<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/may/05/nsw-to-criminalise-secret-gps-tracking-after-report-highlighting-number-of-devices-bought-by-dv-offenders>
"After their marriage of 25 years deteriorated and his wife expressed a desire
to leave, a man in regional New South Wales bought a GPS tracking device from
an auto parts retailer.
He used it to monitor her movements in the month before he shot and killed her
and then turned the gun on himself – including on the day before the murder.
“The tracking appeared to form part of a series of behaviours that the offender
used to prevent the victim from leaving the relationship,” a NSW Crime
Commission report said in 2024.
Although his children and neighbour knew the tracking was taking place, under
existing stalking laws his conduct, undetected by the victim, might not have
met the threshold in the state.
The NSW government will introduce changes to parliament on Tuesday to make it a
criminal offence to secretly monitor a person where the victim is unaware they
are being stalked, as long as a reasonable person would consider it to cause
someone to fear physical or mental harm.
It is a response to the findings of the crime commission’s Project Hakea report
in 2024, which identified that tracking and surveillance devices were
increasingly being used to enable domestic violence and organised crime. It
suggested one in four people who bought tracking devices in NSW had a history
of domestic violence.
The government has passed previous reforms to domestic violence laws, including
changes to bail settings, with support from the opposition.
The premier, Chris Minns, said on Tuesday that technology had been “weaponised
against women, and our laws have not kept pace”.
“No one should have to discover they have been monitored for months or years
with no legal recourse.”
The government said the “carefully crafted, targeted offence” would not
criminalise things such as parents tracking social media use, or following
someone on social media out of genuine interest."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
