Escort 'shag bus' rumoured for Australian miners

A hole in Alice Springs' prostitution market could be filled by an agency looking to cash in on a mining boom with its own fly-in fly-out operation.

Businesswoman Julie Partridge, 52, has applied for a licence to set up an agency that would bring sex workers in from Darwin or interstate on a two weeks on, two weeks off roster.

"I am very positive about an escort agency business in Alice Springs because of all the mining activity that is going on," she said.



Another businesswoman said she was approached by an interstate group looking to take advantage of the surge of male mine workers, who spent their working week "in a hole" and emerged with cash to burn and "one thing on their mind".

She said they were looking to set up a "Shag Bus" in a refurbished Winnebago to service horny clients up and down the Stuart Highway between Alice and Tennant Creek.

"It's ... the Love Boat but on wheels," she said. "It's quite clever - a new take on the phrase 'sex tourism'."