‘Revenge porn’ laws reviewed
A TOOWOOMBA solicitor has welcomed proposed legislation that would crack down further on “revenge porn” and make even a threat of publishing such material a crime.
Revenge porn is the term given to people sharing compromising images of another person.
Under proposed tough new measures, even a threat to publish such material could bring harsh penalties.
Solicitor John Davis of Kennedy Spanner Lawyers said the bill before the Queensland Parliament was a timely response to an alarming trend of revenge porn.
“We have received inquiries over the years from embarrassed victims who are usually ex-partners of the person publishing, or threatening to publish, the images or video,” Mr Davis said. “Until now it has been a legal vacuum so these laws should result in a decrease in such behaviour.
“Currently the Queensland courts do not have an adequate response to revenge porn and this bill should go a long way towards rectifying this.
“Often the Queensland police can only charge people where there is already a domestic violence order in place, and the respondent must ‘be of good behaviour’. Importantly, the proposed law goes as far as capturing threats to release intimate images.”
Mr Davis said, as with most new laws, there would be teething problems.
“It generally takes a number of years for the courts to fully come to terms with new offences, but in the long term, this change will provide a good support for victims of revenge porn,” he said.