Petition put before Wagga Council to ban Welcome to Sex education book, introduce book panel selection

A regional NSW councillor says a petition to not only ban a controversial sexual education book but to introduce a panel to overlook publication selections in their local library is a ‘slippery slope’.

Wagga councillor Dan Hayes said the introduction of a 'book banning' panel for their public library would be a 'slippery slope' in reply to a petition asking to ban the polarising sexual education book Welcome to Sex.

Petitioners in the Riverina are pushing for their local council to ban a controversial sexual education book which made headlines nationally for its explicit content.

Wagga Council received the petition on September 28 from Kirsty Matthews to remove Welcome to Sex from the town’s library and online availability, despite a motion being voted down to remove the book in September.

The sex education book, authored by Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes, markets itself as a “frank, age-appropriate introductory guide to sex and sexuality for teens of all genders”, according to its sale listing on the Big W website.

It currently has two physical copies in the Wagga library and one online copy and is held across 20 other council areas in southwest NSW, including Albury, Junee and Griffith.

It is deja vu for the polarising educational book following a previous motion at council’s September 18 ordinary meeting, which ultimately resolved in councillors supporting the book’s place in the library.

Welcome to Sex by Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes.

Several weeks on, it has returned to council with the petition requesting to not only remove the book but for council to review all children’s books and their appropriateness and availability to children under 18.

The petition also wants to develop a policy and panel around the selection of books made available to children in the public library.

Wagga Councillor Dan Hayes. Picture: Facebook

Council documents say 160 people had signed the petition, which included 52 from inside the Wagga local government area, 104 outside and 4 unclear.

Councillor Dan Hayes said the introduction of a “book banning panel” would be a “slippery slope” if it were ever to be approved.

“It’s absolutely crazy stuff,” Mr Hayes said. “They’re not satisfied with not only banning one book, but want to review all of the books to be banned … to determine what can be put in the library in the future.

“Can you imagine the rubric used to determine what would be suitable?”

Mr Hayes said parenting should be left up to parents to not dictate other “views and morals” onto others.

“If parents don’t like the book, don’t borrow it,” he said. “There are other serious issues facing our city and we spent a bit of time on it last meeting.”

During the September 18 meeting, Mr Hayes spoke to council about the variety of other books with explicit content which were still on the library’s shelves.

He said even Harry Potter could be interpreted to not be suitable for kids, and was concerned about the “door opening” for this to happen.

Council said in agenda documents there was a process of the community to request classification and reclassification of books however this was done at a commonwealth level, and not state or local.

Among other points, council stated library books which were not subject to federal and state prohibition should not be excluded from a public library on “coral, political, racial, religious, sexist, language” or other grounds.

Council will discuss the petition at its ordinary meeting on October 9.