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The legal age to consent to have sex in Queensland is 16. When we say sex, we mean sexual intercourse which is when a penis, finger, object or any part of a person is fully or partially inside another person’s vagina or anus. This is called penetration. This legal age applies to all people, including people in same-sex and heterosexual relationships.  At 16 years old, people reach the age of consent, which means in the eyes of the law they are viewed to have general sexual competence to enforce personal boundaries and negotiate the risks involved in sexual activities.

~ Christie  

Some people become interested in having a boyfriend or girlfriend at an early age, others are not interested until they are well into being an adult.  There is no magical age that tells you when you can and cannot start dating.   

However, parents and carers’ rules about relationships play a part here too.  If your parents have told you that you must be a certain age to date and you keep a relationship secret from them, it will be difficult for them to help if you need support and advice.  Relationships can be tricky, and you may need the support from your family at some stage. 

In any case,  regardless of age, it is important that if you do decide that you want to start dating someone, that you ask for their consent and communicate this with them. You both must also be mature enough to follow basic relationship rights and responsibilities, such as respecting one another as an equal, giving yourself and them space to spend time with other friends and family, and ensuring you both are free to express yourselves respectfully without any pressure or threats. 

If you feel you and the person you are interested in understand how to be a respectful partner and will not pressure each other to do anything that you are not ready for, that is more important than any particular age. 

~ Bonnie

If you are sent a nude picture, there are a few things you can do, and a few different issues depending on the age of the person in the photo and your relationship.  

If the person in the nude photo is under 18 years, it is a criminal offence for you to possess child exploitation material which is what this photo is catogorised as. In this case it's important you talk to a trusted adult who can help deal with the situation. Delete the photo and do not send it to anyone else as this is considered distributing child exploitation material which is a very serious offence.  

If it is your boyfriend or someone you are dating our advice is to discourage any sharing of nude photos, not only because it is against the law if you are under 18, but also because the photo is out of your control once it has been shared and you are relying on the trust of someone else to keep the photo confidential. It is a good idea to talk to your current boyfriend about this and don’t send any nudes in return.  

If you are both over 18 years old and you receive this photo, unsolicited, you might like to let him know how inappropriate it is to force a nude photo onto someone. You can also block him and report him within the app as this is a violation of the standards of the code in which most messaging applications fall under. It can be good to let him know you are reporting him to show him there are consequences for his actions and to deter him from sending this pic to others. 

~ Christie  

In NSW, the age of consent is 16. If you are 16 years old or older another person can have sex with you if you agree to it (unless they are your carer or supervisor.)  

 

This year NSW government plans to change the consent laws to adopt an affirmative consent model. This means a person must do or say something to confirm they consent before sex occurs. 

 

The changes will mean: 

(a) a person does not consent to sexual activity unless they said or did something to communicate consent; and 

(b) If a person is accused of sexual assault, they have to show that they said or did something to find out whether they had consent.  They have to ask, not just assume that they have consent because the other person didn’t say no. 

  

The new laws will also clarify a person’s right to change their mind and withdraw consent at any point; make it clear that if someone consents to one sexual act, it doesn’t mean they’ve consented to other sexual acts;  and clarify that a defendant cannot rely on intoxication (drunk or on drugs) as an excuse for being mistaken about whether they have consent. 

 

These changes are being made to help make it clear to everyone that consent must be freely given and ongoing throughout any sexual activity and that it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure they have consent. 

~ Bonnie