Goff Phil: Crimes (Intimate Covert Filming) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Goff Phil: Crimes (Intimate Covert Filming) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:625;Page:20321] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Crimes (Intimate Covert Filming) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Government Administration Committee. 
Intimate covert filming is the making of surreptitious visual records of other persons in intimate circumstances without their knowledge or consent and in circumstances that those persons would reasonably expect to be private. Generally covert filming has a sexual element. However whatever the intention it constitutes an invasion of personal privacy concentrating on situations that are personal and private. As such it is an affront to human dignity because it turns individuals into objects for others’ gratification and it deprives individuals of control over how they are presented to the world. The potential publication of the images particularly on the Internet aggravates the invasion of the individual’s privacy. Publication can additionally result in fear for personal safety—as well of course as shame and humiliation. 
I have to say that the problem is getting worse. The old offence of peeping and peering has been aggravated by the advent of new technology. Miniature cameras mobile phone cameras and other devices have been used to visually record women and children in circumstances of undress or intimacy without their knowledge or approval. The Internet facilitates the transfer of those pictures around the country and indeed around the world. 
Voyeurism is offensive in itself but additionally it is potentially a gateway offence to more serious sexual offending. In 2003 the Government asked the Law Commission to review the issues relating to covert filming and to make recommendations as to options for law reform. In its 2004 study paper on intimate covert filming the Law Commission proposed a dual response to such filming in New Zealand. It advocated criminalising specific types of conduct engaged in by the filmmaker the distributor and the person possessing the film. At the same time it recommended ensuring that there is an accessible civil remedy for the subjects of the films. Civil remedies will be provided for in a privacy amendment bill that is currently under consideration and that will be introduced in due course. 
Under existing legislation no provision specifically prohibits the taking of a photograph or other visual record of a person who is nude partially nude or engaging in sexual activity. The Crimes (Intimate Covert Filming) Amendment Bill proposes amendments to the Crimes Act to create new offences in line with the Law Commission’s recommendations. Firstly the bill defines “intimate visual recording” to mean “a visual recording taken … without the knowledge or consent of the person who is the subject of the recording and the recording is of (a) a person who is in a place which in the circumstances would reasonably be expected to provide privacy and that person is—(i) naked or has [sexual] parts of his or her body exposed partially exposed or clad solely in undergarments: (b) engaged in an intimate sexual activity: (iii) engaged in showering toileting or other personal bodily activity that involves dressing or undressing:”. The definition also includes recording beneath or under a person’s clothing. 
Three new offences broadly relate to the making of an intimate visual recording; the possession of an intimate visual recording; and the publishing importing exporting or selling of an intimate visual recording. All the offences have a penalty of imprisonment not exceeding 3 years except the simple possession offence which has a penalty of imprisonment not exceeding 1 year. 
This kind of legislative response is consistent with what is being done in other jurisdictions. The United Kingdom in 2003 passed a law making voyeurism an offence. Similar changes making such activities an offence are proposed in Canada the United States and New South Wales Australia. Making this behaviour a criminal offence enables the police to use their powers of detection and investigation including those of search and seizure. Criminal penalties also have a deterrent effect and sentences requiring reparation will help ensure that victims receive compensation for the harm they have endured. Upon conviction the court will have the power to order that a recording be destroyed and that any equipment used in the commission of the offence be forfeited to the Crown. 
The bill exempts from criminal liability those agencies that during the course of an investigation of criminal offending may inadvertently make possess or publish an intimate recording for the purpose of their functions relating to law enforcement safety or security. The exemption will not apply to any visual recording made or published in bad faith and without reasonable cause. 
This legislation provides victims of covert filming with an effective response. The investigative and prosecutorial resources of the police can be utilised. The process of conviction and penalty can have a deterrent incapacitative rehabilitative and reparative effect. I commend this bill to the House.