Social Policy Scrutiny Committee Inquiry into the Criminal Code Amendment (Intimate Images) Bill 2017 March 2018
Tabled paper 650
Tabled Papers for 13th Assembly 2016 - 2020; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
2018-03-13
Tabled by Ngaree Ah Kit
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
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Tabled papers
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/294464
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/396375
Inquiry into the Criminal Code Amendment (Intimate Images) Bill 2017 28 The protection and respect of victims and minimisation of harm to victims is essential in responding to the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.57 Recommendation 4 The Committee recommends that proposed section 208AE be amended to include provision for the Northern Territory Police, or the individual whose intimate image has been posted, to apply to the Local Court for an ex parte injunctive order to take-down, and not permit the republication of, any intimate images. Compensation Orders 3.47 The NT Legal Aid Commission queried the applicability of existing provisions, pursuant to Part 5 of the Sentencing Act, for courts to make a compensation order in addition to a sentence to the offences introduced under the Bill given that: in many cases, a prominent aspect of the offending is a malicious intent to harm the victim (as is implied by the colloquial expression revenge porn), these offences are ones for which it is particularly apt to confer on courts the power to impose compensation orders in appropriate cases. This restorative justice approach punishes the offender while benefitting the victim.58 3.48 Section 88(1)(a) of the Sentencing Act provides that a court may order an offender to pay compensation for injury suffered by a person in the course of or in connection with the commission of an offence. However, as Mr Goldflam pointed out to the Committee, it is unclear whether this provision would extend to paying compensation in an image-based abuse case.59 While noting that civil remedies may be available to affected victims, as highlighted in the NTLRC Report, such a process will inevitably be time-consuming and expensive.60 3.49 The NT Legal Aid Commission further noted that the NTLRC Report [refers] to the power of courts in NSW to make compensation orders pursuant to s 97(1) of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 (NSW).61 In contrast to the NT legislation, compensation is payable to any aggrieved person for any loss sustained through, or by reason of the offence without the requirement that the victim suffered an injury.62 The Committee also notes that the jurisdictional comparison of criminal sanctions applicable to image-based abuse in the NTLRC Report makes no 57 Law, Crime and Community Safety Council, National Statement of Principles Relating to the Criminalisation of the Non-Consensual Sharing of Intimate Images, https://www.ag.gov.au/CrimeAndCorruption/Cybercrime/Documents/National-statement-of-principlescriminalisation-non-consensual-sharing-intimate-images.PDF, p. 2 58 NT Legal Aid Commission, Submission No.1, p.4 59 Mr Russell Goldflam, Committee Transcript, 14 February 2018, p. 4 60 Northern Territory Law Reform Committee, Report on the Non-Consensual Sharing of Intimate Images, Report No. 43, November 2016, https://justice.nt.gov.au/attorney-general-and-justice/law/report-on-the-nonconsensual-sharing-of-intimate-images, p.19 61 NT Legal Aid Commission, Submission No. 1, p.4 62 Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 (NSW), s97(1) https://www.ag.gov.au/CrimeAndCorruption/Cybercrime/Documents/National-statement-of-principles-criminalisation-non-consensual-sharing-intimate-images.PDF https://www.ag.gov.au/CrimeAndCorruption/Cybercrime/Documents/National-statement-of-principles-criminalisation-non-consensual-sharing-intimate-images.PDF https://justice.nt.gov.au/attorney-general-and-justice/law/report-on-the-non-consensual-sharing-of-intimate-images https://justice.nt.gov.au/attorney-general-and-justice/law/report-on-the-non-consensual-sharing-of-intimate-images