MOONING is now officially a crime in Victoria.

Those who dare to bare their bottoms in public face up to six months in jail with new laws introduced to ban the cheeky practice.

Mooning was previously punishable under other laws but is now banned under specific legislation. The amendment was one of more than 50 crimes included in an overhaul of sexual offence laws.

First-time offenders face up to two months in jail while repeat offenders could spend six months behind bars.

Attorney General Martin Pakula told 3AW the sexual offence legislation had been updated to separate indecent exposure from sexual exposure.

“Sexual exposure is of course a much more serious offence,” Mr Pakula said.

“We don’t want a situation where someone who might streak at the cricket is funnelled into the same category as someone who might jump out in front of a 13-year-old girl and flash.

“They’re very different types of offences and the legislation for the first time makes that clear.”

The Summary Offences Act states that “behaviour that is indecent, offensive or insulting includes behaviour that involves a person exposing (to any extent) the person’s anal or genital region”.

It cites “mooning or streaking” as an example of such an offence.

“If you contemplate a situation where it’s not (an offence) you could have people simply doing it everyday with no possibility of any kind of sanction,” Mr Pakula said.

“So it’s always been an offence, it remains an offence but the legislation simply separates out the less serious offence from the more serious offence.

“And that’s why it passed parliament with the support of both sides.”

The act also outlaws singing “an obscene song or ballad” and behaving in a “riotous, indecent, offensive or insulting manner”.