Harassment and Stalking Bill
Parliament is considering new law that will more clearly define harassment as a criminal offence. The proposed law is called the Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill. Public submissions about the Bill closed on Thursday, 13 February 2025.
Harassment is a pattern of behaviour that involves repeat “specified acts” within a 12-month period. There are a lot of “specified acts,” including loitering near a person’s place of residence, and interfering with a person’s property.
The current way of approaching harassment hasn’t kept pace with trends, including the increased use of technology to stalk or harass another person. For example, the new law would add “recording or tracking” another person to the statutory list of specified acts.
In our experience, under the current law it is relatively uncommon to see harassment prosecuted by Police in the criminal courts. The new law may change this approach.
Criminal harassment currently falls alongside civil harassment under the Harassment Act 1997.
Criminal harassment is a criminal charge, generally filed by Police. If proved, it can lead to a conviction and sentences, such as fines, community work, and in the most serious cases, imprisonment.
In contrast, civil harassment is legal action generally taken by a private individual against another person, which can lead to a restraining order, but not a sentence.
The new law would take criminal harassment out of the Harassment Act 1997 and put it into the Crimes Act 1961. In our view it encourages Police to identify and prosecute criminal allegations in appropriate cases.
The new law says that for criminal harassment, there must be three separate occasions of “specified acts” within a 12-month period. Currently, only two separate occasions are required to establish harassment. The increased threshold may provide guidance in terms of when Police are justified to expend the time and resources required to pursue a criminal conviction.
Police constables will also be able to issue a notice to a person that has been identified as having done a single “specified act,” putting that person on notice that three such occasions within 12 months risks facing prosecution. This may act as a deterrent to a person who might not have realised the possible consequences of his or her action(s).
The new law would further empower criminal courts, at sentencing, to make appropriate orders when dealing with a person convicted under the new harassment offence. These orders can include a restraining order under the Harassment Act 1997, or an order to take down offensive digital material and to cease and refrain from further offensive conduct.
The new law also proposes to carry its updated definition of “harassment” over to the Family Violence Act 2018, which means (for example) harassment and stalking can be considered psychological abuse for the purposes of making a protection order application against a person with whom the applicant is in a family relationship.
The Harassment Act 1997 will still govern civil harassment issues in general.
The new law is still going through Parliament. It is not in effect. If you are experiencing behaviour that may amount to stalking and/or harassment, consider obtaining legal advice, and/or contacting your local Community Law Centre. In an emergency, contact Police.