Labor will unveil a new $77m commitment to train teachers how to talk to students about sexual consent and respectful relationships in an age-appropriate way.
The new program, to be announced on International Women’s Day by the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, and the shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek, also aims to help school students seek support if they have experienced violence.
Labor’s new commitment to consent education comes after a $32m pledge by the Morrison government to run a campaign targeting young people and their parents.
The minister for women’s safety, Anne Ruston, said on Sunday the new campaign would encourage parents to talk to their children about consent, and equip parents “to have conversations with young people over 12 about consensual and respectful relationships through a suite of online resources”.
The government will also give the Australian Human Rights Commission $5m to develop a survey in partnership with Chanel Contos, the activist founder of Teach Us Consent.
Contos is part of a coalition of prominent women, including the former Australian of the year Grace Tame and the former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who on Sunday launched a fresh call for the Morrison government to implement significant policies to protect women and children from violence, harassment and discrimination.
In a joint statement ahead of Tuesday’s policy launch, Albanese and Plibersek said Labor would “partner closely with state and territory governments, and school systems” to improve respect and relationships education.
They said the commitment would allow principals to hire extra expert support, and develop respect and relationships education programs that are “based on evidence and tailored to their school”.
“Recent changes to the national school curriculum have strengthened the mandatory minimum standards for Australian children to learn about consent and respectful relationships,” Albanese and Plibersek said in a joint statement.
“But delivery of high-quality respectful relationships education programs is patchy and inconsistent across the country”.
“For example, there’s nowhere near enough support to train teachers properly in this kind of education, and some schools don’t have access to programs developed by experts. Too many school students are missing out on education that can help keep them safe”.
Labor’s new commitment on consent education comes as Scott Morrison will use a speech to a business summit convened by the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday to outline areas of the economy where the government will seek to improve supply chain resilience.
Morrison will identify seven initial categories of goods that the government is particularly focused on. These are semiconductors, agricultural chemicals, water treatment chemicals, telecommunications equipment, plastics, pharmaceuticals and personal protective equipment.
According to an extract of the prime minister’s speech circulated in advance, the prime minister will tell the event that the pandemic has demonstrated “the importance of domestic manufacturing to national health, security and resilience” and “brought into sharp focus the need to be constantly alert to supply chain vulnerabilities”.
“A strong private sector continues to be our first line of defence,” Morrison will say. “Businesses know their business best and they are primarily responsible for supplying the vast majority of goods that Australians want and need”.
“However, there have been examples of where government action is necessary to find a solution”.
