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Updated September 3, 2026 \u2014 5:48pm,first published 5:38pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Education Minister Jason Clare says it \u201cisn\u2019t woke\u201d to teach respect in schools after Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said teachers were running their own agendas in classrooms and Australians needed to be vigilant about a politicised curriculum.<\/p>\n Debate over consent and relationships education in schools has been revived after a slew of high-profile sexual assault allegations<\/a> across the country, as Labor flags a crackdown on social media algorithms<\/a> that serve up harmful content to children.<\/p>\n Pauline Hanson, who is breathing down the necks of the major parties after One Nation rocketed up the polls and claimed a safe Labor seat in a state byelection<\/a> at the weekend, has previously sworn to drive \u201cwoke\u201d ideology out of Australia\u2019s schools.<\/p>\n Clare on Thursday defended the nation\u2019s teachers, saying it was big tech companies that were \u201cshovelling shit\u201d into children\u2019s heads.<\/p>\n \u201cTeaching boys to respect girls isn\u2019t woke. It\u2019s just common decency,\u201d he told reporters in Queensland.<\/p>\n \u201cTeachers are the heroes that do a really hard, complicated job, and they play a really, really important role in helping to make sure that they don\u2019t just build the skills of our kids to read and write, but they build character.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor weighed in on Thursday morning, backing up Nationals leader Matt Canavan who said on Wednesday that the \u201cfeminisation\u201d of the curriculum was to blame for pushing boys into toxic online spaces.<\/p>\n Asked repeatedly by ABC TV, Taylor would not say that he thought consent should be taught in schools.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, I think young men should be taught to be good human beings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Asked again, he said consent was important.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course it\u2019s important. But I have got to say that the idea that we have a balanced curriculum at the moment, that there are not agendas being run by some teachers, I think is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n At a press conference later in the day, Taylor said he did think consent should be taught in schools.<\/p>\n Asked how young men should be taught to treat women with respect, Taylor said: \u201cI want to see great young men growing up in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n Canavan, speaking alongside Taylor in Melbourne, took aim at the Respectful Relationships program run by the states.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the own words of that program, it\u2019s to provide opportunities for young boys to explore and reflect on their personal male privilege and power,\u201d Canavan told reporters in Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cThese anti-boy ideologies have no place in our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article Respectful Relationships is a program aimed at reducing family violence, taught from the start of school to year 12. Canavan\u2019s office pointed to an education toolkit from family violence prevention organisation Our Watch, which says boys should be given the opportunity to reflect on their male privilege, though the resource is not an official part of the curriculum.<\/p>\n Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said teachers were reporting children as young as six using misogynistic language peddled in the \u201cmanosphere\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly teachers will tell you that the sexism and aggression is much more common in their classrooms today \u2013 against them as female teachers, but also obviously against female students,\u201d she told News24.<\/p>\n Clare and Plibersek will attend a sexual violence emergency roundtable in Sydney on Friday, called by NSW after two assaults allegedly committed by school students<\/a>.<\/p>\n Independent senator David Pocock said a focus on \u201ctoxic masculinity\u201d over conversations around what made a good man had alienated some young men, but that teaching respect was about offering tools and support, not pushing an anti-boy ideology.<\/p>\n \u201cYoung people, and young boys in particular, need positive role models, need leaders in their communities and nationally showing what positive masculinity and respectful relationships look like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rates of male suicide show boys and men in this country need more support. We can push for that at the same time as we acknowledge men\u2019s violence against women and do everything we can to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Minister](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f91ca9f2e1067d633122bf61b93a93558f9fc5ec.jpeg\")
Minister for Education Jason Clare Kate Geraghty<\/p>\n![\"Opposition](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/b478b5be9933faa05bf07bf5759ba25b7c1bc7a0.jpeg\")
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor with deputy leader Jane Hume and nationals leader Matt CanavanRuby Alexander<\/p>\n![\"Chanel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788437962_552_5589d0a5f6d47ccec73519471c8dc684fcc9052a.jpeg\")
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Brittany Busch<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated September 3, 2026 \u2014 5:48pm,first published 5:38pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21],"class_list":["post-87187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}