STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr GOSLING (Solomon) (13:43): James Austin received the NT Great Mate Award last month at a Parliamentary Friends of Healthy Masculinities event. A program facilitator at Darwin Youth Services, James runs the I Respect domestic violence prevention program for young men, providing education on healthy relationships, dealing with jealousy consent and social media safety.

He said: 'I share stories from my own past and the things I wish had been explained to me when I was younger. Being a man isn't about acting tough, getting into fights or pretending you've got everything figured out. It's about taking responsibility for yourself and treating the people around you with respect.

There's no manual handed to young people entering the dating world about how to have a healthy relationship. You take your cues from the people around you and what your mates are doing. These days young people are being shown what relationships and masculinity supposedly look like by the social media algorithms.

We need to give them somewhere to ask questions and to have honest conversations. It's not enough to just tell a young person, "Don't get jealous". Jealousy is an emotion that we all feel.

You can't necessarily control the feeling. However you can control what you do next.' Well done, James.