Brothel duty for Australian MP

The MP's services were auctioned for charity

A conservative Member of Parliament in Australia is set to spend the day as a "slave" at one of Western Australia's most notorious brothels.

Liberal Party member Barry Haase was "won" in a charity auction after the madam of Langtree's brothel in the mining town of Kalgoorlie made the highest offer for his services for a day.

I am going to put a frilly apron on him and start him cleaning at 10 in the morning to show him our brothel is spotlessly clean and not all brothels are dirty

Mary-Anne Kenworthy

Mary-Anne Kenworthy made a bid of A$1,000 ($540) in the local Rotary Club auction and said she intended "to have a lot of fun with him."

Ms Kenworthy told the BBC's World Today programme that she had a packed timetable planned for Mr Haase to educate him in the ways of a brothel.

"I am going to put a frilly apron on him and start him cleaning at 10 in the morning to show him our brothel is spotlessly clean and not all brothels are dirty," Ms Kenworthy said.

"Secondly he is going on a tour at 12 o'clock - we do tours of our brothels - and at two clock he is going to take the tour out wearing my tour hat," she added.

Long history

Ms Kenworthy said she would tell Mr Haase about the long history of Kalgoorlie's association with the oldest profession.

The gold-mining town has boasted the presence of an open brothel for 100 years, she said.

I think I'm big enough to play the game

Barry Haase

But she stressed that there was a serious side to the day as she hoped to influence Mr Haase's opinion on brothels.

"I hope he will leave with an informed decision on what Australian brothels are all about and it will help him in his political career to make informed decisions that he might not have been able to make before," Ms Kenworthy said.

Mr Haase, a member of Prime Minister John Howard's party seemed relaxed about the prospect of working in a brothel.

"You can't be half-hearted about fundraising for significant charities and I think I'm big enough to play the game," he said.