Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017
The Law Council supports protecting Australian children from sexual abuse and supports appropriate measures to ensure that the internet is not used to perpetrate crimes against children.
However, the Law Council has a number of concerns with the Bill. These include:
- The necessity of the Bill in light of existing offences in the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) (Criminal Code) and the extensions of criminal liability in Part 2.4 of the Criminal Code;
- The preparatory nature of the offence;
- The breadth of the 'causing harm' element in proposed paragraph 474.25C(a)(i); and
- Given the wide scope of the offence, the ability of law enforcement agencies to obtain a telecommunications warrant to investigate a person in relation to the proposed offence.
As a consequence of these concerns the Law Council recommends that the Bill not be passed.
You can read the full submission below.