Australian ‘coal girl’ back in court for $30k because motel ejected her

The Goldcoast Bulletin reports a so-called “coal girl” is appealing a discrimination case that went against her with the financial backing of her fellow sex workers.

The appeal brought by the woman, “known only as GK” is now before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in Brisbane and stems from a 2010 case in which GK sought $30,000 compensation for economic loss from a motel who told her to leave.

The Tribunal found that Drovers Rest Motel in Moranbah, a coal mining town of 7,000 souls, was within its rights to stop her from conducting a business from their premises. It is legal for women to work as sole operators in Australia provided they don’t solicit in public.

At the time the case was brought The Mackay Daily Mercury quoted a prostitute who went by the name “Tiffany” on the lengths sex workers have to go to ply their trade in Australia: “I know of women (prostitutes) who have bought Winnebagos and caravans – but even getting a booking at a caravan park is hard.”

The Courier Mail reported in November fly-in, fly-out “working girls” travelling from as far away as New Zealand to the remote mining regions of Queensland and Western Australia are making as much as $2,000 a day from mine workers.