Age of consent in Oceania

Same sex sexual activity is illegal at any age for males in Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Samoa, Niue, Tonga and Tuvalu; it is outlawed for both men and women in the Solomon Islands.

Scope: all jurisdictions per list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Oceania.

However, as a result of the international affairs power under Australia's constitution, a 1997 United Nations Human Rights Committee ruling has resulted in States repealing rules that differentiated between homosexual and heterosexual people on age of consent issues.

[3][4] It is an offence in the Australian Capital Territory to have sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16.

This defence was added as section 80AG as part of the Criminal Legislation Amendment (Child Sexual Abuse) Act 2018 No 33.

[19] It is an offence in South Australia to engage in any activity which involves fellatio, cunnilingus or placing any part of the body within the labia majora, vagina or anus of a person under the age of 17 unless they are lawful spouses.

The age of consent is set at 16 years in Cook Islands, regardless of gender and/or sexual orientation.

Section 152(A) of the Criminal Code provides that anyone engaging in sexual penetration with a person under 16 is liable to imprisonment for up to 25 years.

[41] In Nauru it is an offence under the Crimes Act 2016, Division 7.3 to engage in sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16.

[44] Further it is an offence for a person to have a sexual connection with a person under the age of 18 if the defendant is in a guardianship role (parent, stepparent, foster parent, guardian, uncle, aunt or other members of extended family and friends, whānau or other power or authority or responsibility for care or upbringing).

[46] New Zealand has had a uniform and equal age of consent of 16, regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender since the passage of the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986.

Even with a complaint, it is still up to police discretion and if the age difference is small it is rarely prosecuted, with family group conferences being the more likely option.

Before 2005, there was no law in New Zealand prohibiting any form of sexual relationship between adult women and male minors.

[48] The sexual abuse of boys of any age, including rape, by adult women was fully legal in New Zealand until 2005.

[51] There is a close in age exemption allowing 15 and 16 year-olds to have sex with partners less than 5 years older.

Also having or allowing carnal knowledge "against the order of nature" is illegal at any age, as are acts of "gross indecency" between males (sections 210 and 212).

The current age of consent appears to be 16, as a 1999 case involved a New Zealand tourist convicted of "unlawful carnal knowledge" of a girl of 15 (this will be confirmed once The Pitcairn Constitution Order 2010 comes into effect).

However the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004 involved mostly charges of rape or sexual assault, not "underage sex" (and some "gross indecency with a child under 14" charges), although it was claimed during the trial that (presumably consensual) "underage sex" with girls from the age of 12 was normal on Pitcairn.

Avery Chumbley, a member of the Hawaiian Senate, had made efforts to raise the age of consent since 1996.

[59] The age of consent was changed to 16 by Act 1, House Bill 236, passed by the Legislature of Hawaii in 2001.

In 1974 the laws were changed to add the additional requirement that there was a "reckless infliction" of "serious" bodily harm.

[64] There a close-in-age exemption permitting minors aged 13–15 to engage in sexual activity with those less than three years older.

Under the same provisions, it is also illegal for any person aged 16 or older to aid, encourage, induce or causes minors under 13 to engage in any sexual activity, or minors aged 13–15 to engage in sexual activity with persons older than them by three years or more.

According to section 1317, a position of authority "means an employer, youth leader, scout leader, coach, teacher, counselor, school administrator, religious leader, doctor, nurse, psychologist, guardian ad litem, babysitter, or a substantially similar position, and a police officer or probation officer other than when the officer is exercising custodial control" over a person under 18.

According to Section 1310, affirmative defenses for the crimes outlined in Sections 1306-1309 exists for consensual activity between legal spouses and for cases where the defendant reasonably believed that a minor age 13 or older was of legal age.

Sections 1303 and 1304 of the Commonwealth Code also criminalize sexual activity with persons aged 18 or 19, if they are "committed to the custody of the Department of Public Health and Environmental Services under the Commonwealth's civil or criminal laws, and the offender is the legal guardian of the person".

Midway Atoll is under the jurisdiction of the US federal government Department of the Interior (administered as a National Wildlife Refuge).