On Thursday night the Queensland parliament passed a new law that equalised the age of consent for anal intercourse.
Previously the age of consent for men was higher that the age of consent for sexual relations between men and women. Queensland is the last state in Australia to bring in equal age of consent.
The Liberal members didn’t vote for the law change, but they also didn’t vote against them.
Two members of the parliament however voted against changing the laws. Shane Knuth and Robbie Katter, son of federal MP Bob Katter. Both are members of Katter’s Australia Party.
Buzzfeed News reporter Lane Sainty spoke to Shane Knuth regarding his opposition to lowering the age of consent for gay men. It’s an interview that has gained attention not only in Australia but overseas too.
Knuth told Buzzfeed that his party was opposed to all homosexual relationships regardless of age.
“We have constantly said a relationship should be between a male and a female, a man and a woman. We have taken a very strong position on that in the past.” Knuth said.
The Queensland politician said he was concerned that if the age of consent for anal sex was reduced to 16, there was a possibility that in the future there would be moves to reduce it to an even lower age limit.
Knuth said he believed that there was an increased chance of young people been subjected to predatory behaviour once the new laws came into effect.
Yesterday federal National Party MP George Christensen said he believed the lowering of the age of consent would lead to young men being exposed to predatory behaviour.
“I appreciate they wanted to standardise the age of consent for all sort of relationships but we do know for a fact that there are old men out there who prey on younger men, groom them on the internet and seek to establish sexual relations with them, particularly when they appear to be questioning their sexuality,” Mr Christensen told Fairfax.
“I think at 16 years old, when you are questioning your sexuality, when you are going online, when there are predators out there, particularly older men looking for younger boys, this change in the law is fraught with disaster.”
Christensen said he did believe the same concern applied for young women.
OIP Staff
Sources
