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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1700 ..

MRS BURKE (continuing):

Why aren't we teaching students about the psychological scars caused by underage sexual activity? Again, these are my thoughts. Why aren't we teaching them about the value of abstinence and long-term relationships? Whilst our young people may be physically mature, they are certainly not emotionally mature. We can't have ourselves on; you can't put an old head on young shoulders.

Once a person gives himself or herself sexually to another person, a part of that person is gone forever. Indeed, the second point in the conclusion, on page 105 of the report says:

... children and young people are in need of a 'moral toolbox' filled with the skills of help-seeking, resilience, coping, and the ability to analyse and express their emotions; ...

We need to make sure, when we look at this again down the track, that we have a more balanced view and perspective of it.

I am not overly critical of this report, as there are some very good recommendations in relation to health and nutrition. I would agree with Ms MacDonald on that. I think that Ms Tucker laid out very clearly the view of the committee on fitness, health and testing. We must pay attention to and focus on obesity without weakening the aspect of physical activity.

We must recognise that we live in an increasingly sedentary world and are now dealing with a generation in which more and more young people seem not to associate with sporting and fitness. It is a fact of life. We may none of us like it, but that is the reality. Fitness needs to be fun. We must ensure that, whilst we talk about healthy nutrition, physical fitness is a major part of that.

Other sensible measures in this report are about anti-bullying and an early years intervention project that provides parenting support-recommendation 45. There are healthy body image projects, in recommendations 28 and 29, which are an excellent idea in this day and age, where glossy magazines and movie stars often present unrealistic images of the perfect girl-or boy for that matter.

There are many more aspects of this report that I could lift out and praise, and I look forward to focusing on the future. I commend to this Assembly consideration of all the issues contained in this report and look forward to future debates on aspects of the report.

MR PRATT (12.01): I rise to make some comments about the Health Committee report, a report that we generally support. I personally believe this is a useful report, and in my capacity as shadow education minister I welcome it. The majority of recommendations are worthy of adoption, and I call upon the government to seriously consider them.

Indeed, many of these recommendations are core issues germane to education and the welfare of our children. They have been raised by the opposition and broadly discussed here, but some of them do not seem to have been addressed in the budget. We therefore hope the government can implement those for which they find funding, but in some cases many of these recommendations could be approached in a cost-neutral fashion. Some of them simply require cultural change, not necessarily the spending of a lot of money.

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