A regional West Australian council has rejected calls from a conservative group to remove and restrict sex education books from its public library.
A debate which gained national headlines and sparked debate in state parliament this month came to a head at a City of Albany council meeting on Tuesday night.
Councillors voted 8-3 not to remove the sex education books Sex: A Book for Teens and not restrict access to the award-winning Welcome to Sex.
Security moved the crowd on after the vote at the Albany council meeting on Tuesday night where some shouting was heard. (ABC Great Southern: Jamie Thannoo)
The motion was brought forward after the Keeping Children Safe Albany group presented a petition with 300 signatures which resulted in a special electors meeting in August where the public voted to put the motions to the councillors.
The motion was for the City of Albany to remove or only allow teens over 16 to access Welcome to Sex and to remove Sex: A Book for Teens until assessed by the Australian Classification Board.
Both of the proposals were rejected by council.
Claims books are pornography rejected
Keeping Children Safe Albany group leader and former One Nation and Involuntary Medication Objectors Party candidate Michelle Kinsella said the books crossed the line from sexual education to “sex guides”.
Member of Keeping Children Safe Albany, Michelle Kinsella, wanted the books removed or restricted. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)
The group managed to gain the backing of WA Liberal candidate for Albany Thomas Brough, who is also a councillor.
“This book is a sexually explicit guide aimed at children,” Ms Kinsella told councillors last night.
“It encourages sexually explicit acts.”
The majority of councillors rejected the claims following recommendations from city executives.
The city has said it would move its copy of Welcome to Sex from the junior section of the library to the young adult section, and that the book had been in the junior section because of parental-guardian supervision of children in the area.
Albany’s public library has been at the center of the debate. (ABC Great Southern: Jamie Thannoo)
One of the books, Sex: A Book for Teens, has been effectively removed as the city has said it would not replace it due to its age.
The library currently considers both books as “lost” because they have been on loan several months past their due date.
Ms Kinsella was seen with copies of the books in her possession at last night’s council meeting.
Those critical of the motions have said the independence of the public library should be protected. (ABC Great Southern: Jamie Thannoo)
Mayor Greg Stocks said the books were widely considered useful education tools for young people.
“Experts say it’s important people [children] have access to information, when they’re ready, so they’re not harmed,” he said.
“Welcome to Sex was referred to New Zealand’s Classification [Office] last year and it wasn’t restricted.”
Other motions from a public meeting last month were also rejected, including a proposal for council to mandate working with children checks on the grounds it was outside local government jurisdiction.
Book ban campaigns ‘imported’ from US
It is not the first campaign against the book Welcome to Sex by authors Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes, an ABC podcast presenter.
Last year retailer Big W announced it would stop selling the book in stores following abuse towards staff.
President of the Australian Library and Information Association, Jane Cowell, said there was a growing number of campaigns to have books on sex education, as well as books with an LGBTQIA+ focus, restricted or removed from libraries and booksellers.
President of the Australian Library and Information Association Jane Cowell said there was a “growing” number of campaigns to have books on sex education.
“I do see the common theme across the country, it is a playbook that is being taken from America,” Ms Cowell said.
She said she did not support efforts to limit young people’s access to sexual education material from reputable sources.
“With AI-generated pornography on their smart phones, access to accredited [and] really thoughtful information is really important for young people so they can make informed decisions,” Ms Cowell said.
Councillor Rob Sutton said the proposal by Keeping Children Safe Albany threatened inclusivity.
“Where does it start and where does it finish? We ban these books and where do we go?” he said.
“Are we going to burn books in the streets?”
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