Perpetrators in NSW are increasingly using tracking devices such as air tags and phone location apps to covertly monitor, stalk, intimidate and harass victims, but laws against such actions have not kept pace.
Between 2010 and 2023, 82 per cent of offenders charged by NSW Police with unlawfully using a tracking device were committing domestic violence offences.
The existing offence of stalking in NSW requires the victim survivor to fear physical or mental harm, but that threshold cannot be met if the perpetrator conceals that they are tracking someone.
Law amendments will be introduced to NSW parliament to include covert stalking which would reasonably be considered to cause someone to fear physical or mental harm if they were aware of it.
It will not criminalise parents tracking their child's social media for safety purposes or following someone on social media out of genuine interest.
The new laws will also make it an offence for people to promote the unlawful use of surveillance devices or for perpetrators to direct a third party to stalk someone on their behalf.
Technology is being weaponised against women but the state's laws had not kept pace, NSW Premier Chris Minns said.
The new laws would send a clear message to perpetrators that police would "throw the book at them" for covert stalking, he added.
"For the first time, covert stalking through tracking devices will be a criminal offence, giving police the powers they need to intervene and crack down," he said.
"No one should have to discover they have been monitored for months or years with no legal recourse."
Meanwhile, the Public Service Association of NSW is calling on the government to establish public and properly staffed domestic and family violence services as a core function alongside policing, housing and health.
The state's domestic violence response is failing women despite record spending commitments, because services remain fragmented, inconsistent and too often outsourced, the union said.
"Women are still being killed in their own homes," PSA general secretary Stewart Little said.
"That is the most basic test of whether a system works, and right now the system is failing."
In 2025, federal and state governments committed $4.7 billion over five years to address domestic violence, but the union said the problem is not just funding but how services are structured and delivered.
"Right now protection depends on postcode: some women get comprehensive support, others get a phone number and a waiting list," Mr Little said.
"Safety should not be a postcode lottery."
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