‘Hard to look back’: Saxon Mullins backs campaign to promote new consent laws

Survivor advocate Saxon Mullins was asked about her own case as she backed a campaign to raise awareness of a major sex rule change.

Sexual consent laws are changing in NSW in just one week and the state government is releasing an advertising campaign that lets young people know what is and isn’t acceptable under the new rules.

The Make No Doubt campaign was made in consultation with survivor advocate Saxon Mullins – the complainant in the highly-publicised rape trial of Luke Lazarus – and will be shown across social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok as well as dating apps.

Ms Mullins was asked about her own experience as a survivor in a press conference launching the campaign.

She said it was “hard to look back” and say whether the messaging would have made a difference in her case – but the important point was it would drill home consent to the young generation of today.

The campaign shows young people in situations like being at parties or chilling at home when one of them makes an advance on the other.

One clip shows a young man and woman kissing at a party when the male asks, “Do you want to keep going?”

“Nah,” replies the young woman. “Let’s go back to the party.”

The narrator then says: “That’s how you do it. Check consent every time.”

Consent laws change in NSW in one week.

The campaign goes live today.

There are also a range of six “18+ videos” which are only available for viewing on Tinder – although the only reason being is that they mention the word “sex”.

The campaign was produced over nine months with the consultation of Ms Mullins who is the director of Rape & Sexual Assault Research & Advocacy.

She said it was hard to say whether the law changes and the campaign, if they had been actioned years ago, would have changed her own experience.

“It’s hard to sort of look back and say what might have changed, but I think going forward, I think it really will cement that idea of how to check the consent,” she said. “I think these videos show that it’s not awkward or uncomfortable.

“It’s just one second. It’s like you know what? We’re a little bit drunk. Let’s just have noodles on the couch. That’s way better.”

Survivor advocate and Director of Rape & Sexual Assault Research Saxon Mullins. Picture Gaye Gerard/NCA NewsWire

She said the videos show the conversations needed to affirm consent do not have to be scary and the government had done an incredible job in producing them.

Ms Mullins is also confident the ads will be better than the Federal Government’s infamous “milkshake” consent ads last year.

“These are real scenarios. These are real things that young people experience all the time and to show them that it’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s fine to say … ‘Do you want to do this?’” Ms Mullins said.

“That’s the main difference between this and some other campaigns we’ve seen that have tried to be coy in a space where you cannot be coy.”

The campaign is about promoting the NSW government’s new sexual consent laws, which passed the parliament almost unanimously last November and come into effect on June 1.

The new definition of consent means:

• A person does not consent to sexual activity unless they said or did something to communicate consent; and

• An accused person’s belief in consent will not be reasonable in the circumstances unless they said or did something to ascertain consent.

The new rules mean a person has the right to withdraw consent at any time and may require participants to obtain consent at various stages of sexual relations.

An example of this is if consent is given to acts that amount to “sexual touching”, further affirmative consent may be required to progress to “sexual intercourse”.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman insisted the new rules were not ‘woke’. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NCA NewsWire

The NSW government says the new videos – aimed at 16-24 year olds who are over-represented among perpetrator’s victims of sexual assault – are about “empowering young people to check consent before engaging in sexual activity”.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman insisted the campaign and the rules changes were not “woke”.

“They’re not about some kind of woke lawyer’s view of the world,” he said. “They are about fundamental decency, fundamental decency requires respect for everybody engaging in sexual activity, making sure through ongoing and mutual communication that they consent.”

The campaign was launched on the first anniversary of the announcement that affirmative consent laws would be introduced to the NSW parliament.

Mr Speakman said the delay in the laws coming into effect was to give time to the legal system and police to understand the legislation and for public education campaigns to be made.

There will also be five new jury directions to address common myths around rape and sexual assault, and the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research is studying the experiences of people who have taken a case to court to try and understand why sexual assaults are under reported and why few make it to court.

Minister for Women’s Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence, Natalie Ward, backed the new campaign. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NCA NewsWire

Ms Mullins said the aim of the rules was not to put people in prison.

“Our goals are never to have more people put in prison, it’s never to see more of these cases go through the courts, it’s to stop sexual violence,” she said.

Chanel Contos, CEO & founder of Teach Us Consent Movement said she was excited to see the campaign go live.

“It’s great to have examples of what ‘yes’ looks like, and more importantly what ‘no’ looks like and how to respond when you sense that someone is not comfortable, or check that they are,” Ms Contos said.

“It shows the dynamic ways of checking consent through not just words, but body language.

“It’s great to see affirmative consent and examples of consent in action being portrayed in media.”

Originally published as ‘Hard to look back’: Saxon Mullins backs campaign to promote new consent laws