Sex workers in NSW have vowed to fight any move towards a licensing system or register, which they say have failed in other states and risk branding workers with a lifetime of discrimination and stigma.
A parliamentary inquiry into the regulation of brothels in NSW is under way, and the chief executive of the sex workers' union Scarlet Alliance, Janelle Fawkes, says she believes hearings so far have exposed a push towards a licensing model like those in Queensland and Victoria.
"The requirements you need to satisfy in order to become licensed are so extreme that the majority of people simply can't meet them and end up having to operate outside of the legal sector," Ms Fawkes told AAP.
She wants councils across the state to sign up to better education and uniform guidelines to counter what she says are discriminatory planning approval processes for brothels and quasi-bans on sex workers operating out of their own homes, which can force them into dangerous working environments.
The group is also concerned at suggestions, including from NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas, that sex workers and brothel owners be forced to register their names so they can work in NSW.
Melbourne woman Jessica, who asked that AAP not use her surname, said she thought long and hard before putting her name down on Victoria's sex worker register.
The 28-year-old says the knowledge that her name is indelibly linked to sex work means she will never consider a career switch to law enforcement, teaching or the public service.
"That's not to say that there aren't sex workers in those professions, but for me personally, I don't want to risk that kind of public 'out'-ing," Jessica said.
"I really had to weigh up my ideas about the kind of life that I want to have and the kind of careers that I want to be involved in.
"They say that it's only a limited number of people who have access to it but really, in this day and age, with leaks coming left, right and centre from government departments, you can't trust that your information is safe."
It is not the only element of the state's approach to sex work that she finds troubling.
"I'm unable to work from home but my partner, who works in IT, is free to work wherever," she said.
"Most of the time it's OK but if I'm having a bad day, it really does make me feel like a second-class citizen."
The committee behind the NSW inquiry is due to report back in November.
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