The Tasmanian government will develop new laws to crack down on image-based abuse, including ‘revenge porn’, AI-generated deepfakes and covert digital tracking.
Jo Palmer, the state’s Minister for Women and Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, announced the reforms alongside Steph Nolan, a victim of image-based abuse who has spent more than a year pushing for stronger protections.
“Across the country, we’ve seen a really concerning rise in reports of image-based abuse,” Palmer said.
“Our government is firmly committed to taking strong action on these abhorrent crimes.”
Palmer said the laws would make it a criminal offence not only to share intimate images without consent but also to threaten to do so.
“You don’t get to take and be involved in the development of an intimate image with someone that you could be in a relationship with, and then use that to try and have power over a person,” she said.
“That is abuse.”
Nolan said she was left feeling “extremely deflated, disappointed and extremely let down” after police previously told her there was little they could charge her perpetrator with under Tasmania’s existing laws.
“When reported to the police, they told me they didn’t know what charge they could lay due to the outdated laws within Tasmania, informing me it may be a civil matter, not a criminal,” Nolan said.
She said only one publishing charge was laid despite multiple images and videos being shared, and an emotional abuse charge was later withdrawn, stripping her of the chance to deliver a victim impact statement.
A government discussion paper on family violence responses received 69 submissions highlighting the need to address emerging forms of technology-enabled abuse.
Palmer said draft legislation is already being prepared and will be released for public consultation by the end of the year.
The reforms will also target the use of covert tracking and digital surveillance to control, intimidate or harass victims.
Greens MP Tabatha Badger welcomed the government’s commitment, saying the state needs to “crack down on this kind of abuse to make Tasmanians safer”.
