A Victorian proposal to decriminalise sexting could lead to the delisting of people from the Sex Offenders Register after a parliamentary committee found it was often harmless and consensual.

The Victorian Parliament’s Law Reform Committee yesterday recommended a review of cases of people who have been registered as sex offenders as a result of sending explicit images of themselves or others. In those cases where the offenders would be entitled to a defence under the new laws proposed by the committee, it recommended they be removed from the register.

The measure is part of a radical overhaul of the laws about sexting, which includes the decriminalisation of sexting by young people, so long as the age difference between the parties is less than two years.