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Canberra Today 25°/29° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Hanson introduces ‘revenge porn’ laws

UNDER proposed new laws, offenders could serve up to two years imprisonment for ‘revenge porn’, which involves sharing intimate images on social media. 

Jeremy Hanson.
The proposed new law was introduced in a statement today (May 18) by Canberra Liberals Shadow Attorney-General Jeremy Hanson, which says revenge porn is the non-consensual sharing of intimate images on social media or other websites.

This follows a recent RMIT study showing that one in five Australian’s have had revealing images of themselves shared online without their permission.

“The law has not kept pace with technology,” Mr Hanson says.

“It is appalling that one in five Australians have been victim of this kind of attack, with indigenous and disabled people the most common target. Men and women are equally likely to be victims.

“Today I am circulating a proposal for a new law to make revenge porn a criminal offence. It is based on existing legislation from Victoria, which closely matches the approach we wanted to take.

“Importantly, it recognises that this problem is a scourge that is destroying lives and should therefore incur significant consequences.

“It also regards the threat to distribute intimate material as part of the offence.”

The Bill contains key provisions stating that a person commits an offence if the person intentionally distributes an intimate image of another person to a third person; and if a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances, consider distributing the image to be an indecent invasion of privacy.

The maximum penalty for this offence is 200 penalty units, two years imprisonment or both.

Mr Hanson says it is also an offence to threaten to distribute an image, either by explicit statement or conduct, with penalties of 100 penalty units, one year imprisonment, or both.

“The new law also contains guidance on how it is to be interpreted, and appropriate defence provisions,” he says.

 

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