Perth Voice Interactive

THE prostitution name and shame list will stay, with a divided Vincent council voting to keep it as it appears to be working.

Last year the council started publishing the names of men convicted of soliciting street prostitutes following a flood of complaints from locals around Stirling Street. Names stay on the Vincent website for six months.

Cr Josh Topelberg wanted to remove the list, saying it wasn’t the business of local government to be naming and shaming, and it might have been heightened police action that’s responsible for the downturn.

Cr Matt Buckels agreed but the rest of the council voted to keep the register.

Mayor John Carey pointed out complaints had dropped to almost nil, and scrapping the list could lead to a resurgence.

Deputy mayor Ros Harley described it as one of the hardest decisions she’d made as a councillor, as she didn’t want the families of men who were caught to suffer, “but if it’s working, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”.

Cr Laine McDonald said, “it does seem madness to be getting rid of a program that does appear to be working”.

Currently the list features just two names: Eugene Rosslyn Hinkley and Calogero Ziino, who will soon be removed as their six months is almost up.

Names are uploaded on the website as images rather than plain text, meaning they can’t be easily Googled.

by DAVID BELL