Commonwealth Numbered Acts

PRIVACY AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT ACT 2024 (NO. 128, 2024) - SCHEDULE 3

Criminal Code Act 1995

1   After section   474.17B of the Criminal Code

Insert:

474.17C   Using a carriage service to make available etc. personal data of one or more individuals

  (1)   A person commits an offence if:

  (a)   the person uses a carriage service to make available, publish or otherwise distribute information; and

  (b)   the information is personal data of one or more individuals; and

  (c)   the person engages in the conduct in a way that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing or harassing towards those individuals.

Note:   Publishing the name, image and telephone number of an individual on a website and encouraging others to repeatedly contact the individual with violent or threatening messages is an example of conduct (commonly referred to as doxxing) that is covered by this subsection.

Penalty:   Imprisonment for 6 years.

  (2)   For the purposes of paragraph   (1)(b), personal data of an individual means information about the individual that enables the individual to be identified, contacted or located, and includes the following:

  (a)   the name of the individual;

  (b)   a photograph or other image of the individual;

  (c)   a telephone number of the individual;

  (d)   an email address of the individual;

  (e)   an online account of the individual;

  (f)   a residential address of the individual;

  (g)   a work or business address of the individual;

  (h)   a place of education of the individual;

  (i)   a place of worship of the individual.

474.17D   Using a carriage service to make available etc. personal data of one or more members of certain groups

  (1)   A person commits an offence if:

  (a)   the person uses a carriage service to make available, publish or otherwise distribute information; and

  (b)   the information is personal data of one or more members of a group; and

  (c)   the person engages in the conduct in whole or in part because of the person's belief that the group is distinguished by race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality or national or ethnic origin; and

  (d)   the person engages in the conduct in a way that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing or harassing towards those members.

Note:   Publishing the names, images and residential addresses of members of a private online religious discussion group across multiple websites and encouraging others to attend those addresses and block entryways, or otherwise harass the members of that group, is an example of conduct (commonly referred to as doxxing) that is covered by this subsection.

Penalty:   Imprisonment for 7 years.

  (2)   For the purposes of paragraph   (1)(b), personal data of one or more members of a group means information about the members that enables the members to be identified, contacted or located, and includes the following:

  (a)   the names of the members;

  (b)   photographs or other images of the members;

  (c)   telephone numbers of the members;

  (d)   email addresses of the members;

  (e)   online accounts of the members;

  (f)   residential addresses of the members;

  (g)   work or business addresses of the members;

  (h)   places of education of the members;

  (i)   places of worship of the members.

  (3)   For the purposes of paragraph   (1)(c), it is immaterial whether the group is actually distinguished by race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality or national or ethnic origin.

[ Minister's second reading speech made in--

House of Representatives on 12 September 2024

Senate on 18 November 2024 ]