Coalition plan to tackle online glorification of crime

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will on Thursday announce he will seek to introduce a new Commonwealth offence for the publication of material depicting violence, drug or property offences to digital platforms for increasing notoriety.

"The federal government has a role to play and it is incumbent on the government to show some leadership and play its part in cracking down on this behaviour - which glamorises violence, and keeps the cycle of crime going," he said.

"We need to do all we can to keep our community safe and deter young criminals from doing the wrong thing."

The proposed legislation includes a sentencing measure to ensure courts are able to stop people who have been convicted of the offence from using social media for up to two years.

The eSafety Commissioner would be empowered under changes to the Online Safety Act, to order the removal of videos or posts to social media sites or other digital platforms.

The commissioner currently relies on the cooperation of social media companies to be able to do this.

Proposed amendments would make it clear the commissioner has a mandate to deal with complaints on this issue in a similar process to how the office deals with reports of cyber-bullying and cyber-abuse.

In a joint statement with Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash and opposition communications spokesman David Coleman, Mr Dutton called on the Albanese government to support the "important policy reform".

The bill aims to complement state and territory-level "post and boast" rules and to give police another tool to deal with the behaviour.

The opposition says there are gaps in those frameworks, and the legislation will allow police to turn to Commonwealth offences if they can't use a state law to manage a situation.

Australian Associated Press