In brief:
- The South Australian government is proposing to ban domestic violence and sex offenders from dating apps.
- Serious offenders could be barred from online dating platforms for life and could face jail time for failing to comply with bans.
This article contains references to domestic violence, sexual and emotional abuse.
South Australia has unveiled a nation-first plan to ban domestic violence perpetrators and sex offenders from dating apps.
The state's acting premier Kyam Maher said the proposal would improve safety for those involved in dating online.
It follows a report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology in 2022 that found a third of respondents were subjected to sexual violence by someone they had met on an app or website in the previous five years.
Leesa Scanlon, an advocate behind the state government's push, said she experienced coercive control and domestic abuse in a past relationship.
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"That person was very good at what they did and presented themselves in a way that would have made anyone feel very lucky," she said at a press conference on Monday.
"Over time, that person sought intentionally to strip parts of me away through the cycle of abuse that we see. This person also used platforms like dating apps to move from victim survivor to victim survivor.
"Seeking connection shouldn't come at the cost of your safety."
It's estimated more than three million Australians use online dating apps.
"Today, meeting someone through a dating app is completely normal ... people deserve to use these platforms feeling confident that reasonable steps are being taken to keep them safe," Scanlon added.
How would it work?
Maher said the ban would protect victims by placing the onus on those who seek to do wrong.
He referenced legislation that prevents convicted child sex offenders from working with children, saying it would serve as a model for the ban.
"A couple of years ago we changed the legislation so that convicted child sex offenders can't work with children. And in that legislation the onus is on the offender," he said.
"So if you're a registered child sex offender and you work with children then you are committing an offence as the offender.
"And that's the model that, as a starting point, we're looking at here. If you have a conviction for sexual violence, for domestic violence, for child sex offences, then you will be banned from dating apps."
Under the proposal, these offenders would be barred from online dating platforms for at least 10 years and face jail time for breaches.
Serious offenders could be barred from online dating platforms for life, while those caught violating bans would face up to five years behind bars.
Examples included sexual assault or coercion and in-person image-based sexual abuse.
Maher said the government was still working through the details of how exactly the reforms would work.
"We are keen to do this as quickly as possible. But whenever you're doing this sort of reform, when you have world-leading reform, you want to make sure you get it right. So we want to do it quickly, but we want to make sure we're covering this as broadly as possible, and getting this as right as possible."
Sarah Quick, the Commissioner for Victims' Rights in South Australia, said the move will not necessarily be easy.
"But I certainly don't think that's a reason not to try. We have a responsibility to ensure these apps are as safe as possible," she said.
"Relationship-based violence is particularly damaging because it involves a breach of trust. And people should be able to use these apps without fear that their trust is going to be exploited by known offenders."
Calls for industry change
Maher, who is also the state's attorney general, said some of the impetus for the change has come from the online industry itself.
He said Match Group, which owns major dating apps including Tinder and Hinge, reached out to the South Australian government last year to propose working together.
"They'd seen our work in terms of banning children from social media and got in contact with us and asked, do we want to look at a way to become another world leader in reform in online safety?" Maher said.
"And we've done a lot of work over about the last 12 months, but particularly since the election, about how this might look."
Scanlan said it was crucial that people with lived experience had a seat at the table, and hopes the discussion will help to shape thoughtful and practical legislation.
"This is one piece of a much larger puzzle," she said. "Alongside education, early intervention, further legal reform and improving reporting pathways."
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