Revenge porn will be criminalised in New South Wales, making it illegal to create and distribute sexually explicit images without permission.
Victoria and South Australia have already outlawed sharing intimate images without consent.
In a statement NSW Attorney General Gabrielle Upton said distributing images without consent involved past partners seeking “revenge”.
“‘These images can have a devastating emotional and social effect on the person pictured and can be used as a way to deliberately humiliate, control or harass the intended victim,” Ms Upton said.
”The use of mobile phones as recording devices has made it easier for people to share intimate images without consent on social media or websites, causing great distress for victims, and we need strong laws to protect them.”
Dr Lauren Rosewarne from Melbourne University says the power of the new law lies in its symbolism.
“The difficulty with laws relating to the internet is tracking who has put up an image in, if you like, cyberspace,” she said.
“But I think from a state perspective, it’s a really good move in that the state has said this behaviour is not on.”
The NSW laws come after a parliamentary committee in March said New South Wales needed to strengthen laws to allow victims to take legal action for serious privacy breaches.
The Victorian laws were introduced in August 2014, introducing a maximum penalty of two years in jail. In South Australia those found guilty under the revenge porn laws can face a fine of up to $10,000 or two years in jail.
In July 2016, The Age reported 174 offences had been under the laws in Victoria, according to figures from the Crime Statistics Agency.
Children between 10 and 17 represented 29 per cent of offenders, with most receiving warnings under the laws.
However, seven children had been charged with sending or threatening to distribute explicit images without consent.
In the past year a number of revenge porn social media accounts have been uncovered, even operating in some of Melbourne’s most elite schools.
In April, police shut down an online Facebook group that shared explicit images of women, many of them underage.
The page Melbourne’s Men’s Society had over 7,000 members who shared explicit images and messages with other members.
Police also investigated an account set up by two Year 11 Brighton Grammar School students in July which featured private images of several young women. The Instagram account encouraged people to vote for the “Slut of the Year”.
Victoria’s revenge porn laws introduced exceptions to the child pornography laws, meaning that minors that received non-exploitative sexually explicit texts and photos were not placed on the sex offenders registery.
Previously, minors that received sexts would be placed on the registry, placing employment and living conditions on them for the rest of their life.
