Sex workers have accused Queensland police of failing to act quickly enough over the disappearance of a New Zealand-born prostitute whose body was found in a sealed drum in Sydney.
An autopsy revealed that Natasha Reid, 23, died from stab wounds.
Her partner, New Zealander Karl Michael Dawson, 26, has been chargedwith murder and is due to appear in a Brisbane court today.
Dawson's parents, who live near Whangarei, declined to comment.
Detective Senior Sergeant Marty Ruth, of Whangarei, said officers had been helping Australian police, making inquiries with Whangarei residents over the murder charge.
Brisbane's Courier-Mail newspaper yesterday described Ms Reid as a high-class sex worker who travelled to New York and New South Wales to meet clients.
Australian police believe she was murdered on February 15 in the inner-Brisbane unit she shared with Dawson and their 3-year-old son, and that her body was taken by car trailer to New South Wales.
Police found the drum in the garage of a West Sydney property on Wednesday.
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said Dawson's arrest was the result of "good police work".
But Self-Health for Queensland Workers in the Sex Industry accused a police chief of dragging his feet because the victim was a prostitute.
Self-Health co-ordinator Cheryl Matthews said she was shocked to hear that it took several weeks after an investigation was started in mid-April for Queensland detectives to get permission to go to Sydney.
Assistant Commissioner John Banham denied an initial travel request in a decision the police union blamed on "penny-pinching" and budget cutbacks by the state Government.
Approval was finally granted last week and two detectives arrived in Sydney this week to charge Dawson.
