It is a criminal offence to falsely claim to be a government agency or act on its behalf, punishable by up to three years in prison, unless the person has a reasonable excuse, such as for an artistic purpose.

Courts must treat the age of a child aged 16 or 17 as an aggravating factor for rape or sexual assault sentences, unless exceptional circumstances exist.

Courts cannot use an offender's good character to reduce a sentence for a sexual offence if that character helped them commit the crime.

For sexual offences, the court can only use an offender's good character to reduce a sentence if it relates to their chance of rehabilitation or the risk of them offending again.

For sexual offences, the court can ignore an offender's good character if the crime was serious or caused significant physical, mental, or emotional harm to a vulnerable victim.

Sentencing purposes must include recognizing the harm done to the victim, and courts cannot assume a victim suffered little or no harm just because there is no victim impact statement.

The chief executive can suspend a blue card for offences on the Working with Children Act's disqualifying offences list (mostly offences against children).

More types of crimes now trigger risk management and screening for people working with children, including attempts to commit crimes, historical offences, and equivalent crimes from other jurisdictions.