Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to bring up the issue of an educational program called Building Respectful Relationships, which is currently being taught in Victorian schools with plans for it to come to New South Wales. One of the segments that I have great concerns about is a role-playing game where year 9 girls get to play characters. One of those characters is Megan, and these are the words on the character card from the curriculum:

Megan is 17, lives in the city and works in a local cafe. She has had 15 sexual partners and describes herself as bisexual.

…   …   …

She rarely practises safe sex … because she is often drunk when she has sex.

That is someone that your daughter could be playing in school today.

Another character they may be asked to play is Grace.

Grace is 16 and … has had four boyfriends and has been sexually active since she was 13.

Another character they may be asked to play—these are year 9 girls—is that of Kelly. The character card for Kelly says:

Kelly is 14, in Year 9 and is very interested in girls. She is not sure but thinks she might be a lesbian.

Kelly says:

‘I think I’m a lesbian but I’m not sure because I have also been attracted to a boy. I guess this gives me more options …'

I do not believe that such sexualised role-playing has a part in our schools, and I cannot believe that any parent or grandparent of a year 9 girl would consent to their daughter being asked to play Kelly, Grace or Megan. Why is this being done? We know, from psychological studies, that, when there is role-playing, some of the character can bleed into the role-playing participant. I put it that it is completely against the best interests of our society to have young girls in year 9 being given these role-playing cards. The instructions given to teachers say:

* Give each of the students a "character card" … a name tag and hat with their character name on it.

* Explain that they will be acting as a group of young people who have come together …

* Give them time to read their character description and think about their role—

Think about playing those highly sexualised roles—

* Give them a few minutes to get into their character.

What does a year 9 girl do to get into a role where she is 17 and lives in the city and has 15 sexual partners and describes herself as bisexual? I do not believe this has any place in our education system, and I hope that members of the opposition agree with me.