Age of consent laws for heterosexuals and homosexuals should be brought in line with each other in an overhaul which also focuses on age differences in prosecutions, according to a youth advocate. Queensland is the only state in Australia to have an older age of consent for sodomy, at 18 years old, compared to 16 years old for vaginal sex, a move widely interpreted as targeting homosexuals. I would argue the laws should be there to protect young people as opposed to criminalise young people Youth Advocacy Centre director Janet Wight said the extent to which the law - introduced in 1899 - interferes in teenage sex lives was not useful. "It's a maze of law that affects young people that they don't understand and isn't necessarily protecting them," she said. If you have said at 16 you can have sex then that is all you need to say... It puts young people at risk of breaking the law. Ms Wight said the law was aimed at homosexuals although obviously not all of them would practise anal sex and heterosexual couples could also engage in it. She said a wider review of consent laws was needed and legislation should be focusing on age differences between sexual partners instead of particular ages. Ms Wight said it was concerning that a 16-year-old could be prosecuted for having sex with a 15-year-old even when they considered themselves boyfriend and girlfriend. "Whether you or I or their parents think it's a good idea they are probably going to have sex with each other and criminalising that behaviour is problematic," she said. They can be prosecuted when it is just normal adolescent behaviour... Why criminalise it? How is that helpful? Ms Wight said 20-year-olds having sex with 13- or 14-year-olds was a real problem which raised the issue of truly informed consent. "I would argue the laws should be there to protect young people as opposed to criminalise young people experimenting with sex in ways which are not unexpected," she said. Criminalising that does not prevent sexual predators. All states and territories have a set age of consent but some of the states have provisions in their law which makes it a defence if the person who had sex with an under-age teenager is less than two years older than them. The only provision for defence Queensland has for age of consent laws is in the case of a defendant who can prove they reasonably thought they were having sex with someone aged 16 years or older. Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said he had no plans to review the age of consent laws.