Project Respect was founded by Kathleen Maltzahn in 1998 as a direct service conducting outreach to women in the sex industry. Since 2000 the organisation has provided intensive support through activities such as outreach, counselling, education assistance, referrals for legal and financial support, and social activities for peer support and relaxation.

In 2003 Project Respect spearheaded a national campaign together with The Australian newspaper, to encourage the Australian government to recognise people trafficking as a problem in Australia and to respond to it. This campaign resulted in the Government providing a $20 million counter-trafficking package announced in October 2003.

Since this time Project Respect has continued its vital outreach to women in the sex industry and has also contributed to policy formation, legislative reform and research to benefit women, including trafficked women into the sex industry. In 2004 an established training program commenced offering regular training on trafficking for law enforcement agencies, government departments and non-government organisations.

About our Founder

Kathleen has worked on violence against women for many years, including five years in the Philippines where she primarily worked with women in street, bar and military prostitution.

Kathleen founded Project Respect in 1998, and in 2003 spearheaded the successful campaign to put trafficking in women for prostitution on the national agenda.

In 2004 she was awarded an RMIT Research award, with Dr Sallie Yea, for ‘Countering Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in Australia’.

In 2005 she was awarded the inaugural Dame Phyllis Frost Award from the National Council of Women of Victoria in recognition of her work on trafficking.

Kathleen’s recent book, Trafficked, was published by the UNSW Press in July 2008, and in November 2008 was shortlisted for an Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Award for non-fiction literature.

You can purchase a copy of ‘Trafficked’ from the publisher, University of New South Wales Press, book stores such as Readings, Angus and Robertson, Collins Booksellers and Dymocks, or call the Project Respect office on 03 9416 3401.

Please see a full list in our resources section.