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

I indicate that the government won't be supporting this amendment. Under the bill, consent to share an intimate image cannot be given by a child, who is a person under the age of 18, as Senator Leyonhjelm points out. This is because, to the extent that the definition of intimate image overlaps with the definition of child sexual exploitation material in the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995, a lower age of consent for the distribution of intimate images would create an inappropriate inconsistency between the criminal and civil frameworks. The effect of this item is that a person under the age of 18 cannot provide consent to the sharing by another person of an intimate image of themselves, as distribution of this image would effectively constitute distribution of exploitative material. I should also point out that the Office of the eSafety Commissioner will, under this legislation, adopt a graduated approach to enforcing prohibitions: firstly, seeking the non-formal resolution of a complaint; then issuing formal written warnings, infringement notices and so on; and ultimately through to civil penalties, if those are warranted.