Police have launched a new education campaign called “Sex and the Law”.

Detective Sergeant Carmen Butcher of the Southern Child Abuse Taskforce said the campaign was an innovative approach to getting messages out to remote communities about the legal requirements regarding sexual activity.

“Because we were aware that many people in remote communities had difficulty reading and writing, we decided to deliver our messages by way of Talking Posters.

“Police have utilised this technology previously  in road safety campaigns and it had been very well received, so we pursued the production of posters to deliver the Sex and the Law messages using the same technology.

“We are extremely grateful to the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council for coming on board and supporting this project with funding. This now means we have enough posters to distribute throughout most of the rural and remote communities in Central Australia.”

“The technology allows recordings in  both English and language (in this case Pitjantjatjara) and with the push of a button people can hear messages about the age of consent and other requirements under the legislation.

“We are sure this is going to provide an appropriate and popular means of delivering a very important message to those living in remote communities, and help to significantly reduce the incidents of child abuse in the future.”

Det Sgt Butcher said the project had also received the support of Western Australia and South Australia Police.

“All three jurisdictions have now had the posters produced and they will be rolled out in Central Australia, and the northern South Australia and Northern Western Australia communities in the near future.”

Media Contact
Theresa Kuilboer
8951 8825