Healthy and informed sex education for kids and adolescents is vitally important

Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes' book "Welcome to Sex" was wrongly stripped from Big W shelves after conservatives launched an attack on teaching sex education to our children... Read what Abigail has to say.

Abigail gave notice of a Motion in Parliament, saying:

(1) That this House notes that:

(a) Big W recently removed from its shelves all physical copies of the book entitled "Welcome to Sex" by Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes, supposedly after reports of employees being abused in stores,

(b) the book "Welcome to Sex" was written by experts in the field of sex education and was informed by 20 years of consultation with adolescents, including comprehensive interviews with young people and direct engagement with the magazine column entitled “Dolly Doctor” published in Girlfriend Magazine,

(c) comprehensive and informed sex education that begins during early childhood and continues throughout life is vital for encouraging healthy, safe and consenting sexual behaviours amongst young people and adolescents and increasing adolescents’ confidence and ability to make informed decisions, and

(d) the argument by conservative groups and individuals that categorises the book as “grooming” is not only factually incorrect but also waters down the reality of grooming and invalidates the experiences of victim-survivors.

(2) That this House:

(a) calls on Big W to immediately reverse its decision and put the book "Welcome to Sex" back on its shelves,

(b) calls on all retailers to ensure a safe working environment for their employees by utilising existing laws and rights to refuse entry to any person who is abusive or disrespectful, and

(c) re-affirms support for comprehensive, healthy and informed sex education that is available and accessible for all young people, adolescents, educators, parents and carers.

On the next sitting week, Abigail will attempt to pass her motion in Parliament. Stay tuned to see how this goes!

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

The NSW Government owns and controls, on behalf of the people of this state, the rights to the minerals and materials that naturally occur in NSW land.

Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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Healthy and informed sex education for kids and adolescents is vitally important

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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