SYDNEY ~ Local Australian politicians paid private detectives thousands of dollars to have sex with prostitutes so they could use the evidence to shut down illegal brothels, reports said.

Nick Ebbeck, mayor of suburban Ku-ring-gai Council, defended the practice, saying evidence was needed.

“We have to employ private investigators to actually go through with the act and come up with reports that will suffice in a court process,” Ebbeck told the Sunday Telegraph.