About 150 students and parents have taken part in a walkout in Darwin to show solidarity with sexual assault survivors and demand better sexual consent education in schools.
Parents and students from schools across the city gathered at the Tactile Arts Gallery at The Gardens on Friday to raise awareness about what organisers described as the "dismissal of reported incidents by administrative staff at most schools".
Co-organiser and student Rowan Baird said protesters gave speeches and shared their own personal stories of sexual assault.
"I could see that it opened up a lot of other girls' eyes too.
"There were girls standing up towards the end of it saying that it had brought up things from the past and they hadn't even realised they'd been sexually assaulted."
Organisers said they decided to stage a walkout after a social media post about a historical rape allegation involving high school students in Darwin went viral.
The post garnered hundreds of responses from young people who shared their own experiences of sexual assault.
NT Police confirmed it was investigating a matter involving students at a school in the Greater Darwin area.
"Detectives are working with the school involved and urge anyone with information to come forward," NT Police Detective Acting Superintendent Karl Day said.
Protesters called for more education around consent to be taught in schools across the Territory.
"I don't think there's enough done on consent education at all in schools," Ms Baird said.
"My hope is that there will be a change in the education system."
Consent education changing across the country
The NT Department of Education said all NT schools taught sexuality education according to the Australian curriculum, with a focus on "positive relationships and personal and social capability".
Decisions on how this is delivered are made at a school level.
"Schools select resources and programs to support the delivery of the curriculum," an NT Department of Education spokesperson said.
"These resources introduce concepts of consent for years 11 to 12 through attitudes associated with gender-based violence."
The department said these resources were also comprised of Victoria's Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program, which also addresses the age of consent.
In April, the federal government launched its Respect Matters program, aiming to provide educational material for schools to teach children about consent and boundaries.
But some of the material has been widely criticised, including a video about consent using an analogy about milkshakes, which was removed in April following backlash from politicians and advocacy groups.
