs came as no shock to NT Resources Council chief executive Scott Perkins.
"Well, the mining industry has a long history of supporting local businesses," he said.
"On top of mining, there are many drilling operations."
The NT Justice Department confirmed it was considering an escort agency manager licence application for Alice Springs.
If approved, it will be the only regulated and licensed agency in Alice Springs, with the sole existing agency operated by prominent local identity Tracey Randall (aka Minnie Maid) about to move to Cairns.
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