New laws imposing significant penalties on people who share or threaten to share intimate images of others without their consent have been passed by the Parliament.
The laws include potential jail sentences of up to seven years.
The Department of Communications and the Arts said the Enhancing Online Safety (Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images) Bill 2018 had been passed by Parliament and was now part of the commitment to online safety.
“The eSafety Commissioner can now issue removal notices to perpetrators, websites, content hosts and social media providers, directing them to remove offending content within 48 hours,” the Department said.
“Individuals may be subject to civil penalties of up to $105,000 and corporations up to $525,000 if they do not remove offending content when directed.”
It said perpetrators might also face imprisonment for up to five years, or seven years if they have receive three civil penalty orders.
“The legislation complements existing Commonwealth, State and Territory laws and reinforces the Government’s zero tolerance approach to the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.”
eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant welcomed the new penalties as an extra set of tools to help empower victims of image-based abuse regardless of where they lived in Australia.
“Since October 2017, the eSafety Office has received more than 360 reports from Australians who’ve had their intimate images or videos shared or threatened to be shared without their consent,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“Already, we have been successful in helping victims get their intimate material removed from websites in 80 per cent of cases.”
She said the legislation complemented her office’s efforts to tackle image-based abuse and sent a clear deterrent to perpetrators and technology platforms that this insidious behaviour would no longer be tolerated.
