Sexual Assault Support Service (SASS) and Laurel House, based in the South and the North and North-West, respectively, say the problem of image-based sexual abuse is getting worse among the younger cohort.

Image-based sexual abuse, commonly known as revenge porn, involves people sharing or distributing intimate images of another person without their consent, or threatening to do so.

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Tasmania is the only state or territory that does not yet have specific image-based sexual abuse offences.

Laurel House chief executive Justine Brooks said that calls for support and advice to Laurel House relating to image-based sexual abuse were increasingly coming from victims (or their guardians) in the 14-16 age bracket.

"Contact from schools and teachers for advice, support and training in this area is also on the increase," she said.

"Women aged between 18-24 are statistically the likely target of [this] abuse, however, we believe that the greatest area of growing concern is with ... young people.

"Laurel House staff are highly concerned about the long-term ... effects [this issue] has the potential to have on whole generations."

SASS chief executive Jill Maxwell said the problem posed by image-based sexual abuse was getting worse.

"We've had instances where young people have either shared an image of themselves with their boyfriend or girlfriend and then that gets passed on, or they're actually getting [naked] images of other people sent to them, and they don't know who it's from," she said.

"We are increasingly getting reports from young people that that's happening."

Ms Maxwell said the accessibility of pornography and the continuing development of communications technologies were fuelling the rise of image-based sexual abuse in the community.

A recent survey conducted by RMIT University found that about 9 per cent of 4200 respondents (aged 16-49) admitted to having taken a nude or sexual photo or video of another person without their consent, while about 6 per cent had gone so far as to share or distribute one.

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Last year, the Federal Parliament legislated penalties of up to seven years' jail for people who non-consensually shared intimate images of another person.

Prior to the 2018 state election, Attorney-General Elise Archer committed to legislating to deter Tasmanians from engaging in image-based sexual abuse.

"Our bullying reforms include provisions that target those who use the internet with the intention to cause serious, physical or mental harm to others or cause a person extreme humiliation, and it is intended that revenge porn falls under these categories, and I expect that our bill will be debated in coming months," she said.

"This reform will complement existing state and Commonwealth laws."

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