Former Casey councillor Steve Beardon, who pushed for the ban, condemned the sentence, saying the pair deserved to be locked up for their actions, "no questions asked".

"The Attorney General needs to step in and and ensure they are sentenced and behind bars," he said.

Mark Andrew Ford, 50, and Gregory Alan Ford, 53, admitted to two counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16.

County Court judge Wendy Wilmoth sentenced them to two years and six months in prison, suspended for three years. She said the penetration of each child was carried out at the child's request and in pursuit of something that might be called a fashion or a fad.

The court heard that two schoolgirls, aged 13 and 15, had requested the piercings. The men didn't ask how old the girls were. The Fords' Dandenong firm, Tattoo City, no longer performs intimate piercings for any customers.

When on the council in 2007, Mr Beardon successfully moved a motion calling on the Municipal Association of Victoria to enlist the support of all Victorian councils to outlaw underage piercing.

Under state laws that took effect from January 1 this year, minors are banned from having their nipples and genitals pierced and parental consent is required for non-intimate body piercing. Piercers who give under-18s an intimate piercing risk a $6600 fine.