Page 2757 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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address is posting nude photos of a person online in order to embarrass or harass them. This crime can cause considerable harm to victims and the community. Intimate image abuse is a weapon to humiliate and demean people, often women and often in family violence situations. Changes in technology mean that the consequences of this crime are more serious than they might have been in the past. An image shared online, for example, can be difficult to remove or remedy and can continue to result in harassment and embarrassment indefinitely.
Changes in technology also mean that our laws need to keep pace. A commonwealth Senate committee released a report on this subject in February 2016 titled Phenomenon colloquially referred to as ‘revenge porn’. The Senate committee observed that the non-consensual sharing of intimate images is a growing problem in Australia and expressed concern about the limited capacity of the criminal law to cover this type of behaviour. The submissions to the inquiry expressed overwhelming support for legislative change.
A key issue with this crime is that it is often committed using the internet, and that means that the impacts cross borders. That is why, at the 19 May 2017 Law, Crime and Community Safety Council meeting, Mr Ramsay joined attorneys-general from around Australia in endorsing a set of national principles for this type of offence. The national principles are designed to ensure that criminal responsibility is applied consistently across all states and territories, and in a way that meets community expectations.
Mr Hanson’s Crimes (Intimate Image Abuse) Amendment Bill follows an exposure draft process that has clearly incorporated elements of the national principles. Between Mr Hanson’s exposure draft legislation and the bill he tabled, there has clearly been a willingness on Mr Hanson’s part to consider ACT-specific issues and to incorporate views to make this legislation better. Importantly, the new bill recognises the need to refrain from calling this crime “revenge porn”. That terminology implies that the crime is somehow related to something the victim did. In reality, this crime is about what choices and actions an offender makes. It has nothing to do with the actions of a victim, and therefore it cannot be called “revenge”.
Mr Hanson’s bill seeks to create three new criminal offences: (1) distributing an intimate image of another person without their consent; (2) threatening to distribute intimate images; and (3) threatening to capture intimate images. At its core, this bill addresses intimate image abuse. It does so in a way that shows attention to ACT-specific legal issues. For that reason, the government will be supporting the bill with some amendments. Today’s debate on Mr Hanson’s bill shows this community that, when it comes to this behaviour, we are unanimous in our condemnation, and it shows that in order to achieve effective change to the law we can rise above partisan politics and work together.
I foreshadow that I will be moving some amendments, circulated in Minister Ramsay’s name, to the bill which have been developed between all three parties. The government amendments serve two purposes: they will more closely align the bill with existing laws for prosecuting sexual offences, resulting in more predictable
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