{"id":779816,"date":"2026-07-05T03:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T03:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779816\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T03:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T03:40:10","slug":"tasmania-looks-to-introduce-tougher-laws-for-image-based-abuse-such-as-revenge-porn-and-deepfakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779816\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmania looks to introduce tougher laws for image-based abuse such as ‘revenge porn’ and deepfakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephanie Nolan knows firsthand the impact of image-based sexual abuse, after intimate photos and videos were uploaded online without her consent.<\/p>\n

She felt violated and sought help from the justice system, but it left her feeling “extremely deflated.”<\/p>\n

“When reported to the police, they told me they didn’t know what charge they could lay due to the outdated laws within Tasmania, informing me it may be a civil matter, not a criminal,” Ms Nolan said.<\/p>\n

Tasmania’s current laws limit the types of charges and penalties that apply to image-based sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

“I left the police station in a vulnerable state of uncertainty and let down by the system,” Ms Nolan said.Deepfake image-based abuse happening at least once a week in schools<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest data revealed by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner comes just days after reports that digitally altered explicit images of female students from a Sydney high school were shared online.<\/p>\n

A single publishing charge was eventually laid against her perpetrator, despite multiple photos and videos being shared.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the state government announced it would make it illegal to share or threaten to share intimate images without consent \u2014 the last jurisdiction in the country to do so.<\/p>\n

The reforms will cover multiple types of image-based sexual abuse, including “revenge porn” and AI-generated deepfakes.<\/p>\n

The lived experience of victim survivors, including Ms Nolan, drove the creation of the new laws.<\/p>\n

“The harm caused by sexual image-based abuse is lasting and deserving of serious legal consequences,” Ms Nolan said.<\/p>\n

“It creates ongoing fear because once an image is shared online, you’ve lost all control over your body.”<\/p>\n

Tasmania has seen a rise in image-based abuse, government says<\/p>\n

Tasmania’s minister for women and the prevention of family and sexual violence, Jo Palmer, said there had been an increase in reports of image-based abuse across the country, including in Tasmania.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, 21 girls at one of the state’s private schools were targeted in a deepfake incident that saw AI-generated pornographic images of them shared online in a boys’ group chat.<\/a><\/p>\n

School denies parents’ claims of how AI deepfake scandal was handled<\/a><\/p>\n

The principal of a Tasmanian private school denies claims by two parents that the school ever tried to discourage them from telling their daughters they had been identified in AI deepfake images.<\/p>\n

Five boys left the school following the incident, but no charges were laid against them.<\/p>\n

Ms Palmer said the non-consensual sharing of intimate images was “absolutely disgraceful”.<\/p>\n

“These laws are about saying that is not okay and we will not stand for that here in Tasmania,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Nolan said the reforms would recognise that image-based abuse was “not a minor privacy breach”.<\/p>\n

“These changes will send a clear message that perpetrators will be held accountable \u2014 victims will be better protected, have stronger voices and stronger justice,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The next person who goes into a police station to report won’t leave feeling the way that I did.”<\/p>\n

Greens spokesperson for the prevention of family violence Tabitha Badger said the party looked forward to reviewing the draft legislation.<\/p>\n

“The Greens welcome any steps towards making our state safer for women and children,” she said.<\/p>\n

Labor welcomed the announcement and said it was willing to work with the government on the legislation.<\/p>\n

The laws are currently being drafted, and the state government plans to release draft legislation for public consultation by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Advocate calls for tech companies to step up<\/p>\n

Engender Equality CEO Alina Thomas welcomed the announcement of law reforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She flagged any legislation needed to be “concise and well-defined” to enable an effective police response.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alina Thomas wants technology companies to do more to prevent the non-consensual sharing of explicit images online. (ABC News: Ashleigh Barraclough)<\/p>\n

Ms Thomas said harsher penalties would serve as a deterrent, but community engagement was essential.<\/p>\n

“We need to make sure that people understand that it’s a crime, so that they are making informed choices if they are looking or thinking about doing it themselves,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We also need to make sure that victim survivors have got really clear pathways to that justice response and other supports.”<\/p>\n

She also wants to see technology companies upholding community standards and taking responsibility for illegal content on their platforms.<\/p>\n

“This shouldn’t be something that individuals have to navigate themselves,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If tech companies were taking responsibility and being held to particular standards, then that would provide a particular safety mechanism that we won’t be able to have any other way.”<\/p>\n

Ms Thomas said any response to image-based sexual abuse must recognise the gendered nature of the crimes.<\/p>\n

“We know that it is mostly men and boys who are engaging in this practice and therefore the impact and the targets are generally women and young girls.”<\/p>\n

“I think that’s really important in terms of how we’re moving forward wanting to address the problem.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephanie Nolan knows firsthand the impact of image-based sexual abuse, after intimate photos and videos were uploaded online…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[87286,64,63,36708,87283,44,369300],"class_list":["post-779816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-alina-thomas","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-deepfake","tag-engender-equality","tag-news","tag-stephanie-nolan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}