Dozens of private schools in bothSydney andMelbourne have vowed to take stronger action on consent education in response to the claims,while Victoria’s Education Minister hascalled for a nationwide rollout of “respectful relationships” education.
On Monday night Ms Contos will launch awebsite to host thousands more allegations,which now span private,Catholic and public schools from regional NSW,Victoria,Queensland and Perth.
“The point of this is to scale it,take it nationwide. I want this to continue to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind,the government’s mind,because we need educational reform and societal reform. Everyone needs to be conscious of their contribution to rape culture,” she said.
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Both school circles andParliament House have been reckoning with sexual assault claims. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been urgedto sideline a federal cabinet minister accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in 1988 as authorities investigate,while former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins has taken her formal complaint over an alleged rape to the police.
Ms Contos,who turned 23 last week,said the timing was not a coincidence. “Everyone is working off each other in one way or another,and realising this could be a massive tipping point in our society,” she said.
About 1000 anonymised student stories,including new claims,will be published when her website goes live.