New South Wales is considering new laws to go after people who distribute intimate or sexually explicit images of their former love without their consent.

“No one has the right to share explicit photos without consent and new laws will protect people and make it clear this kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable,” Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton said in a statement on Monday.

“These images can have a devastating emotional and social effect on the person pictured and can be used as a way to deliberately humiliate, control or harass the intended victim,” she said.

The move to criminalise revenge porn comes after news of an online porn site that posted hundreds of images of girls from more than 30 schools around Australia.

Smartphone technology had made it easier for offenders to share images to cause maximum distress to victims, Ms Upton said.

“The use of mobile phones as recording devices has made it easier for people to share intimate images without consent on social media or websites, causing great distress for victims, and we need laws to protect them.”

Plans for the new laws are part of the government’s response to a parliamentary justice committee inquiry into privacy.

The committee’s report will be tabled in parliament on Monday.

The NSW government decision follows Victoria and South Australia, where penalties for distributing such images include fines of up to $10,000 and jail terms of up to two years.

– with The Daily Telegraph