Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I'll put on the record again—lest anyone who tunes into the debate or is subsequently reading the Hansard is under the impression that there are currently no Commonwealth criminal provisions in this area. Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 it is an offence to use a carriage service in a menacing, harassing or offensive way. That is section 474 of the Criminal Code. The maximum penalty for this offence is three years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $37,800. Since 2004 there have been 927 charges proven against 458 defendants under this offence, including a number of cases in relation to the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

As I mentioned before, in May 2017 the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council, which is the ministerial council for the Attorneys-General, published National statement of principles relating to the criminalisation of the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Alignment on key principles is an important initiative, as most offences are likely to be prosecuted at that state level. Can I indicate, in terms of individual jurisdictions, that most states already have criminal laws, and those that do not are considering it or progressing it. I'm advised that New South Wales, the ACT, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia have criminal laws for specific non-consensual sharing of intimate images, that the Northern Territory has introduced a bill with specific laws, and that Queensland and Tasmania intend to introduce specific laws. That is the current status in the Commonwealth, and in state and territory jurisdictions.

As I mentioned earlier, what we're proposing here in this legislation is a civil penalties regime to complement the existing and emerging criminal provisions at Commonwealth, state and territory levels. For those reasons, and because of the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council process, we're not intending to support the amendment moved by Senator Griff. If the amendment moved by Senator Griff is successful in the Senate, it may well be the case, after the transmission of this bill to the House, that it comes back to the Senate again in an amended form from the other place. If that were to occur, I would hope that colleagues at that point would not allow the disagreement over the Stirling Griff amendment to delay the passage of the civil penalties regime into law.