Experts have slammed the federal government’s “bizarre” new consent education campaign. 

The federal education department launched The Good Society website as part of its Respect Matters program.

The site contains more than 350 videos, digital stories, podcasts and teaching materials to help teach sex and consent to young people. 

However, the videos aimed at students in years 10-12 have been criticised for covering up serious issues and behaviours with a cartoonish veneer.

Many of the videos, even those aimed at people 16 years old and above, do not use the words sex, rape, or assault. 

Instead, the videos attempt to describe these things through metaphor. 

The video that has gained the most attention features a young girl smearing her milkshake in her boyfriend’s face, possibly to represent sexual assault or rape. The clip talks repeatedly about the concept of ‘moving the line’ of consent, but does very little to make viewers aware that it is referring to sexual matters. 

In another video, a girl being scared of sharks and not swimming at the beach is used to represent her being afraid to have sex because of STDs and pregnancy.

“This resource doesn’t give young people enough credit,” says the director of End Rape on Campus, Sharna Bremner.

“It undermines their intelligence. It underestimates what they already know, and I wonder if anyone involved in it has ever met a 17-year-old boy.

“It assumes that the problem is that people don’t know what consent is, not that they ignore it. Kids aged 15 to 18 are the most likely to be victims of sexual violence, and also perpetrators of sexual violence. So we need to be giving them correct information.”

The Good Society website is littered with “dead links, incorrect information, and some really harmful messaging about the drivers of sexual violence”, Ms Bremner said. 

On one page, students are told they can report sexual violations to the Australian Human Rights Commission. This is not true, and the site contains no other information about reporting assault or harassment to police, or a trusted adult.

The section of the site called Sex and Gender Norms appears to confuse “norms” with “myths”. 

It says that examples of gender norms include, “males enjoy sex more than females” and “males want sex all the time”. These are not norms, these are myths. 

When the site was first announced, education minister Alan Tudge and the minister for families Anne Ruston said The Good Society had been developed in conjunction with Our Watch and Foundation for Young Australians.

Foundation for Young Australians says it had “not been asked to review, use or endorse the materials subsequently”.

Our Watch said it was “consulted between late 2017 and early 2019 when the materials were being developed and provided advice … We have not been asked to use or endorse the materials subsequently”.

The Good Society appears to have been developed largely by the public relations firm Liquid Interactive. Some have criticsed the government for responding the issue of widespread sexual assault as a public relations problem. 

Australia’s crisis support service Lifeline is available on 13 11 14. Anyone impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence can call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. International helplines are accessible at www.befrienders.org.