Natarsha Belling

Jennifer, through your research, you also found that a lot of sexually active teenagers aren't having safe sex.

Tell us about what you found and what you think the reasons may be behind that.

Jennifer, how dangerous do you think it is for young people, especially at the very, very vulnerable ages of between 14 and 18, that they're not aware of the implications of unsafe sex, especially because we've seen an increase in unwanted pregnancies and STIs in Australia?

And you mentioned before that you think there needs to be better education.

What do we do with that?

So what would you like to see?

Clearly, education in the classrooms, because especially from people from vulnerable communities or in certain families, they may not be able to have an open discussion about sex education.

Would you also like to see it across social media platforms?

Because that's where young people get their education from.

Are you concerned at all, Jennifer, that we have this information right now, this is almost an elephant in the room, the fact that we do have an issue with STIs in this country right now, especially with young people, that if we don't do something quite quickly, it will get out of control?

We really appreciate your time.

It's really important research and thanks for everything that you're doing in this space.

Thanks, Jennifer.

Thank you.

That was Professor Jennifer Power, the Deputy Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society.

And that's it for this episode of the afternoon edition of The Briefing.

We'll be back in your feed tomorrow morning with a deep dive on how we feel about money in 2026 with the CEO of the bank ING.

We'd love you to subscribe or follow us on Instagram at The Briefing Podcast.

I'm Natasha Belling.

Thanks for your company.