E&OE TRANSCRIPT
HOST, LORETTA RYAN: Look, have you heard this term, manosphere? It's relatively new, but this new world where boys and young men have been heavily influenced through online forums such as blogs and social media channels.
HOST, CRAIG ZONCA: Yeah, and in this day and age, I tell you what, with a young son, he might only be two, but I'm worried about it because of what it's teaching and it really promotes pretty aggressive and rigid definitions of masculinity and makes you question, well, how are we shaping the boys of today into the men we want for tomorrow?
LORETTA RYAN: And it's up to you to have those conversations. And the Commonwealth believes it begins with community conversations, and they're underway right across Queensland and the country.
CRAIG ZONCA: Ged Kearney is the Assistant Minister for Social Services and the Prevention of Family Violence. Ged, good morning to you.
GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER: Good morning, Craig and Loretta, thanks for having me on.
CRAIG ZONCA: You're on your way to Brisbane to launch this program. Tell us what it is and, more so, why it's so important.
GED KEARNEY: I think your introduction hit the nail absolutely on the head. So, it's about starting a national conversation on what does it mean to be a healthy man these days, in several different ways. I mean, healthy of body. So, we know that men are not very good at seeking help. They don't go to the doctor as often as they should, and often when they do attend a doctor, that they're further along the disease process or their illnesses are much worse. Women have a better attitude to going to the doctor for all sorts of reasons. So, that's something we want to change. But also, you talked about the influences that are facing young men, harmful online content that shapes unhealthy attitudes about masculinity, about relationships and about gender, which is also very important to me as the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence. So, you know, we want to start these conversations, we want to promote factors to support men's health, we want to encourage help-seeking behaviour, but we also want to counter some of these awful, harmful ideologies and highlight the diversity of healthy masculinity. What does it mean to be a healthy man in 2026? And then hopefully all this will inform good government policy.
LORETTA RYAN: Yeah, well, just that term, manosphere.
GED KEARNEY: Yeah.
LORETTA RYAN: I mean, are you concerned about the perception that brings?
GED KEARNEY: Oh, absolutely, definitely very concerned. And we do know that there's a lot of great work happening in this area. So, I'm going to be visiting some amazing organisations right across Brisbane, talking to organisations and different people who are really trying to counter this, as you call it, this awful manosphere influence on our young men. I'll be going to places like Logan where we'll be talking to Good Dads. It's a great organisation, and Craig, you hit the nail on the head. One of the most important influences on young men are their dads. We know that if they have a great relationship with their father, for example, they are 50 per cent, nearly 50 per cent less likely to use violence. So, that's amazing, right, so maybe there's stuff that we can do that can help dads be better dads. We're going to go to Men's Sheds, and we're talking to older men. We're going to be talking to migrant and immigrant communities. This is so important, and it's a really important piece of armour in our fight against family and domestic violence, too, I think, for obvious reasons.
CRAIG ZONCA: It most certainly is, and it's about all of us standing up to be part of that conversation. This project's called the Healthy Men Community Conversations. I really like this idea, and --
GED KEARNEY: Oh, good.
CRAIG ZONCA: -- for so many reasons, Ged Kearney. But more than anything else, so I've got a little boy who's two, I've got a little girl who's five, and it's actually about both of them. It's about my little girl growing up and knowing what healthy respective relationships are all about. And it's about my little boy knowing, well, what level of responsibility falls on his shoulders to be a good bloke.
GED KEARNEY: That's right, that's right. And what is a good relationship, and how, as a bloke, do you stay healthy in your mind and your body? And of course, if men are healthy, then we know our communities are healthier, and of course, women are safer. So, I'll be travelling, just for your information, with the wonderful Dan Repacholi. I don't know if you know Dan. He's the member for Hunter, and he's the Special Envoy for Men's Health. He's like a nearly seven-foot, you know, fellow with a big beard, and he's, he's, he's an Olympic shooter, actually, he was. And so Dan's really a great asset to this whole conversation because he really connects with young boys, he connects with men, and he can really help start this conversation. We, we really, yeah, we want men to be part of this solution.
CRAIG ZONCA: If this manosphere sentiment doesn't shift and I worry about it, what's your concern, Assistant Minister, if we don't shift that thinking?
GED KEARNEY: Ah, look, unfortunately, I've really had to listen to a lot of this to understand what it is that they, that they say to our young men and boys. And it's really not healthy in so many ways. Actually, they start out quite cleverly talking, talking about, how do you be healthy? They might show them how to do weights, you know, they might even say, "Get a routine, make your bed". But then they turn around and fill their heads with nonsense about, you know, gender stereotypes, you know, about men need to be strong and never show emotion and, and, you know, dominate women. And that, I think, is where the bad messages start to come in, and then we have problems in society. But having said that, most young men, you know, still look to their parents as influencers. They still need positive role models, and if we can start filling that online space with healthy material, hopefully we can counter all that stuff.
CRAIG ZONCA: Ged Kearney, thanks so much for joining us this morning on 612 ABC Brisbane.
GED KEARNEY: It's great to be on, thank you.