by proldic » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:28 pm
Source: Adelaide Advertiser 17aug05<br> <br>Sex slave claims dismissed<br><br>JUSTICE Minister Chris Ellison has dismissed claims that as many as 1000 foreign women are working as sex slaves in Australia.<br><br>Senator Ellison said the intelligence available just did not support the claim by a former federal police officer, Chris Payne, who says there is plenty of evidence to substantiate the figure.<br><br>"The fact is we still have around about 1000 trafficked women in the country at any given time and unless we make a serious attempt to simply rescue them, irrespective of whether they're going to give evidence or not, they're just going to stay there," Mr Payne said.<br><br>"Why can't we free the slaves, as it were?"...<br><br>Senator Ellison said that was apparently a bid to grab sensational headlines.<br><br>"It is disingenuous to simply say that there are 1000 women who have been trafficked. You need some forensic evidence to back that up," he said...<br><br>"We don't believe there is as much (sic) as 1000," he said...<br><br><br><br> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16290565%255E1702,00.html">www.theadvertiser.news.co...02,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <br> <p></p><i></i>