Prostitution in Oceania
Prostitution in Oceania — a Short, Easy Guide
Across Oceania, prostitution laws vary a lot. Some places decriminalise or regulate sex work, while others ban it or limit what can be done. Here are the main patterns and a few representative examples.
Key patterns
- Some places are legal and regulated. This means selling sex is allowed, and activities like running brothels or advertising services are controlled by rules and licenses.
- Some places criminalise prostitution or most of its related activities (brothels, solicitation, living off earnings, etc.).
- Other places have mixed or limited laws: selling sex may be allowed, but buying it, working in a brothel, or soliciting may be illegal or restricted.
- Federal or national rules often prohibit things like child prostitution and trafficking, but local laws still shape how adult sex work operates in each territory.
Representative examples
- New Zealand: Prostitution is legal and regulated. Buying sex is legal; brothels must be registered and regulated; solicitation is legal; condoms are mandatory.
- Australia (by state/territory): Laws vary widely. New South Wales (NSW) is among the more liberal regimes with regulated brothels; other states have different restrictions (for example, some prohibit or limit brothels and solicitation in various ways). National laws prohibit child trafficking.
- Fiji: Prostitution is legal, but many related activities are illegal (for example, brothel keeping, procuring, and some public solicitation).
- New Caledonia (France): Prostitution is legal, but buying sex is illegal; brothels and procuring are illegal.
- Papua New Guinea: Prostitution is generally illegal, though sex work occurs in practice; buying sex is legal, and brothels are illegal.
- Solomon Islands: Prostitution is legal, but solicitation and brothel keeping are illegal.
- Tonga: Prostitution is legal, but living on the earnings of prostitution, procuring, brothel keeping, and solicitation are illegal.
- American Samoa, Hawaii, Guam: Prostitution is illegal in these U.S. territories and states within Oceania.
- Cook Islands: Prostitution is legal; buying sex is legal; brothels and solicitation are illegal.
- Easter Island (Chile): Prostitution is regulated; buying sex is legal; procuring is illegal; brothels are illegal.
- Western New Guinea (Indonesia): No prostitution laws in place for the region; broader Indonesian laws apply.
- Other notes: Some smaller territories and islands have their own mixes of permissive or restrictive rules, and enforcement can vary widely.
Bottom line
Laws about prostitution in Oceania range from fully decriminalised and regulated to largely illegal, with many partial or mixed regimes in between. If you need the exact rules for a specific territory or city, check the local laws there.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:41 (CET).