The NSW Government is facing calls to put forward $250,000 in funding toward an early intervention program discussing consent and healthy relationships in high schools across the Hunter and the State.
The issue was raised at a NSW Budget Estimates inquiry on Tuesday following reports of alarming rates of sexual assaults of students in Sydney.
Love Bites, a respectful relationships program offered by the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, requested the funding to help train more facilitators and expand efforts following increased demand from Sydney high schools.
Labor MP Trish Doyle, Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, said communities should not have to resort to fundraising to help get these services off the ground.
"It's important that governments not only provide services to those issues, but that they also invest in primary prevention," Ms Doyle said.
"Let's pump some money into our schools, let's have our young people change this culture of violence and discuss what a healthy relationship looks like and what to do if you're in one that's not."
