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FACT SHEET
Criminal Code Amendment (Sexual Offences Against
Young People) Bill 2013
The Bill makes the following amendments to the Criminal Code
Act 1924 in response to the recommendations of the
Tasmanian Law Reform Institutes Final Report on Sexual
Offences Against Young People:
(a) introduces an age (13 years) below which mistake as
to age cannot be raised in relation to a sexual
offence against a young person;
(b) provides that mistake as to age in relation to sexual
offences against a young person will not be honest
and reasonable unless the accused took all
reasonable steps to ascertain the young person's
age;
(c) clarifies that mistake as to age in relation to sexual
offences against a young person can be relied on for
the purpose of a consent defence based on age
similarity;
(d) omits subsection 124(5) so that a consent defence
based on age similarity will apply to anal sexual
intercourse;
(e) makes the onus of proof in relation to mistake as to
age consistent for all sexual offences against a young
person. The onus of proof in all cases is on the
prosecution;
(f) amends section 125A to -
(i) include an extra-territorial provision to make
it clear that, provided at least one unlawful
sexual act was committed in Tasmania,
unlawful sexual acts committed outside the
State can be taken into account;
(ii) make it clear that to qualify as an unlawful act,
any unlawful act committed outside Tasmania
must be both an offence under the law outside
Tasmania and an unlawful act in Tasmania;
(iii) omit subsection (5); and
(g) inserts a new section 460 to clarify that the
amendments made by this Bill do not apply in
relation to an offence committed before the
amendments commence.