A new social media campaign warning Queenslanders of the legal consequences of sharing intimate images without consent will be launched tomorrow as part of Law Week 2019.
Attorney-General and Minster for Justice Yvette D’Ath said Law Week provided an opportunity to raise awareness about the new ‘revenge porn’ laws introduced by the Palaszczuk Government this year.
“Law Week is about raising awareness of the law and justice in the community. The Department of Justice and Attorney-General’s campaign aims to educate Queenslanders about new laws targeting the non-consensual sharing, and the threat of sharing, intimate images,” she said.
“This is about starting a conversation and holding people accountable for their actions. The Palaszczuk Government is working across government to deliver education and awareness-raising initiatives.”
Mrs D’Ath said the campaign featured short animations and sharable warnings about the legal dangers of sharing intimate images without consent. It also includes advice for people who may be affected by this form of abuse.
“People need to know that engaging in this behaviour may not only be in breach of the new Queensland laws, but a raft of other State and Federal laws, including laws prohibiting child exploitation material,” she said.
The campaign points out that under the new laws, consent must be given freely and voluntarily, by a person with the cognitive capacity to give the consent. Under the Criminal Code, people aged 16 and under are not considered capable of giving consent.
While often referred to as ‘revenge porn’, sharing an intimate image without consent encompasses a broad range of behaviour not always motivated by revenge. It is a form of cyberbullying that can be motivated by control, intimidation, sexual gratification, monetary gain and social status building. It can also be a form of domestic violence used to exercise power over another person.
“Anyone convicted of distributing or threatening to distribute intimate images or prohibited visual recordings of a person without their consent now faces up to three years in jail. Furthermore, anyone threatening to distribute an image can be charged, whether or not the image actually exists,” Mrs D’Ath said.
“The new laws also cover photoshopped images – where an image has been altered to look like a person is portrayed in an intimate way.”
The laws also give courts the power to make a rectification order directing an offender to delete or remove images or face up to two years in jail.
