In other words, there is a huge gap between how we think we will respond to women who’ve been raped and how we actually respond. Inside that gap lies a wealth of myths about rape and an underlying belief that women cannot be trusted.  Research released last week by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), titled “’Chuck her on a lie detector’: Investigating Australians’ mistrust in women’s reports of sexual assault”, provides robust evidence of the depth of mistrust most of us don’t even know we have about women and rape.  From the report: “The call...

Dads turn up these days. They come to parent teacher interviews and workshops. They take kids to swimming classes and ballet and gymnastics. They help their kids with homework and take on the bedtime ritual of bath, teeth and story-time. This involvement builds stronger relationships between fathers and children, and between parents who don’t need to feel resentment over unequal sharing of family responsibilities. But lockdowns are putting pressure on those responsibilities and dads need to keep turning up.  We run parent workshops at schools and early childhood centres all over Victoria...

Jon has over 36 years with the Queensland police department, leading Task Force Argos, a team dedicated to investigating online child sexual abuse and exploitation.  Jon has led many national and international investigations into child sexual abuse and is highly passionate about delivering education and training on child protection. Jon is highly respected and recognised worldwide, receiving many accolades including four Commissioners Certificates, two Queensland Police Excellence awards, the ‘Champion for Children Award’ in New York and Queensland Australian of the Year. Within the...

Andrew Taukolo – Men4Respect Coordinator Andrew is an Australian male of Tongan descent who coordinates the YFS Men4Respect program and is a youth ambassador for the broader award-winning R4Respect program. R4Respect and Men4Respect use a peer-to-model to support young people to develop the values, knowledge and skills required to build respectful relationships. Andrew graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2017 and has worked in the community services sector for over 7 years as a Disability Support Worker, Peer Educator and most...

Maria has been involved in diverse advocacy, research, resource development, professional learning and project management roles in school, community, university and government settings – in the areas of wellbeing, sexuality, boys’ education, bullying, respectful relationships, gender equity, and intersectional feminism. Currently her work is focused on the prevention of violence against women, respectful relationships education, and facilitating communities of practice. Don’t miss hearing Maria speak at this event. Find out more or get your tickets by clicking the button below. Book...

While the knee-jerk reaction from some parents or members of the community may be incredulous or in some more interesting cases, outrage, in just 4 minutes Heather and Deanne manage to cover all the objections and acknowledge the challenges and balance between being a busy parent and treating children with dignity. We invite anyone who is interested in opportunities to teach consent and give agency to their children, particularly around their nappy change, to listen to this piece. We would especially like to encourage those who think this notion is “crazy” to have a listen, it doesn’t even...

She co-leads the Childhoods in Changing Contexts research group in QUT’s Faculty of Education. Kerryann is a pre-eminent Australian scholar in the interdisciplinary field of child maltreatment prevention and has researched and published in the areas of child protection policy, school-based child sexual abuse prevention programs, professionals’ reporting of child abuse and neglect, and training interventions for mandatory reporters. In recognition of outstanding research quality and productivity Kerryann was awarded a QUT Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence (2015) and a QUT...

She has extensive experience as a primary classroom teacher. In 2014, she was awarded a Teaching and Learning Award for Teaching Excellence from the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology. She completed her doctoral study, titled “Primary School Teachers’ Conceptions of Pedagogical Responses to Concepts of Diverse Sexualities” at Queensland University of Technology in 2014. Interestingly, teachers responded with uncertainty to a range of scenarios inclusive of diverse sexualities concepts as part of their daily work. Her future research interests...

She has also worked for Legal Aid ACT and was the Director of the team responsible for implementing the Child Abuse Royal Commission criminal justice recommendations in the ACT. In 2019, Katrina researched the implementation of relationships and sexuality education in Europe and North America and has published her findings in a report titled Ignorance is not Innocence: safeguarding sexual wellbeing through relationships and sexuality education. She regularly comments on relationships and sexuality education in the public domain, especially with respect to policy and implementation. She is...

The project has developed training and resources for teachers, school staff, parents/carers and students. Max has a background in primary education and behaviour guidance and is passionate about supporting schools to be inclusive spaces that foster positive relationships. ‘The need for more robust and inclusive relationships and sexuality education in Queensland, vulnerability/supports trans/gender/sexuality diverse students’ Max shares with us a presentation on the need for more robust and inclusive relationships and sexuality education in Queensland, including vulnerability/supports for...