Consent

Consent means saying yes... and respecting the right to say no.

Under recent changes to NSW law, consent must be affirmative. This means that it is not enough to assume someone is consenting just because they are not fighting back or saying no, you must be able to establish how you obtained someone’s consent. Obtaining consent can be verbal (saying “yes!”) or can be non-verbal (body language). Under this framework, consent must be positive, meaning it must be an enthusiastic ‘yes,’ not just the absence of a ‘no.’

There are some situations in which you can’t give consent. This includes if you are:

• Significantly intoxicated or affected by drugs
• Unable to understand what you are consenting to (i.e. there must be informed consent)
• Intimidated, coerced or threatened
• Submitting to the abuse of authority of a professional or any other trusted person
• Held against your will.
• Under the age of consent (16 years)

TALKING ABOUT CONSENT

For Arc-affiliated Clubs, all attendees and organisers should complete the online Gendered Violence Training before attending the camp or any other overnight activity (you can find a link here: https://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/clubs/club-forms/sexual-misconduct-resources/gendered-misconduct-training). This training can give you more resources and information to prepare you to have a conversation about consent, as well ensure that your attendees all have a good understanding of consent and other gendered misconduct topics.

Your Club is responsible for ensuring that all participants have completed the training ahead of attending camp – the training course will generate a certificate of completion that they can send to you as verification.

If you are running a Club camp, we also recommend that you run consent talks for your campers. If you require support to be able to deliver these talks, please get in touch with us by emailing clubs@arc.unsw.edu.au.

Alcohol

Many camps serve alcohol to campers and that is totally fine but there are some things you need to be aware of when you’re serving alcohol. You have a responsibility to provide a safe camp for your members.

Here are some ways to ensure your camper's safety:

• All individuals serving alcohol must have a valid RSA certificate and must themselves not be under the influence of alcohol.
• Do not serve alcohol to people under 18 years of age. Anyone attending the camp under the age of 18 must wear a wristband to indicate as such and camp leaders are responsible for ensuring that these attendees do not have access to alcohol.
• Dry people: Having two or more designated people that are not drinking means that there are people monitoring the behaviour of attendees.
• Grievance/harassment officers: It is important that there are people present who are designated to receive disclosures of any form of sexual assault or harassment. Campers should be aware who these people are and we strongly recommend that they be first responder trained. To organise this training please contact the Arc Clubs Team at clubs@arc.unsw.edu.au.
• Reporting procedures: The Club Executive and camp organisers should make themselves aware of how to report gendered violence at UNSW before the camp goes ahead in case an incident occurs.
• Cut people off: Make sure you cut people off the alcohol if they seem too intoxicated.
• Make sure contacts are available: Try putting contact details of grievance officers and/or designated dry attendees on the walls of bathrooms, as well as contacts for other support services.
• If anyone becomes unwell as a result of significant intoxication, camp leaders and executives must have a plan for how to transport that person to receive appropriate care.

Creating Safe Spaces

It is recommended that you set aside appropriate spaces at your camp facility that can be used in situations such participants experiencing harassment/assault, or (in a separate space) participants that are significantly intoxicated or affected by drugs. These spaces should be a safe and comfortable environment for the occupants e.g. where practical, situate them a reasonable distance away from key activity areas, e.g. main social gathering locations.

When there are participants using these spaces, there should be assigned organisers/leaders regularly checking on the participants and providing support where needed – the grievance/harassment officers could be a good fit for this responsibility. You should also provide appropriate resources to participants using these spaces, including contacts for support services and select camp organisers

Fact Sheets

A number of fact sheets and resources around Gendered Misconduct can be accessed at: https://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/clubs/club-forms/sexual-misconduct-resources).

These include:

• A Sexual Assault Action Plan - how to respond to a report of sexual assault or serious sexual harassment
• Bystander Intervention Tips - how to stop a situation from escalating
• Gendered Misconduct Key Contacts - contacts for both the person reporting sexual misconduct and those supporting them, including details of who they can report the incident to, emergency services and other support services
• Gendered Misconduct Useful Websites
• How to respond to disclosures of gendered violence