Body Image Campaign

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:34): The minister today has been focusing on peer education in her comments, so could I ask her:

1. Is peer education part of the New York program? Because there has been no suggestion that I am aware of up to this stage that there is a peer education element in New York.

2. Is it appropriate to call the South Australian program 'peer education' when, as I understand it, we are talking about young women of the age of 13 to 18 preparing material for young girls of the age of seven to 12, and vague references to peer education being empirically based hardly validate peer education when it is not even peers?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:35): I thank the member for his further supplementary. I believe that the peer element comes from assisting very young girls to identify positive messages about body image. They work with older young people as well who are the enablers, if you like; they have the skills and expertise to help them express those ideas. The messages are, in turn, focused back to young girls—their peers. My understanding is, in that respect, it is peer education.