Thank you.
I think it's generally more about the difference between keeping the status quo and making a change. The age of consent has been 14 since 1890, I believe, so it's not a matter of reducing the age; it's a matter of keeping the age as it is, and a matter of the impression that youth are being given by the change in age. Changing it to 12 sends a message in itself, but what's being signalled today by this bill does something equally harmful, I think.
The age of 14 is there. It's been there since 1890. I think, in particular, that raising the age gives the impression that the security and comfort that youth have already surrounding sexuality and the seeking of counsel are threatened. That's the impression I think we're highlighting today, more than anything else. So there is a difference between maintaining the status quo and changing and signalling something to youth.