Moves to ban strangulation in pornography will have limited impact without better education for young people on preventing sexual violence, a consent educator says.
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek on Sunday said Australia should be looking "very seriously" at criminalising strangulation and suffocation in pornography after the UK banned it last year.
A 16-year-old Sydney girl's recent death, reportedly from sexual choking, was "absolutely heartbreaking", she told ABC's Insiders.
Ms Plibersek flagged the education minister was planning to revisit consent and respectful relationships education.
Consent Labs chief executive Angelique Wan said any pornography ban would be a "blunt force" solution if education was not strengthened.
"We can't be having the conversation about a ban without also talking about education at the same time," she told AAP.
"Because our young people will be left in the same position - they will still be curious.
"Which is why we need to be providing them with education to develop those critical thinking, digital and media literacy skill sets, that's going to equip them for the rest of their life."
Consent education was mandated in the national curriculum in 2023, but Ms Wan said there was no minimum standard for delivery and rollout, leading to inconsistencies.
"States and territories are doing different things, so it's not consistent what young people across Australia are receiving in terms of respectful relationships education," she said.
Additionally, education ministers last year changed the six-year national curriculum review cycle to push it back to 10 years, which means there will not be another review until 2032.
"I actually don't think that we can afford to wait," Ms Wan said.
"The rate at which technology is evolving ... consent and violence against women need to be reflected in the curriculum much faster."
Consent Labs has worked with 200,000 Australians over the past decade, including high school and university students, to prevent sexual violence by equipping young people with language around consent and boundaries.
This includes practical and critical thinking skills when consuming pornography.
"Encouraging them to ask questions around: is this entertainment or is this education? What is the purpose of this piece of content that I'm looking at?" Ms Wan said.
"We walk them through those sorts of questions and apply them to the pornography industry, to encourage them to walk away with the takeaway that pornography should not be used as a source of education."
NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has written to the prime minister to call for a ban on strangulation pornography, and on Monday said consent education was "critical".
"Parents play a major role when it comes to consent education," she told ABC radio.
"It's a hard conversation to have with your kids. But around consent, we need to model that behaviour as well."
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