Indonesia bans sex outside marriage, including in Bali, as Aussie tourists ... trends now

Horrified Australian tourists have hit out at Indonesia's new ban on sex outside marriage. 

On Tuesday, the Indonesian Parliament unanimously voted to approve the ban, which will affect both citizens and foreign visitors. 

Bali is one of the most popular tourist destinations for Aussies, with over a million visiting in a typical year. 

However, having sex outside of marriage could now see visiting Aussies slapped with a one-year jail sentence - while unmarried couples who cohabit could face six months in prison. 

Reacting to the ban, Aussie tourists described it as 'terrifying'.

One tourist told Today: 'That's terrifying. I don't want to be in an Indonesian prison for 12 months because I slept with someone I don't know.'

Another said: 'I always come to Bali but if it affects me and my partner we obviously won't be able to.'

The ban is part of an overhaul of the country's criminal code that has been in the works for years. 

The new code also expands an existing blasphemy law and keeps a five-year prison term for deviations from the central tenets of Indonesia's six recognized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. 

The code still needs approval from the president, and the government says it will not be fully implemented for several years.

Adultery charges must be based on police reports lodged by a spouse, parents or children.

Citizens could also face a 10-year prison term for associating with organisations that follow Marxist-Leninist ideology and a four-year sentence for spreading communism.

Rights groups criticised some of the revisions as overly broad or vague and warned that adding them to the code could penalize normal activities and threaten freedom of expression and privacy rights.

However, some advocates hailed the passage as a victory for the country's LGBTQ community. After fierce deliberation, lawmakers eventually agreed to remove an article proposed by Islamic groups that would have made gay sex illegal.

The revised code also preserves the death penalty, despite calls from the National Commission on Human Rights and other groups to abolish capital punishment. But the new code adds a 10-year probationary period to the death penalty. 

If the convict behaves well during this period, their sentence will be reduced to life imprisonment or 20 years' imprisonment.