The ACT Greens have softened elements of their "revenge porn" laws, the original version of which would have seen photos of a Muslim woman without her hijab or of a transgender person before their transition considered in the same category as sexually explicit images.
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Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur tabled her intimate image abuse bill in the ACT Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, after taking feedback on the draft legislation over the past month.
The Greens' definition of "intimate document" was changed after the ACT Humans Right Commission found its coverage of non-sexual images that could be considered intimate by the subject was potentially an "unjustifiable limitation" on the right to freedom of expression.
They also refined their definition of consent to require the prosecution to prove an alleged offender did not take reasonable steps to confirm consent, after concerns the original bill was "incompatible" with the right to be presumed innocent.
Submissions said the broad definition of 'intimate' had the potential to be "abused" and its extension to cover a non-consenting Muslim woman without her hijab might be "overreach".
Another submission said the wider definition could be used by "vexatious litigants to make claims in non-sexual situations, such as being photographed at the beach wearing bathers".
The definition was left out of the final bill but the explanatory statement noted future reform of the definition of intimate was "necessary".
Instead the laws will cover images where someone is engaged in a private act - using the toilet, showering or bathing or engaged in a sexual act - or that show a person's private parts.
The previous definition had been branded "unworkable" by the Canberra Liberals, who have put forward their own revenge porn laws.
Legal affairs spokesman Jeremy Hanson said the Greens' laws were "flawed" but he was glad to see they'd "knocked off what was unworkable in law".
"The Greens are now coming late to the party. It looks like the changes they made mimicked what we proposed at the time. It does seem like they're playing catch up but I guess that's them engaging in the political process. It's good to see the Greens are doing something other than being the party of protest," Mr Hanson said.
Mr Hanson believed the Liberals' laws would be supported by Labor "in the main".
"What we want is good legislation. It shouldn't necessarily be about who got there first. It shouldn't necessarily be about whether its a Labor, Green or Liberal bill but my view is, in this case, the Liberal legislation is the right way to proceed and my understanding is that is what will be occurring," Mr Hanson said.
However, the Greens' 'stealthing' provision - criticised by Mr Hanson as "dangerously broad" remains in the version tabled on Wednesday.
Stealthing - the practice where a sexual partner covertly removes a condom - would be included as a negating factor for consent under the laws.
The Greens' new bill bumped up the penalties for failing to take down intimate content when ordered by the court to 200 penalty units or two years' in jail - previously 50 units and six months' imprisonment.
It gave higher credence to implied threats of publishing images and expanded the factors that negate consent to include the threat of or denial of access to someone's mobility aids, medication, personal care or rights to social and medical appointments, to recognise people with disabilities were particularly vulnerable to these act.
The bill will be debated when the government next sits.
