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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-16 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

SUMMARY OFFENCES (FILMING OFFENCES) AMENDMENT DRAFT BILL

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:04): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I table the draft Summary Offences (Filming Offences) Amendment Bill 2012. The purpose of tabling this draft bill is to present it for public examination before it is finalised and formally introduced to the parliament. The form of the bill tabled today is not necessarily final. Rather, I present the government's plans for comment. It may be that they can be improved. I hope those with suggestions for improvement will take this opportunity to express their views.

The bill creates new offences of humiliating and degrading filming. The offences aim to deter and punish the conduct of filming a person who is being subjected to a humiliating and degrading act without the person's consent to the act and the filming. They also seek to deter and punish the conduct of distributing film obtained in this way.

In addition, the bill seeks to deter and punish the distribution of an invasive image; for example, intimate photographs without the consent of the subject. The bill does not capture innocent redistribution of pictures. An offence will only be committed if the person knew or had reason to know that the subject was not consenting.

The bill repeals and re-enacts the existing law against indecent filming. That law covers upskirting and other covert indecent filming. The substance of those offences is unchanged although drafting changes have been made. An earlier version of this bill was the subject of public consultation and comment and that was received from a range of groups such as Free TV, various television stations, the Law Society, the Bar Association, Messenger Newspapers, the Legal Services Commission, ALRM, SAPOL, YACSA, the Privacy Committee, victims' representatives and three members of the public. There has also been discussion with The Advertiser.

Some modifications have been made to the bill in light of media comment. In particular, it has been made clearer that the bill does not capture solo behaviour or accidental behaviour, which the media claimed could be caught, such as film of a person drunk in a public place or film of a defendant walking out of a criminal court.

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