No dressing down for Surfers strip club

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Written by: 195 on Mar 12, 2010

A COURT case involving a Surfers Paradise strip club has found the use of club promotional girls is legal as long as they are polite and do not pressure potential customers.

The ruling came from a case in which Crazy Horse nightclub was charged with touting in relation to handing out lap-dancing and striptease advertising cards in Orchid Avenue.

After years of legal arguing, the Court of Appeal in Brisbane yesterday ruled that simply offering adult entertainment promotional cards to passers-by was not touting and therefore not illegal.

The case started when a 'respectably dressed and polite' Crazy Horse employee named Gemma was seen by Liquor Licensing officials outside the club in November 2006 offering cards for half-price entry, continuous striptease and private lap-dancing.

As a result the club, owned by Mick Pikos, was charged with spruiking or touting for business involving adult entertainment and publishing advertisements that described sexually explicit acts.

A magistrate dismissed the touting charge due to evidence Gemma had not been talking loudly or in any way pressuring pedestrians but a conviction was recorded for the second charge.

An appeal to the District Court led to Crazy Horse being acquitted on both counts.

Last month, Liquor Licensing authorities applied to the Court of Appeal.

In yesterday's judgment Justice Hugh Fraser referred to definitions of touting and ruled that in context, the law relating to 'spruiking or touting' at adult entertainment venues was designed to stop haranguing or persistent forms of promotions as opposed to just general advertising and Gemma's conduct did not include persistence or pestering.

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