The government in a bill presented amendments to the Criminal Code to remove the term 'sexual intercourse' in relation to children and replace it with 'penetrative sexual abuse'.

The term 'grooming' has been inserted into the legislation to describe crimes whereby a person seeks to prepare a child for sexual abuse.

Attorney-General Elise Archer said the bill also replaced inconsistent references to victims in the naming of charges, allowing prosecutors to use the term 'child' or 'young person' depending on the victim's age.

"This ensures the victim is given the dignity of the appropriate title," she said.

Labor's justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad highlighted comments made by TasCOSS on the bill.

"They say it is imperative that not only does the justice system require offenders to take responsibility for their actions and the harm they've caused but also that the justice system takes every step to avoid causing additional harm to victims," she said.

"They say that language that minimises the gravity of sexual crimes can cause further harm."

Ms Haddad said some wording in original legislation was outdated, clunky and did not reflect current community standards.

She said it was important people charged under the old offences would be tried under newly named offences once the legislation passed Parliament.

Greens justice spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said changes to offence names had been a long time coming, particularly that of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person.

"We understand that the term 'relationship' in law has a prescribed meaning that many in the community don't accept or understand," she said.

The bill will now proceed to the upper house.