A WA university has removed an activity from a camp for high school aged children after a mother complained teenagers were told to change out of wet clothing behind a bush.
The mother claims her 15-year-old daughter was told to change away from adequate changing facilities after participating in a bushwalk and mud fight at a recreational camp site in the south west of Western Australia.
The camp was organised by the Curtin AHEAD program which aims to encourage high school students to pursue higher education.
The mother claims the teenagers were told to remove their wet clothes down to their underwear and change into dry clothes behind some bushes.
"They were in a patch of forest without privacy, there were no changing facilities," she said.
"It was just, 'Go and find yourself a bush: Girls go one way, boys go another!'"
She said her child was distressed by the incident.
"She [her daughter] said afterwards that there were quite a few children that were very uncomfortable," the mother said.
Education Minister labels action 'inappropriate'
The mother has since complained to the recreational camp facility and Curtin University.
"We're gobsmacked that Curtin University put that [activity] as part of their camp," the mother said.
WA Education Minister Sue Ellery was alerted to the incident in a letter from the parent.
She said asking children to change in the open was not okay.
"I can't believe that a professional organisation conducting camp activities and dealing with young people would have thought that this was anything but inappropriate," she said.
"I share the parents' concerns."
University denies students were forced to change
Curtin University said it has conducted a preliminary internal review after receiving the complaint.
A university spokeswoman said they were not aware that changing facilities would not be made available on location.
She said that the camp facility instructors suggested that some students "could get changed behind dense bush cover if they wished."
The camp was a pilot program and the spokeswoman said the activity had now been removed from the AHEAD program.
"Curtin AHEAD will ensure that adequate changing facilities will be provided at all locations for any subsequent activities, should they be required," she said.
Camp says staff acted professionally
In response from its lawyer, the camp facility said all their staff acted appropriately and it took its responsibilities for the welfare of the children who attend the camp seriously.
He said the decision to get changed was the choice of the child and for the students who did chose to change, boys and girls were separated.
"The two areas were screened by thick bush and located so that neither group could see the other," he said.
He said no staff were in either changing areas at the time.
The camp has run the activity for 14 years and said this was the first complaint they had received.
The lawyers said as a result of the complaint the facility had now erected screens at the site, to "give reassurance to children [and their parents] that they are effectively screened."
