Australian federal police assistant commissioner Shane Connelly denies he is victim blaming in saying people should stop taking naked shots of themselves to curb revenge pornography

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Australians must “grow up” and stop taking naked or explicit photos of themselves to curb the growing threat of revenge pornography, a senior police officer says.

A parliamentary inquiry into the crime – when naked or sexual images of a person are shared without their consent to humiliate or embarrass them – has heard revenge pornography is an exponentially increasing crime.

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But authorities say they cannot arrest their way out of the problem and education plays a critical part in teaching people to be cautious.

“People just have to grow up in terms of what they’re taking and loading on to the computer because the risk is so high,” Australian federal police assistant commissioner Shane Connelly told the inquiry in Sydney on Thursday.

Asked if he was victim-blaming, Connelly said he was not implying that but “wicked” people would always take advantage of the naive, and it was the same for revenge porn, cyber-crime or online child abuse.

“[They say] if you go out in the snow without clothes on you’ll catch a cold – if you go on to the computer without your clothes on, you’ll catch a virus,” he said.

“It’s a wicked analogy but it’s pretty realistic.”

Children’s eSafety Commissioner Alastair MacGibbon said criminal sanctions will need to be teamed with education and prevention to tackle the problem.

Working with search engines and social media sites, his office is able to take down offensive material targeting Australian children within eight hours.

Victims need tangible, quick redress and criminal law can not always be relied on to provide that, he said.

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“You can’t just arrest [your way] out of a social problem,” he said.

South Australia and Victoria are the only Australian jurisdictions with laws targeting revenge porn, with a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment.

But Victoria Laughton and Katherine McLachlan from South Australia’s Victim Support Service said even though targeted laws were available in the state, they were not being used by police.

There was anecdotal evidence to suggest revenge pornography images were being circulated among teenagers in schools and applications such as Snapchat (where photos disappear after a few seconds) were lulling young people into a false sense of security.

Alex Martin, policy officer at Tasmania’s Sexual Assault Support Service, said national laws were needed to send a strong message that revenge pornography was not acceptable.

The attorney general’s department is advising the government on whether new laws are required to deal with revenge pornography.