E&OE transcript
HOST, DAVID MCCARTHY: Our next guest is Ged Kearney, MP for Cooper, Assistant Minister for Social Services and the Prevention of Family Violence. Good morning, Ged.
GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER: Good morning. Lovely to hear you.
DAVID MCCARTHY: Lovely to be with you. Really quickly, because we don't have a lot of time. I know you've got to disappear shortly. You recently attended a meeting with ACON. Tell us briefly what was discussed there.
GED KEARNEY: Oh, yes, we did. Well, the Special Envoy for Men's Health, Dan Repacholi and myself have been travelling around the country having what we call the Healthy Men Community Conversations Project. And this is part, sort of ties in very carefully to the - well, I'm the Minister for the Prevention of Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence, and part of that, of course, is growing healthy young men with respectful attitudes to women and trying to encourage help seeking, trying to counter some of the awful misogynistic online material that we're seeing being targeted to young men and just talking to men and boys about their lives, the influences and how we can help at every stage of life, from young men through to fatherhood, which we know is a significant moment for men right through to an older age. There's lots of issues that come up from the high rates of suicide, the stress of the family, the drivers of violence, drugs, alcohol. And for young men, sadly, a lot of it is loneliness and isolation. So, we met with ACON and it was actually a really fantastic conversation because they were talking to us about the projects they're doing around healthy masculinities, which is really what Dan and I are talking about. And they have been doing amazing stuff here. They've been running workshops that have been funded by the Federal Government on healthy masculinities in the context of the LGBTIQA+ world. And they've been running them for all genders, all people who want to explore their own masculinity. They've been having chats about physical and mental health, about hooking up, about dating. They had a drag king workshop. They have, really, they've been hugely successful and it's something that I hope we can continue doing because it really shows that there is diversity in masculinity and helping break down the rigid stereotypes that people place on men so that, as we know, the patriarchy oppresses us all and really helping men break out of that rigid stereotype that is expected of them that can often lead to harmful behaviours, including, sadly, the use of violence. So we love ACON. They're doing great work.
HOST, PAUL HORWELL: Ged, it sounds really good. It's Paul. Good morning. It sounds really good that ACON are doing this great work. I think one of the things that I was interested to read is there are some really simple, practical things like Teach Us Consent workshops where they're actually talking to young men and boys. What does active consent look like and what do healthy relationships look like? Stuff that you would think that the current education system would have as part of the curriculum, but clearly is missing because the manosphere is becoming so toxic. So, those things that are really good, would we see more of that rolling out?
GED KEARNEY: Look, I certainly hope so. The Teach Us Consent, the Respectful Relationships, I should say, curriculum that is in schools right now is being reviewed. And it's interesting you should bring that up because before we went to ACON, we had a lovely meeting with a group of young men, sort of in their 20s, and there were a number of gay young men in that group. And they were talking to us about what they learned at school and how really it was pretty much based on biology, you know, around sex education. And often the Teach Us Consent curriculum didn't really fit all of the situations that the boys found themselves in, particularly for the gay men in that group. So, I think, you're probably right. We need to reflect on that and how we present that in schools. It is mandatory now to have that respectful relationships content in schools and just how we can make sure it's relevant to all the young people that go through it. Of course, the other thing that came up, they said it needs to be whole of school, like it needs to start at the younger stage and go right through, all the way through to the end of school. Really embed it in everything that they do. It's not an easy thing. Poor old teachers. I feel a bit for our teachers, you know, we ask a lot of them.
PAUL HORWELL: They've got a lot on their plate to get through.
DAVID MCCARTHY: And Ged, it's important I want to ask. We know, you know, there are clear links between gambling and family violence. Were you disappointed? Personally, I know as a, you know, Cabinet solidarity might prevent you, but personally, are you disappointed that the gambling reforms didn't go as far, particularly as far as Peter Murphy, the late Peter Murphy, recommended. Surely this is one way, you know, if we stop gambling advertising and the link between advertising and people gambling and then family violence, this'd be, no pun intended, this could be a really big hit.
GED KEARNEY: Look, there's no doubt that gambling, alcohol, drugs, other forms of addiction exacerbate and, we do see a rise in family violence when they occur. But I will say this about the gambling legislation that did pass the lower house is that is absolutely the most rigorous and strongest reforms we've ever seen to the gambling world. There's no advertising on grounds, no advertising on jerseys. There is going to be a single opt-out mechanism for people to stop gambling on all of their platforms. Rather than have to go into every, Seven Plus and Kayo and do it all separately. There will be a single one-stop button essentially where you can opt out of all gambling advertising online. We've really increased the self-reporting. There's a lot. This is, you know, you can't gamble with a credit card anymore. It's huge.
DAVID MCCARTHY: Why not opt in?
GED KEARNEY: Really big.
DAVID MCCARTHY: Why not opt in? If you want to see gambling ads, why not say I want to see them? And I mean, you know, I'm particularly virulent about this.
GED KEARNEY: I know you are, Macca.
DAVID MCCARTHY: The reality is, Ged, that, you know, as a smoker, I acknowledge there is no safe level of nicotine use. Right. There is no safe level of gambling advertising. Right. It needs to stop, and it will. If it does stop, you will see down the track a reduction in family violence and other social ills. We need to take a stand in, I accept this is advanced legislation, it's, you know, it's a good piece of legislation, but it's not good enough. It's not good enough.
GED KEARNEY: I do hear you, Macca, and there are a lot of people who say we've gone too far, believe it or not. But the one good thing that we did get into the legislation that we really pushed for, and a lot of people in the party, are very pleased that we got this through, is that there will be an analysis, be a review of this to see, and that's in three years. And if in that three years' time we see that, this has had little impact or it's not working or maybe it's going to have a huge impact, we don't know yet. Then there's time again to revisit this. And I think that that was a really important thing to get into the legislation.
DAVID MCCARTHY: I'm rarely as disappointed about decisions of government as I am about this one.
GED KEARNEY: Well, I, I think you could be somewhat optimistic, Macca, because these really are big changes. I know some people will say we didn't go all the way. All right, you and I can agree to disagree on this one. Look, and there's always, you can always do more and it's a bit like the, the opposition are banging on about tobacco, getting rid of the excise on tobacco and da, da, da now. And I think there's absolutely no analysis, for example, to show that that would be better. So, let's see how this goes. Let's do the analysis and keep banging on about it. Macca. Don't give up. Keep raising it and keep pushing it.
DAVID MCCARTHY: I, I don't intend to. I, you know, I accept that the legislation ended up going further than originally the Government proposed. The Opposition supported a lot of it. But, you know, we don't need gambling advertising, simple as that.
GED KEARNEY: Okay, I hear you.
PAUL HORWELL: Ged, just before we wrap up, we've got Movember coming up. Obviously, mental health and men's suicide is obviously key. One of the key things, obviously, that the men really struggle with sometimes just getting their emotions out. This campaign about healthy men in community conversations is so important. So, we'd love you to help get Dan Repacholi on Saturday Mag. I think that conversation needs to be widened. I think a lot of people need to talk about that.
GED KEARNEY: Yes, yes, I'll mention it to Dan because we're an interesting team. He's a young Olympian bloke from the bush, and I'm a 62-year-old grandma from the city but we're a really good tag team. And he talks a lot about the physical side of things, encouraging men to get their prostate tests, their renal tests, to do all those tests. Because men traditionally, as you know, don't seek help.
DAVID MCCARTHY: Yep.
GED KEARNEY: Well, much less than women do anyway. And it's really important that you do get a good relationship with your GP and go. Everyone listening out there, go and get your prostate test. It's a blood test now.
DAVID MCCARTHY: Yes, exactly.
GED KEARNEY: It's not a, it's not a rubber glove and a finger anymore.
PAUL HORWELL: No.
DAVID MCCARTHY: Get it tested. Because let me tell you, my prostate tried to kill me. It didn't succeed.
PAUL HORWELL: Ged, as always, thank you so much for your support for us.
DAVID MCCARTHY: Ged's got to go.
PAUL HORWELL: You do a lot of great stuff behind the scenes. Thank you.
GED KEARNEY: I've got a beautiful thing to do right now.
PAUL HORWELL: That's all right, we'll talk to you soon.
DAVID MCCARTHY: Thank you, Ged.
GED KEARNEY: Thanks a lot, gentlemen. Bye.