Sex Shop Proposal Stirs Controversy In Australia

Despite the lack of a development control policy for sexually oriented businesses, local council members have spent thousands of taxpayer dollars to fight the application of a prospective sex shop.

According to a recent report, upwards of $100,000 could be spent defending a decision to refuse an adult bookstore application in the Land and Environment Court. Only two council members were in support of the sex shop application, citing the city's lack of policy.

"If they want to take it to the Land and Environment Court, let [approving it] be on the court's head," Rockdale Mayor Bill Saravinovski told The Leader before the application was rejected. "We need to send a message to the business community that we do not want this kind of establishment in our town center."

Rick Vermunt, who represented the adult business, said he would be appealing the council's decision in the Land and Environment Court, the beginning of a process that Vermunt warned would be very costly for the city. Vermunt has lodged 73 applications of this nature around the world.

"They will have to employ an independent town planner, a solicitor and a barrister, and all that generally costs $100,000," Vermunt explained to The Leader. "The shop around the corner was approved with no conditions attached; it is closer to a bus zone and a train station and is far more garish."

The Rockdale Council does not have history on its side either. Identical cases to reject applications were overturned by the Land and Environment Court in nearby Ashfield in 2003 and 2004.