Age of Consent in Australia

What is the Australia Age of Consent?

The Age of Consent in Australia is 16 years old. The age of consent is the minimum age at which an individual is considered legally old enough to consent to participation in sexual activity. Individuals aged 15 or younger in Australia are not legally able to consent to sexual activity, and such activity may result in prosecution for statutory rape or the equivalent local law.

Australia statutory rape law is violated each of Australia's territories has local laws specifying an age of consent, which ranges from a low of 16 years old to a high of 17 years old. Several territories also have close-in-age exemptions.

Australia has ten territories that have their own local age of consent laws. These territories are listed in the following table:

Territory of Australia	Region	Age Of Consent
Australian Capital Territory	Oceania	16
Coral Sea Islands Territory	Oceania	16
New South Wales	Oceania	16
Norfolk Island	Oceania	16
Northern Terrirory	Oceania	16
Queensland	Oceania	16
South Australia	Oceania	17
Tasmania	Oceania	17
Victoria	Oceania	16
Western Australia	Oceania	16

Australia has a close-in-age exemption. A close in age exemptions, commonly known as "Romeo and Juliet law" in the United States, is a law designed to prevent the prosecution of underage couples who engage in consensual sex when both participants are significantly close in age to each other, and one or both are below the age of consent.

Depending on the situation, the Australia close-in-age exemption may completely exempt qualifying close-in-age couples from the age of consent law, or merely provide a legal defence that can be used in the event of prosecution.

Age of Consent across the world

The Age of Consent ranges from as low as 11 to as high as 20 years old across the world. Click any country for details, or view countries with the highest & lowest ages of consent.

Age of Consent Map:

Must be married

< 13 years old

14 years old

15 years old

16 years old

17 years old

18 years old

> 19 years old

Back to list of international ages of consent View state ages of consent in the USA