Sexting: Victoria makes it an offence to send explicit images without consent

Victoria is to become the first state to modify its laws on “sexting”, making it an offence to distribute explicit images without consent but also exempting young people from child pornography offences.

The Victorian government said it has accepted 11 of 14 recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry into sexting, a practice that involves the distribution of explicit images via mobile phones.

There will be a new law to create an offence for “non-consensual sexting”, which most commonly occurs when jilted lovers maliciously send intimate pictures of their former partners to others.

Coalition MP Clem Newton-Brown, chair of the parliament’s law reform committee, said that the unauthorised sending of explicit pictures can have "very dire consequences for victims who are embarrassed and humiliated".

However, the government said it would ensure that children who distribute images are not charged with child pornography offences.

The parliamentary inquiry found that there was a legal “loophole” that has seen, in rare cases, children placed on the sex offenders register.

“As the law stands, children can be charged with creating child pornography if they sext, which I don’t think anyone anticipated when the child pornography laws were drafted,” Newton-Brown told Guardian Australia. “The real harm is done when images are sent to third parties.”

Under the new legislation, sexting between minors with no more than two years’ age difference, or adults, won’t be illegal. Forwarding the pictures to a third party will be illegal, although the penalties for this offence are yet to be formalised.

“This new law will respond specifically to the issue of sexting to ensure that appropriate penalties apply to those who misuse this technology,” Robert Clark, Victoria’s attorney general, said.

“It will make it an offence to intentionally distribute, or threaten to distribute, an intimate image of another person or persons without their consent.

“This will continue to make clear that such behaviour is unacceptable and illegal, while not treating young people who distribute such images as child pornographers or rendering them liable to consequences such as being placed on the sex offenders register.”

Clark said the government would also do more to work with schools to educate children on the proper use of technology.