People who publish, or threaten to publish, “revenge porn” now face up to three years in jail or a $45,000 fine, after the ACT’s parliament moved to bring the territory’s laws up-to-date with technology.
The penalties are bumped up to five years in jail or a fine of up to $75,000 if the victim is aged under 16. The laws would not capture teenagers consensually “sexting”.
Courts can now order people to take down or delete the intimate image. Those who fail to comply can face up to two years’ jail or a $30,000 fine.
The laws come close to a year after five ACT schools were caught in a pornography ring where teenage boys and young men are secretly exchanging graphic sexual images of female students.