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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-02-06 Daily Xml
Contents
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Summary Offences (Prohibition of Publication of Certain Material) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:51): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Summary Offences Act 1953. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:52): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am pleased to introduce the Summary Offences (Prohibition of Publication of Certain Material) Amendment Bill 2025. Recent reports of people posting material on social media platforms to brag about their involvement in crime, known as posting and boasting, have raised concerns about the risk of harm to the community through to the promotion of crime and community exposure to offensive material on social media.

To address these concerns this bill will criminalise posting and boasting through the creation of a new standalone offence. I wish in particular to note the significant contribution the Hon. Frank Pangallo has made in relation to this. He brought the issue to the attention of this chamber last year and I thank him and his office for a substantial amount of interaction and work to have the bill in the shape that it is in today, which will make the community safer once we pass it.

The bill proposes to insert a new offence of publishing material depicting an offence in the Summary Offences Act 1953. The offence has a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment and will apply if a person publishes material depicting conduct constituting, or apparently constituting, a prescribed offence; if the person publishes the material with the intention of encouraging, glorifying or promoting the depicted conduct; or to increase a person's notoriety because of their involvement in the depicted conduct.

Published means published by electronic means and will include the posting, uploading or sharing of material via the internet on a social media platform or other electronic platform. A prescribed offence means any offence involving driving or operating a vehicle or vessel, violence, weapons, damage or destruction of property, theft or criminal trespass. An offence or a class of offences may be included or excluded from the definition of prescribed offence by regulation. Offences against the law of another jurisdiction that would, if committed in South Australia, constitute any of the above offences would also be considered a prescribed offence for the purposes of the posting and boasting offence.

A person may be charged with the new offence whether or not the person, or any other person, has been or will be charged with the related prescribed offence. This means that a person can be charged or convicted of the posting and boasting offence even if the person were not involved in the prescribed offence depicted on the published material.

It will be a defence to a charge under the new offence if the defendant proves that the depicted conduct did not constitute a prescribed offence. Additionally, a person will be taken not to have committed the new offence if the publication was for a legitimate public purpose.

Publication of material will be taken to be for a legitimate public purpose if the publication was in the public interest having regard to various factors, such as whether the publication was for the purpose of educating or informing the public, for the purpose of publishing a fair and accurate report of any event or matter of public interest, or a work of artistic merit. There is also the ability to prescribe other factors through regulations. The onus lies on the prosecution to prove that the publication was not for a legitimate public purpose.

Finally, the bill provides that a penalty imposed for the posting and boasting offence must not exceed the maximum penalty that may be imposed for the related prescribed offence to ensure that the penalty imposed for the new offence is not disproportionately high compared to the maximum penalty for the prescribed offence depicted in the published material.

The bill is intended to promote the safety of the community through the prevention of crime and its promotion and glorification on social media. Whilst this bill would apply the proposed offences equally to all people, it is pleasing that it will contribute in the fight against damaging posting and boasting behaviour that has been reported in young people inside and outside of school environments. It is bad enough to commit violent offences involving or against a young person, but to compound their humiliation by publishing footage of the event is deserving of a penalty itself.

I commend the bill to the chamber and seek leave to insert the explanation of clauses without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Summary Offences Act 1953

3—Insertion of section 21AA

This clause inserts new section 21AA as follows:

21AA—Publishing material depicting offence etc

This clause provides that a person who publishes material depicting conduct constituting, or apparently constituting, a prescribed offence with the intention of encouraging, glorifying or promoting the conduct, or increasing the person's, or another person's, notoriety because of their involvement in the conduct, is guilty of an offence. A person may be charged with an offence against this clause whether or not a person has been or is to be charged with the prescribed offence.

An exemption is provided where the publication of the material was for a legitimate public purpose. The clause also provides a defence against a charge of an offence against this clause for the defendant to prove that the conduct the material depicted did not constitute a prescribed offence.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.A. Franks.

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