The House of Assembly has approved legislation which will make acts of serious bullying and cyberbullying a criminal offence.
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The bill, which makes amendments to several pieces of existing laws, has broadened laws against stalking and has taken aim at people who use the internet to cause victims serious physical or mental harm.
Attorney-General Elise Archer told Parliament on Wednesday stalking would now only be dealt with in the Supreme Court under the laws.
"(This) is in view of the seriousness of the alleged crime, the impact on the victim from such repeated conduct in a period of time, the dynamics of control in this type of criminal behaviour, and for general deterrence," she said.
A person could also be punished for making threats or directing abuse toward a third person known to their victim.
The proposed legislation had the support of Labor and the Greens early on but representatives from both parties during Tuesday's debate questioned the definition of bullying within the bill and protections for young people who engaged in the activity.
Ms Archer said the decision on whether to prosecute a person for bullying behaviour would be decided by the state's Director of Public Prosecutions.
She said there would be protections for an alleged perpetrator who was under the age of 18 and other reformative actions taken before court action was considered.
"This law is really reserved for the worst cases and the cases where a restorative justice approach won't assist or has already been tried," Ms Archer said.
She rejected suggestions bullying conduct was not defined well enough within the legislation.
"My concern is that if we are overly prescriptive, we will narrowly keep out some conduct that otherwise would have been able to be taken into consideration by the DPP," Ms Archer said.
Premier Will Hodgman said law reforms on bullying in Victoria and New South Wales were considered when the bill was drafted.
"Only serious incidences of bullying require a criminal sanction and that's what this bill seeks to do," he said.
Labor justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad said bullying had become more pervasive through increased online activity.
She said online bullying was not limited to teenagers.
Greens justice spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said the laws made it clear bullying was an abhorrent act. "It is pretty clear that bullying is on the rise in the community and particularly on the rise in the online community," she said.
Dr Woodruff and others noted the lifelong impacts from bullying on a victim.
