Australia's sexual consent laws could get a national overhaul as the federal government pledges to work with states and territories to fix a piecemeal system.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the country needed stronger consent laws, but education also needed to play a big part in reducing rates of sexual violence and assault.
"There is a lot of educative work to do out there on what consent means," she told ABC's Insiders on Sunday.
Ms Rishworth said research showed people were confused about how consent could be interpreted as some jurisdictions moved towards affirmative consent models.
Affirmative or positive consent requires people to take steps to ensure all parties have agreed to a sexual act, rather than placing the onus on a participant to say "no".
"We need to educate people about this, there is such a poor level of education," Ms Rishworth said.
"There's been established situations where a woman's been passed out and someone thinks it's OK then to sexually assault her."
The minister also said there needed to be consistency across Australia as laws differ in various states and territories.
"Harmonising the laws across the country is critically important," she said.
A Senate inquiry is examining laws across the nation, with advocates pushing for a nationally consistent definition of affirmative consent.
NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT already have affirmative consent laws.
Asked whether the age of consent should be 16 or 17, Ms Rishworth said it was a matter for states and territories to determine but age was not necessarily the issue.
"When we're talking about consent, what we're actually talking about is a positive conversation that both people engaging in sexual intercourse or any intimate activity are actually both willing participants," she said.
Ms Rishworth also said there needed to be transparency about sexual assaults and violence at universities, pledging to work with Education Minister Jason Clare to tackle the problem.
She said gathering more data on what was happening was an integral piece of the puzzle.
"What I want to see is those numbers reduce on campus," Ms Rishworth said.
"I want to see universities take the responsibility seriously, I want to see them actually intervene to make sure that they're providing education on campus and I want to see them work with the government on this."
Lifeline 13 11 14
Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
