I. The Australian Federal Legislation

The age of simple majority

Age of simple majority is 21 years.

The age of sexual consent

Age for sexual activity is 16 years and above.

The age of consent of marriage

Age of consent for marriage is 18 years, but may be lower on application to a Judge or Magistrate who can issue an appropriated court order.

In Australian national legislation the term 'rape' do not figure, but it is replaced with sexual intercourse without consent.

Section192 from Crminal Code Act, Sexual intercourse and gross indecency without consent.

(1) For the purposes of this section, 'consent' means free agreement.

(2) Circumstances in which a person does not freely agree to sexual intercourse or an act of gross indecency include circumstances where-

1. the person submits because of force, fear of force, or fear of harm of any type, to himself or herself or another person;
2. the person submits because he or she is unlawfully detained;
3. the person is asleep, unconscious or so affected by alcohol or another drug as to be incapable of freely agreeing;
4. the person is incapable of understanding the sexual nature of the act;
5. the person is mistaken about the sexual nature of the act or identity of the other person;
6. the person mistakenly believes that the act is for medical or hygienic purposes; or
7. the person submits because of a false representation as to the nature or purpose of the act.

(3) Any person who has sexual intercourse with another person without the consent of the other person, is guilty of a crime and is liable to imprisonment for life.

(4) Any person who commits an act of gross indecency upon another person without the consent of the other person is guilty of a crime and is liable to imprisonment for 14 years.

(5) Any person who attempts to commit the crime defined by subsection (3) is liable for imprisonment for 7 years.

(6) Any person who attempts to commit the crime defined by subsection (3) upon another person who is under the age of 16 is liable for imprisonment for 14 years.

(7) Any person who attempts to commit the crime defined by subsection (3) and in the course of such an attempt causes bodily harm to the other person is liable for imprisonment for 14 years.

(8) Any person who attempts to commit crime defined by subsection (3) and thereby causes grievous harm to the other person is liable for imprisonment for 17 years.

Section 192A from Criminal Code Act, Direction to jury in certain sexual offence trials

In a relevant case the judge shall direct the jury that a person is not to be regarded as having consented to an act of sexual intercourse or to an act of gross indecency only because the person-

1. did not protest or physically resist;
2. did not sustain physical injury; or
3. had, on that or on an earlier occasion, consented to-
   1. sexual intercourse; or
   2. an act of gross indecency, whether or not, of the same type, with the accused.

Section 192B from Criminal Code Act, Coerced sexual self-manipulation

1) In this section, 'self-manipulation' means the insertion, into the vagina or anus of a person, of an object manipulated by that person.

2) Any person who coerces another person to engage in self-manipulation in circumstances where the person s coerced cannot reasonably be expected to resist, is guilty of crime and is liable to imprisonment for 17 years.

Unlawful sexual intercourse, Sexual intercourses or gross indecency between males in public, Sexual intercourses or gross indecency between males in private, Sexual intercourse or gross indecency involving mentally ill or handicapped persons, Indecent dealing with a child under 16 years, Unlawful sexual relation with a child, Incest by male, Incest by an adult female and bestiality are the offences covered by Northern Territory Criminal Code.

Section 92E from Crimes act, sexual intercourse with a young person

1) A person who engages in sexual intercourse with another person who is under the age of 10 years is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction, by imprisonment for 17 years.

2) A person who engages in sexual intercourse with another person who is under the age of 16 years is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for 14 years.

3) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence under subsection (2) if the defendant establishes that:

1. he or she believed on reasonable grounds that person upon whom the offence is alleged to have been committed was of or above 16 years; or
2. at the time of the alleged offence-
   1. the person on whom the offence is alleged to have been committed was of or above 10 years; and
   2. the defendant was no more than 2 years older and that that person consented to the sexual intercourse.

‘Inducing a child under sixteen (16) to be involved in sexual conduct’, Section 50BD of the 'Crimes (Child Sex Tourism) Amendment Act '

'(1) A person ('the first person') must not induce a person who is under sixteen (16) to commit, to submit to, or to be present while a third person commits an act of indecency that

(a) is committed outside Australia and in the presence of the first person; and

(b) is not committed by or on the first person.

(2) A person ( the first person ) must not induce a person who is under sixteen (16) to be present while a third person engages in sexual intercourse with a fourth person outside Australia and in the presence of the first person.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 12 years.'

Section 92NA of the ACT Crimes Act relates to the manufacture of child pornography, Employment of young persons for pornographic purposes

1) A person who employs or permits the employment, whether for reward or not, of a person who is under the age of 16 years ( in this section referred as a 'young person'):

1. to engage in an act of a sexual nature, or to be in the presence of another person who is engaged in an act of a sexual nature, being an act that would, in the circumstances, offend a reasonable adult person; or
2. for the purpose of depicting or otherwise representing, by means of a film, photograph, drawing, audio tape, video tape, or any other means, the young person as being engaged in , or as being in the presence of another person engaged in, an act of sexual nature where the depiction or other representation of the young person in those circumstances would offend a reasonable adult person is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for 10years.

2) In subsection (1) ' an act of a sexual nature' means sexual intercourse or an act of indecency.

Section 92NBof the ACT Crimes Act relates to the manufacture of child pornography, Possession of child pornography

1) A person who knowingly has in his or her possession a film, photograph, drawing, audio tape, video tape or any other thing depicting or otherwise representing a young person engaged in, or in the presence of another person engage in, an act of a sexual nature, being a depiction or representation that would offend a reasonable adult person, is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for 5 years.

2) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against subsection (1) that the defendant reasonably believed that the person depicted or otherwise represented as a young person was not under the age of 16 years.

3) In this section 'young person' means a person who is under the age of 16 years.