Sydney, Aug 7 (ANI): New laws are required to deal with 'sexting' in the Australian state of Victoria, with almost a fifth of children aged 10 to 15, having either sent or received sexually explicit images or messages, legal and health experts have said.

The Victorian parliament is currently investigating the prevalence of sexting and the adequacy of laws to deal with the issue.

Leading Senior Constable Joe Grbac, a member of the Macedon Ranges Local Safety Committee, told the parliament that there should be a less serious offence covering consensual sexting between minors, rather than child pornography.

That's what we're left with at the moment, if you like, is that pedophile legislation intent and that's pretty heavy for kids just playing doctors and nurses, The Age quoted Grbac, as saying.

The Macedon Ranges local committee, that includes police and community health representatives, tackled the issue of sexting through measures such as school education campaigns after a girl and boy consensually exchanged a sex video via mobile phone.

According to the paper, the Victorian Privacy Commissioner's youth advisory group ran an online survey into sexting and received over 1000 responses, almost half of which were from children aged 10 to 15.

Of respondents in that age bracket, one in five had received a sext, while almost as many had sent one, the report said. (ANI)