The ACT should consider a change to the law so young people who have consensually shared explicit images of themselves do not fear coming forward to report the behaviour of older people, the Attorney-General has said.
Shane Rattenbury said the territory government needed to consider the issue very carefully, after a review into the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct levelled at Greens MLA who has since resigned noted the issue.
Johnathan Davis resigned from the Legislative Assembly and the ACT Greens in November after the party began investigating allegations Mr Davis had sexual encounters with a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy.
Mr Davis has previously declined to comment on all allegations put to him. The Canberra Times in November revealed Mr Davis had been stood down by his party over the allegations.
Former Australian Public Service commissioner Lynelle Briggs' report into the handling of the allegations was released on Tuesday.
Ms Briggs said her sense of the situation was that the current reporting arrangements were insufficient to deal with the sexual misconduct challenges faced by people aged between 14 and 17.
"Decriminalising the actions of young people under the age of 18 who consensually share images electronically would go some way to removing the fears and concerns of young people exploited sexually by older people, but the very fact remains that unless they have a safe place to report, unlawful activities will continue to go unreported," Ms Briggs wrote.
Although 16 year olds in the ACT can consent to sexual activity, those aged 16 and 17 cannot legally use telecommunications services to exchange illicit messages.
Mr Rattenbury said the issue warranted further consideration and agreed young people should not fear coming forward.
"They should not feel like they are the ones that are going to be criminalised because of the conduct of older people. I think that is a very clear premise that we seek to reflect in other parts of the law and this matter has exposed this is an area we do need to consider very carefully," he said.
Mr Rattenbury welcomed the findings of Ms Briggs' report and said if the party had its time again, it would have sought to bring in others.
"Every member of our team responded to the information provided to us in good faith with big hearts, open minds and a strong sense of responsibility to a young person," he said.
Mr Rattenbury said he still had confidence in his staff, despite the report finding the Greens were mistaken in assuming they were right to investigate the rumours or allegations levelled at Mr Davis.
The review also found the Greens were mistaken in assuming they were right to investigate the rumours or allegations levelled at Mr Davis.
"I would go so far as to say that, in hindsight, [Greens executive chief of staff Guy] Bromley should not have met with the young complainant at all and, even with his doubts and concerns about unsubstantiated rumours, he should have reported to the police immediately," Ms Briggs wrote.
Mr Rattenbury said it was fair to reflect that, with the benefit of hindsight, the Greens would have approached the handling of the allegations differently.
"But what does give me confidence out of this is Ms Briggs is clear in her review that there was not a wilful effort on our part to seek to hide this away, to not take it seriously, that we did step forward and seek to deal with it," he said.
"I take some comfort from that, even if we, at this point, will reflect and - heaven forbid we face the circumstances - would obviously take some different steps to those that we took on this occasion."
