Minute by the Lord Mayor
To Council:
In recent weeks, a former student of Kambala School in Sydney, Chanel Contos, initiated an online campaign entitled ‘Teach Us Consent’ and submitted a petition to the Parliament of New South Wales calling for improvements to sex education taught in New South Wales’ schools.
The online
petition has now received more than 36,000 signatures. In addition, more than
3,300 testimonies have been added, detailing a broad range of awful experiences
from women when they were students. Sadly, many of these are very recent –
further indication that this is an ongoing problem requiring new solutions.
I was
recently contacted by a young, female City of Sydney resident, a survivor of
sexual assault, to alert me to the ‘Teach Us Consent’ campaign. She noted that
many of her friends had also been assaulted and that she believed these
incidents could have been avoided if she and her peers had received thorough
and explicit education about sexual consent.
COUNCILLOR CLOVER MOORE
Lord Mayor
Moved by the Chair (the Lord Mayor), seconded by Councillor Phelps –
It is resolved that:
(A) Council note:
(i) the extraordinary ‘Teach Us Consent’ campaign initiated by former Kambala School student, Chanel Contos, and the many distressing, tragic and unacceptable stories of sexual harassment and sexual assault in Australian schools that the campaign has brought to light; and
(ii)
the shocking number of past and present school
students who have come forward to share their stories of sexual harassment and
assault at secondary schools in New South Wales; and
(B)
the Lord
Mayor be requested to write to the Premier of New South Wales to request that holistic sex
education, including the nature and importance of clear consent, and LGBTQI
inclusive content, be included in the New South Wales school curriculum and
taught earlier in an effort to reduce the extent of sexual assault experiences
amongst young people in New South Wales, as per the request of the ‘Teach Us
Consent’ campaign.
Carried unanimously.
S051491