Supporting Young People to Understand Affirmative Consent Program

The Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Act 2022 implemented an affirmative consent model in Victoria, providing better protections for victim-survivors of sexual offences, shifting the scrutiny from victim-survivors onto their perpetrators.

The Supporting Young People to Understand Affirmative Consent Program (the Program) is in its second, and final, year of delivery.

The Program aims to empower and educate young people and their key influencers to strengthen their understanding of affirmative consent and healthy relationships. This Program has supported community education on the introduction of the new affirmative consent model in Victoria.

The 13 community-based educational initiatives have been delivered with young people 12-25 years, outside of mainstream educational settings across metropolitan, regional and rural Victoria. The projects have targeted a diverse range of people including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, culturally and linguistically diverse young people, young people with a disability and LGBTQIA+ young people. Projects have been delivered through a variety of youth co-designed approaches including workshops, peer-to-peer education models and the development of digital and multimedia resources including videos, podcasts, social media content and zines.

Projects have also engaged parents and other key influencers to support the young people they care for and work with. This includes consent education capacity building for youth and community workers, training for kinship and foster carers, and community legal education for those working with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people.