Series of articles on the sex trafficking trade in Australia - Natalie O'Brien and Elisabeth Wynhausen, The Australian
A series of articles on the sex trafficking trade in Australia by Natalie O'Brien and Elizabeth Wynhausen from The Australian newspaper was described by the judges as 'a standout winner'. It began with the inquest into the death of a young Thai woman inside Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre. Her case prompted a series of news reports by O'Brien and Wynhausen which aimed to reveal the extent and nature of sex slavery in Australia; expose the lack of official action over sex slave traffickers; and, in the process, to highlight the gross human rights abuses suffered by the trafficked women and girls.
The O'Brien/Wynhausen disclosures soon revealed that the Thai woman was one of many trafficked into Australia every year for the sex industry. They wrote more than 35 stories on sex trafficking issues over six months in The Australian from March to September 2003. The judges chose this entry for 'the writers' tenacity, for staying with it when all others had given up... and above all for the result... it placed increased pressure on the government and led to a change in laws'.
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