Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise in support of the Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Bill 2024. This important bill will ban the non-consensual sharing of deepfake sexually explicit material, something which is a serious and growing concern which is already, very sadly, impacting Australians who have fallen victim to this new technological abuse. Digitally created and altered sexually explicit material is a vile and damaging form of abuse that can inflict deep harm on victims.

Young people, in particular, are at risk of image based abuse. The internet has changed dramatically in recent years, with new social media apps constantly popping up—changing platforms that are, increasingly, showing children and young adults damaging content. Further, the rise of artificial intelligence—while potentially an incredibly useful tool in work or study—has the potential to be increasingly harmful. The children of today are digital natives; they have never lived in a world where the internet and social media don't exist. Older generations learned new technologies as we moved into the workforce and engaged with many of these new apps, however, this was without the innate knowledge from being on the internet from as young as being a toddler, as Gen Z were. They inherently understand and use social media. I see this with my own very young children and the way in which they adapted very quickly, and from a very young age, to these sorts of technologies.

With the onset of new social media and the wide range of AI platforms now available, new ways of subjecting women and girls, particularly, to assault and harassment have, disgustingly, infiltrated their way into society. We must act now to ensure we can end violence against women and girls within one generation, as our government has committed to. Specifically, this bill amends the Criminal Code to modernise and strengthen offences targeted to non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit material online, including material that has been digitally created or altered. This bill also includes aggravated offences, which build on the underlying offence, for people who have created or altered the material that has been transmitted.

The reforms in this bill make clear that those who share sexually explicit material without consent by using technology like artificial intelligence will be subject to serious criminal penalties. The new offences will have a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment for transmitting sexual material without consent, and seven years imprisonment for aggravated offences, including where the person created the material. These amendments are high-priority reforms following the government's public commitment on 1 May this year to introduce a suite of measures to tackle online harms, particularly those targeting women and young girls. These new offences will place a high burden on anyone who thinks to perpetuate this kind of abuse. It is another step that the Albanese government is taking to protect women and girls from horrific online attacks.

Sexually explicit deepfakes which are created and shared without consent are used to degrade and dehumanise victims. They are primarily targeted at women and can perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes and drive gender based violence. When they are shared with others or posted online without the consent of the person depicted, it is a serious breach of a person's privacy and can have lasting physically and psychologically harmful impacts on victims.

The phenomenon of image-based violence and abuse is not new. Currently the Criminal Code criminalises the sharing of private sexual material online. There has also been a decades-long discussion about the sharing of private sexual material, often called revenge porn. Revenge porn has been criminalised in every state and territory and the Commonwealth, with the exception of Tasmania. This has ensured that people who are victims of that form of image based abuse can receive restitution for the harm that experience and that perpetrators can be charged. However, the current definition of 'private sexual material' does not adequately cover deepfake images or other artificially generated material.

This bill proposes to repeal the existing offence relating to private sexual material and replace it with a new offence that applies in the following circumstances: where a person transmits material using a carriage service, where the material depicts a person who is or appears to be 18 years of age or older, where the material depicts or appears to depict a person engaging in a sexual pose or sexual activity, or particular parts of their body, and where the person knows that the person depicted does not consent to the transmission of the material or they are reckless as to whether the other person consents.

The bill also introduces two aggravated offences which apply increased penalties to the offence where, before the commission of the underlying offence, three or more civil penalty orders were made against the person for contraventions of relevant provisions of the Online Safety Act 2021 and the person was responsible for the creation or alteration of the sexual material transmitted. These amendments are essential to ensure that our laws can apply to both real material, such as unaltered images and recordings, and fake or doctored material that has been created or altered using AI or other technology.

The bill sets out specific defences to the transmission of the sexual material without consent to ensure the offence is targeted and proportionate. The new offences will not cover private communications between consenting adults or interfere with private sexual relationships. It's about sharing with other people or more broadly. They will also only apply to material depicting or appearing to depict adults. The Criminal Code continues to criminalise the use of carriage services for child abuse material, including child abuse material generated by artificial intelligence.

I am proud to be part of a government that is aiming to end gender based violence in a generation. Our government's work is guided by the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. The plan sets out how all parts of society, including governments, businesses, workplaces, the media, schools and educational institutions, the family, the domestic and sexual violence sector, communities and all individuals must work together to achieve this shared vision.

In the recent budget, our government permanently established the Leaving Violence Program so those escaping violence can receive financial support, safety assessments and referrals to support pathways. The Leaving Violence Program supports victims-survivors of intimate partner violence to make informed choices about leaving violent relationships and ensures they are receiving the vital support they need. Our government has also funded a pilot of age assurance technology to protect children from harmful content like pornography and other age-restricted online services. The new pilot is part of a suite of interventions aimed at curbing easy access to age-inappropriate material by children and young people and tackling extreme misogyny online.

Education is such an important part of the prevention of gender based violence. That's why our government is funding a new phase of the Stop it at the Start campaign. This new phase will specifically include a counter-influencing campaign in online spaces where violent and misogynistic content thrives to directly challenge the material in the spaces where it's being viewed. The campaign is intended to counter the corrosive influence of online content targeted at young adults that condones violence against women. It will raise awareness about a proliferation of misogynistic influencers and content and encourage conversations within families about the damaging impact of the material.

The disturbing reports we heard out of Victoria last month, where over 50 girls were subjected to sexually explicit deepfake photos of them spread around their school, indicates how important it is for our government to act now. Criminalising deepfake sexually explicit images is the next step that we can take to ensure that vulnerable people are protected online. Sexually explicit deepfake images can affect everyone, from major celebrities to school students. For each person subjected to image abuse online, it is a harrowing and life-altering experience. As technology develops at a never seen before rate, our laws must protect vulnerable people from new forms of abuse. No-one should ever be subjected to any form of abuse, and this bill is how our government is working to ensure that future generations are kept safe online.

I must say, as a mother of young children, just how important this is and how concerning, I suppose that as part of an older generation—as my staff, who drafted this, have described me, and I guess that's so—I was not exposed from such a vulnerable and young age. We didn't live through that in the way that our children's generation are. The idea that young girls could have these faked images spread around their school—just think about the impact that that will have on those girls for rest of their lives. That is why this bill is so incredibly important.

As I said, our government is wanting to end gender based violence in a generation, and the online abuse is a really important part of that. This deepfake AI generated or altered pornography is something that we first saw affecting celebrities, but now it's affecting children in our schools. I am very proud that our government is taking this action now, taking this seriously and putting an end to it.

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