In the backstreets of Darwin's CBD, two women are hard at work in a small office cluttered with piles of flyers, placards and bright red umbrellas.
The brolleys aren't for the tropical monsoon setting in outside — red umbrellas are the internationally-recognised symbol of sex worker solidarity, representing rights, advocacy, protection and strength.
This humble space has been the headquarters of decades of such work.
And this week the advocates had another big win.
On Tuesday night, laws passed in Northern Territory parliament made it the first jurisdiction in the world to explicitly protect sex work and sex workers under anti-discrimination laws.
"We're a pretty persistent bunch," Leanne Melling said of the latest campaign.
"We will try anything to make sure safety remains at the forefront of our rights — that includes safety to just be living free of harassment, and stigma and discrimination."
Three years ago, the Northern Territory became only the second Australian jurisdiction to decriminalise sex work, with Victoria passing their own legislation this year.
But Melling, who has worked in sex worker advocacy across the world for decades, knows better than most how much has changed.
Before decriminalisation, she says, sex workers in the Northern Territory had to register with police, who regularly raided brothels and massage parlours, with visa-holders in the most vulnerable positions.
"It's been more than 30 years really of hard work to get to where we are, including by other sex workers and advocates way before us," she says.
Melling works with the Sex Worker Outreach Program (SWOP) NT, which was set up first as PANTHER in the early 1980s, forming strong ties with local union groups and LGBT organisations.
PANTHER was housed in the Unions NT offices before moving in with the NT AIDS and Hepatitis Council (NTAHC) as SWOP NT when the HIV epidemic hit the territory at the end of the decade.
The campaign for anti-discrimination protections was spearheaded by NT sex workers with the Scarlet Alliance, Australian Sex Workers Association and SWOP NT.
But they were supported by the NTAHC and its national counterparts — the National Association of People with HIV Australia and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations — to make HIV and hepatitis status protected attributes.
Melling believes a slow but persistent approach of lobbying the NT Labor Government and the NT general public, with the backing of Scarlet Alliance and NT stakeholders, has been key.
"We would set up education stalls in the parks or at events and just talk to people," Melling said.
"[We talked] about bad the laws [were] and how they impacted us.
"There was a time when to get attention we set up a single bed in Raintree Park [in the Darwin CBD] and had placards around it — people sat on the bed and talked to us about sex workers' rights."
Now-Chief Minister Natasha Fyles is credited as a driving force who took the issue up in parliament, along with former Labor minister Dale Wakefield.
Decriminalising sex work only the first step towards safety
When decriminalisation was secured in the Northern Territory, Melling said violence, mistreatment and stigma towards workers remained.
"Decriminalisation alone is the first step towards safety and rights," she said.
"But it is not enough for sex workers to fully gain rights because of the level of discrimination and systemic stigma [experienced] on a daily basis."
She said three prongs of reform are needed to give sex workers equal rights with the rest of the workforce: decriminalisation; work, health and safety and industrial protections; and anti-discrimination provisions.
Sex workers in the Northern Territory have previously reported difficulty getting bank loans, housing and the same services available to other traders or business owners — the anti-discrimination changes are aimed at addressing this.
Shifting the stigma and application of the law is ongoing work.
Hannah, who the ABC is referring to only by first name, heads up SWOP's peer-to-peer forensic training project.
The project gives sex workers the tools to perform their own forensic tests after a sexual assault and allows them to report crimes in a supported way.
"Stigma and discrimination are some of the main roadblocks to accessing goods and services — including, for example, reporting crime," she said.
"Whether within police networks or in the courts or even health facilities, reporting crimes has been a barrier, especially after a sexual assault."
She said the difficulty is compounded for sex workers who are members of other marginalised groups, including migrants.
"There is still an underlying fear for some workers that any attention with police could affect their ability to renew a visa or obtain permanent residency," she said.
"This fear is heightened for migrant sex workers who have experienced extensive police raids under the old Northern Territory legislation, or who travel to work in the NT from other parts of Australia where sex work is still criminalised."
Sex worker and advocate Sienna Charles has worked in every Australian state and territory.
She said sex workers often keep their profession a secret out of fear of discrimination or violence.
A survey of 647 sex workers, conducted by Scarlet Alliance with the Centre for Social Research in Health in 2020, found 96 per cent of sex workers had experienced stigma and discrimination in relation to their work over the past year.
Almost 34 per cent experienced it "often" or "always".
"Once you become a sex worker, even if you stop, that stigma is hanging over your head forever," she says.
"You're petrified that people will find out. Employers, landlords, banking institutions, medical professionals — lots of different people that may discriminate against you."
Charles said the anti-discrimination changes in the Nothern Territory would not change stigma overnight.
"But it's the first step in broader cultural change," she said.
"When there are consequences, people think twice before doing the wrong thing."
Advocates hope for 'domino effect' across Australia
A small amendment made before the bill passed Northern Territory parliament this week may have seemed minor to the general public.
But to sex workers, Melling said, it was momentous.
The definition of sex work was adopted from the NT Sex Industry Act 2019 with the addition of: " use or display the body for sexual arousal or gratification in return for payment or reward".
She said the change extends protections to a wider range of workers than those covered in the original draft, including those who work online.
"[The amendment now covers] sex workers who work as erotic live entertainers out of bars, or in strip clubs, at bucks parties and/or hens’ nights and/or peep shows and online work," Melling said.
The definition of "sex work" for protections against discrimination was reached following broad consultation with sex workers across the country, Melling said, who are fighting for similar protections.
Janelle Fawkes is the campaign leader for #DecrimQLD and is at the forefront of Queensland's battle for decriminalisation and anti-discrimination protections.
Queensland sex workers are supposed to be covered under a legal attribute called "lawful sexual activity", which Fawkes said is too vague to be effective.
"We are all looking to the Northern Territory's change as a first and really a milestone for addressing what is a systemic issue for sex workers," she said.
"Our experience here in Queensland shows that if the attributes are not specific, sex worker coverage will be low."
Melling also hopes the wins in the Northern Territory help produce change across the country.
"Good and bad laws provide domino effects," she said.
"We know that this domino effect is going to be positive for all sex workers," she said.
