16 and over If you're 16 or older, you can have sex with another person who is 16 or over without breaking the law—if you both agree, and are both capable of consenting—unless you are related to them or under their care.
While in many circumstances it is perfectly legal for an adult to have consensual sexual contact or intercourse with a 16-year-old, there are some circumstances where it is not. Most often, it comes down to the nature of the relationship between the two individuals.
What is the legal age of consent in Australian jurisdictions? The legal age for consensual sex varies between 16 and 17 years across Australian state and territory jurisdictions (see Table 2).
The legal age of consent in New South Wales is 16 years old. Sexual intercourse is defined to include sexual connection occasioned by penetration to any extent of the genitalia or anus of any person, or oral sex.
If you are 16 years old and above, you can legally have sex (or do another sexual activity) with another person who is 16 years or older as long as you both agree to it.
There aren't any laws around being in a non-sexual relationship where one person is under 18 and the other over. Once you turn 16 it's not illegal for someone to have sex with you no matter how old they are.
There's no law against it. You might run into some funny looks if the 30-year-old is in a position of trust relating to the 17-year-old, but it's not a problem in that regard.
About legal age in Australia
As your child grows up and becomes more independent, you might be wondering how old they need to be before they can do certain things. In Australia, you're considered to be an adult when you turn 18 years old.
change their name without their parent's consent. buy alcohol, tobacco and cigarettes. get married without their parent's permission. vote in elections and stand for Parliament.
For example, if a person is 17 and has sex with someone who is 15, it is not a crime. But if the person was 18, it is a crime unless the person believed the person was 16 or older. For more information about what is considered a sexual act, see Sexual assault.
If you're 16 or over, you can have any sort of consensual sex without breaking the law—if you and your sexual partner both are capable of consenting, and both of you are over 16.
The lowest age of consent is in Nigeria (11) followed by the Philippines and Angola (12). The age of consent is 13 in three countries – Niger, Comoros and Burkina Faso.
The highest state age of consent in the United States is 18. Federal law makes it criminal to engage in a sexual act with another person who is between the age of 12 and 16 if they are at least four years younger than you.
The purpose of statutory rape laws is to help prevent teenage pregnancies. Generally speaking, an 18-year-old can date a 16-year-old provided that the relationship is not sexual. If the relationship becomes sexual, then it could be illegal depending on the state.
Legally, there is nothing wrong with an 18 year old having sex with a 31 year old, as long as they are two consenting adults that are not related to each other.
A 14 or 15 year old can consent to sexual activity as long as the partner is less than five years older and there is no relationship of trust, authority or dependency or any other exploitation of the young person.
Section 11 of the Children and Young People Act 2008 (ACT) defines a child as a person who is under 12 years old, and section 12 defines a young person as a person who is 12 years old or older but not yet an adult.
If you are under 18 the police must not formally question you unless your parents or guardian are there – unless you don't want them there. If your parents or guardian are not available, the police must arrange for an independent person to be with you during questioning.
There is no law about what age you can leave home, but your parents generally have to look after you until you're 18.
Romeo and Juliette laws
In most Australian states, provisions exist whereby it is a defence to a child sex offence if the participants were teenagers of a similar age in a consensual relationship.
A 16-year-old dating an 18-year-old is not a big age difference. It's only 2 years apart in age and a 16-year-old isn't a child equivalent to a 5-year-old, and an 18-year-old isn't an adult equivalent to a middle-aged man. They're both developmentally adolescents in high school.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's parliament on Friday raised the age of sexual consent to 16 from 13, a limit which had remained unchanged for more than a century and was among the world's lowest, amid calls for greater protection of children and women. The revision was part of a revamping of laws related to sex crimes.
The legal age of consent in Canada is 16 years old.
Exceptions: Persons under 16 years can have consensual sex with someone close in age. These exceptions only apply if the older person is not in a position of authority or trust and there is no exploitation or dependency.
Eagar advises not allowing single dating before age sixteen. “There's an enormous difference between a fourteen- or fifteen-year- old and a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old in terms of life experience,” he says. You might add or subtract a year depending on how mature and responsible your youngster is.
Of course it's okay. If both of you want to date and I assume you both do or the question wouldn't come, that is the only important thing. While dating, you may find the differences in maturity a problem or you may not. You may find being of different generations (almost) a problem or you may not.