Western Australia Sexting Laws: Age Threshold, Penalties and Registration

Western Australia's child exploitation material offences apply to anyone under 16, carry no statutory defence for consensual sexting between peers, but a young person is not automatically placed on the sex offender register.

The age threshold and the offences in Western Australia

Western Australia's child exploitation material provisions sit in Chapter XXV of The Criminal Code, sections 217A to 221B. Section 217A defines a child, for this chapter, as a person under 16 years of age, and defines child exploitation material as child pornography or material that, in a way likely to offend a reasonable person, depicts a child in an offensive or demeaning context or being subjected to abuse, cruelty or torture.

Four offences carry the criminal exposure, all prosecuted as indictable crimes:

Sending your own image as a teenager

Sections 218 and 219 are written broadly enough to cover a teenager who photographs and sends their own image. A WA teenager who does this falls within the plain wording of producing and distributing child exploitation material of themselves as the child depicted, with no statutory shield. Western Australia has no self-image defence, no close-in-age exception, and no reduced offence tied to the accused also being a minor.

Receiving, keeping or forwarding a peer's image

Section 220, possession, and section 219, distribution, apply the same way to a young person who receives and keeps, or forwards, a peer's image. Section 221A sets out the only six defences or exclusions that exist for sections 217 through 220: classification under the Commonwealth Classification Act; no reasonable knowledge the material would offend; genuine literary, artistic, scientific or medical merit pursued for the public good; a genuine child-protection or legal purpose; unsolicited possession followed by reasonable disposal, which applies to section 220 possession only; and a law-enforcement exclusion. None fits ordinary consensual sexting between two teenagers. This is a documented gap, verified directly against the statute's text.

Registration: not automatic, but not guaranteed either

Western Australia's position on registration is more layered than a flat yes or no. All four offences, sections 217 through 220, are listed as Class 2 offences under Schedule 2 of the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2004. But that Act carves an offence committed by a person while they were a child out of the default reporting definition (section 9(a)). Instead, a Class 1 or Class 2 offence committed as a child only becomes reportable if it results in a juvenile offender reporting order. At sentencing, a court must consider making that order, but may only make it if satisfied the young person poses a risk to the lives or sexual safety of one or more people (section 14B). Once at least half the reporting period has been served, the young person can apply to the Children's Court to have the order revoked (section 14C).

A separate wrinkle worth flagging: this offender-reporting Act defines child, for who is eligible for the protective juvenile-order pathway, as under 18, not under 16. That is a different number from the Criminal Code's under-16 definition of a child as the subject of the material itself. A 17-year-old charged as an offender still gets the individualised, risk-based juvenile pathway rather than automatic registration, even though a 17-year-old's own image would not count as child exploitation material under this chapter.

No published Western Australia Police or Legal Aid WA guidance specifically addressing consensual peer sexting could be located for this page, and whether prosecutors have a published charging-discretion policy for peer cases was not confirmed either.

Adult sharing: lawful with consent, a different offence without it

Sexting between consenting adults is lawful in Western Australia. Sharing an intimate image without consent is a separate offence, distribution of an intimate image (section 221BD), a crime with a maximum of 3 years, or 18 months plus an $18,000 fine on summary conviction, limited to distribution rather than creation or possession alone. Because a person under 16 cannot legally consent to distribution of their own intimate image under section 221BB(6), a 16 or 17 year old's own sexted image, if shared without their consent, can also be prosecuted under section 221BD even though it falls outside this chapter's under-16 definition of child exploitation material. The full state-by-state analysis of non-consensual intimate image sharing, including deepfakes, lives on RecordingLaw's deepfake and intimate image laws page.

If police contact your teenager

If WA Police want to speak with a teenager about a sexting incident, the same rights that apply to any police interview apply here. RecordingLaw's guide to police rights and cautions in Australia covers what a caution means, whether a young person has to answer questions, and when a parent or support person should be present.

For how the age threshold, offences, defences and registration position compare across every Australian state and territory, see the national sexting laws overview, part of RecordingLaw's Australia everyday law hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the age threshold for child exploitation material in Western Australia?

Under 16. Section 217A of The Criminal Code (WA) defines a child, for this chapter, as a person under 16 years of age.

Can a Western Australian teenager be charged for a photo of themselves?

Yes. Sections 218 (producing) and 219 (distributing) child exploitation material are broad enough to cover a teenager's own self-taken image, and Western Australia has no self-image or close-in-age defence.

Does Western Australia have a peer or similar-age sexting defence?

No. Section 221A lists six defences and exclusions for sections 217 to 220, none of them a peer, similar-age or self-image exception. This is a documented gap, confirmed directly against the statute's text.

Will a Western Australian teenager go on the sex offender register?

Not automatically. The Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2004 excludes an offence committed as a child from automatic reporting. A court can only order registration if it finds, at sentencing, that the young person poses a risk to the lives or sexual safety of others, and that order can later be revoked by the Children's Court.

What if an adult shares an intimate image without consent in Western Australia?

That is a different offence, distribution of an intimate image under section 221BD, a crime with a maximum of 3 years, or 18 months plus an $18,000 fine on summary conviction. RecordingLaw's deepfake and intimate image laws page has the full state-by-state analysis.

Can a 16 or 17 year old's own image be protected even though they are not a child exploitation material subject?

Yes. Section 221BD makes it an offence to distribute an intimate image of another person without their consent at any age, so a 16 or 17 year old whose own sexted image is shared without consent is protected by it even though their image falls outside the under-16 child exploitation material definition. Separately, section 221BB(6) provides that a person under 16 cannot consent to distribution at all.