I contribute to debate on the Crimes Amendment (Animal Sexual Abuse) Bill 2025. From the outset, I acknowledge that the bill deals with issues that may be distressing to many members of the community, but that is exactly why it requires a balanced and nuanced approach and why significant effort has gone into its evolution to deliver legislation that is workable and addresses the numerous considerations it contains. After substantial amendment in the Legislative Council, the Government considers that the bill in its current form closes gaps in the criminal law to ensure that abhorrent conduct is appropriately criminalised, while also preventing overreach or unintended consequences.

The Government's amendments were made after extensive consultation with legal stakeholders and key government agencies. As a result of these successful amendments in the other place, the Government now supports the bill because it strikes a more appropriate balance. Like members who have spoken before me in this debate, I acknowledge the large amount of work done by the Hon. Emma Hurst, MLC, to bring this bill to Parliament. She collaborated constructively with the Government and other stakeholders to work through some of the more challenging elements of the bill during its evolution. I also acknowledge that she is present in the advisers gallery. I thank her for her ongoing interest in this space, for being a voice for some of the most vulnerable and voiceless in our community, and for her passion for reforming this area of the criminal law.

The bill modernises the criminal law relating to animal sexual abuse. In particular, schedule 1 [3] to the bill inserts proposed new section 79AA, which introduces a new definition of animal sexual abuse in the Crimes Act 1900, replacing the current offences of bestiality and attempted bestiality with the offences of animal sexual abuse and attempted animal sexual abuse. The bill contains a definition of what constitutes animal sexual abuse, which includes penetration to any extent by a body part or an object manipulated by a person, along with other conduct. This differs from the existing bestiality offences, which only capture part of the definition in relation to an animal or person. Unfortunately, this limited common law definition of bestiality has prevented the prosecution of serious animal sexual abuse in cases that do not meet this definition. Of course, the law must keep up with the challenges in our community, and the changes to the definition in the bill rectify this problem so that serious conduct can be charged and prosecuted and people who perpetrate such abhorrent acts will be held to account.

The Government moved amendments to this definition in the other place because the Act did not differentiate between sexual assault, sexual touching and other sexual acts in relation to an animal, all of which were previously captured under the definition and proposed offence of animal sexual abuse and subject to the same maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment. The Government's amendments removed sexual touching and sexual acts from the animal sexual abuse offence and created a new standalone offence of animal sexual touching in proposed new section 79A. This new offence will have a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, which is the same penalty as sexual touching against an adult in section 61KC of the Crimes Act 1900 but less than the penalty for the equivalent offence committed against a child.

The proposed definition of sexual touching that will apply to this offence is also based on the definition of sexual touching in section 61HB of the Crimes Act 1900. To complement the new offence of animal sexual touching, the bill also introduces two new offences, at proposed new sections 547E (2A) and 547E (2B), of producing, disseminating and possessing animal sexual touching material. This is an important component to the changes to the law and an example of where legislation must keep up with the behaviour in the broader community that needs to be held to account. The proliferation of animal sexual abuse material is being seen more and more in online spaces. The advent of the dark web has meant that more examples of abhorrent animal sexual abuse behaviour are being brought to the attention of legal officers and others. The changes to definition of animal sexual abuse in the bill and the way that this legislation enables the successful prosecution of such offences are important. Therefore, the ability to successfully prosecute people for the material found in their possession is important.

The offence of producing or disseminating animal sexual touching material will have a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment. The offence of possessing animal sexual touching material will have a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment. Schedule 1 [3] also outlines a number of exceptions to animal sexual abuse, including for acts for veterinary purposes, acts carried out for hygienic purposes and acts for scientific research purposes that are carried out in good faith. Exceptions also include acts carried out to assist a female animal in giving birth, and acts carried out in the best interests of an animal for the physical health and care of the animal, along with other acts prescribed by the regulations.

Much like the member for Parramatta, my grandparents had a farm with many different animals. When I visited, I was exposed to the sometimes urgent need to intervene and assist animals in distress. It is important to make sure that there is a distinction between acts carried out for the purpose of sexual gratification or the dissemination of material that aids in sexual gratification versus acts that are carried out in the best interests of the animal or for scientific research. Following consultation with relevant stakeholders, the Government moved amendments in the other place to ensure that necessary activities, including those related to agriculture and animal husbandry, will not be inadvertently criminalised. I acknowledge and appreciate the concerns raised by stakeholders about previous iterations of the legislation.

The bill will also create new offences of advertising, selling or transferring animals for sexual abuse, which will criminalise serious conduct currently not captured by the criminal law in New South Wales. Those offences will have a maximum penalty of imprisonment for five years, a fine of up to 2,500 penalty units, or both. Importantly, the Government moved an amendment in the other place to insert a statutory review provision into the bill. The operation of the amendments will be reviewed three years after their commencement. That will allow any issues in the operation of the offences to be identified, noting that the bill criminalises new conduct.

The bill will commence on proclamation. That is necessary because the bill contains a significant number of amendments that will change the law significantly. Sufficient time is therefore required to allow relevant agencies to undertake preparatory work, including the training of police officers and prosecutors, systems upgrades and updates to policies and procedures. It is crucial that those reforms can be operationalised properly, and sufficient time is needed for that to occur. Once again, I acknowledge the hard work of the Hon. Emma Hurst in the development of the bill, and I thank her for working collaboratively to introduce the bill to Parliament. I commend the bill to the House.