‘Teaching boys to respect girls isn’t woke’: Clare snaps at Taylor over manosphere debate

Education Minister Jason Clare says it “isn’t woke” to teach respect in schools after Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said teachers were running their own agendas in classrooms and Australians needed to be vigilant about a politicised curriculum.

Debate over consent and relationships education in schools has been revived after a slew of high-profile sexual assault allegations across the country, as Labor flags a crackdown on social media algorithms that serve up harmful content to children.

Pauline Hanson, who is breathing down the necks of the major parties after One Nation rocketed up the polls and claimed a safe Labor seat in a state byelection at the weekend, has previously sworn to drive “woke” ideology out of Australia’s schools.

Clare on Thursday defended the nation’s teachers, saying it was big tech companies that were “shovelling shit” into children’s heads.

“Teaching boys to respect girls isn’t woke. It’s just common decency,” he told reporters in Queensland.

“Teachers are the heroes that do a really hard, complicated job, and they play a really, really important role in helping to make sure that they don’t just build the skills of our kids to read and write, but they build character.”

Taylor weighed in on Thursday morning, backing up Nationals leader Matt Canavan who said on Wednesday that the “feminisation” of the curriculum was to blame for pushing boys into toxic online spaces.

Asked repeatedly by ABC TV, Taylor would not say that he thought consent should be taught in schools.

“Look, I think young men should be taught to be good human beings,” he said.

“Of course it’s important. But I have got to say that the idea that we have a balanced curriculum at the moment, that there are not agendas being run by some teachers, I think is wrong.”

At a press conference later in the day, Taylor said he did think consent should be taught in schools.

Asked how young men should be taught to treat women with respect, Taylor said: “I want to see great young men growing up in this country”.

Canavan, speaking alongside Taylor in Melbourne, took aim at the Respectful Relationships program run by the states.

“In the own words of that program, it’s to provide opportunities for young boys to explore and reflect on their personal male privilege and power,” Canavan told reporters in Melbourne.