Sexual consent
In most Australian states and territories, the age at which you can legally consent to have sex is 16 years. The exceptions to this are South Australia and Tasmania, where it's 17 years. When someone has sex with a person under the age of consent, they might have committed a serious offence.
Although the legal age of consent throughout Australia is either 16 or 17 years of age, legislation in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia makes it an offence for a person in a supervisory role to have sexual interactions with a ...
There is no law about what age you can leave home, but your parents generally have to look after you until you're 18. The most important thing is you have a safe place to live. If you are under 18 and there are Family Court orders about you or you are under guardianship, then the law may be different for you.
In Australia, most people stay with their parents until they are at least 18 years old and your parents will remain your legal guardians until then. For more information about when you can legally leave home visit the Youth Law Australia website.
It is a very serious offence to engage in sexual activity with anyone under 16 years of age, even if you are in a relationship and they agree, as the law says that they cannot consent.
You are now in control of your life. The law says you are an adult and you don't need your parents' permission to do anything. You can: be taken to the adult courts if you break the law.
Dating and relationships
In general, there are no laws that say when a young person can start dating another person (but there are laws about doing sexual activity with another person, which we explain below!)
What does turning 16 mean? At 16, you'll be well on your way to becoming an adult. Among other important things, once you turn 16 you can choose whether to stay on at school or college, start an apprenticeship or training, or get a job.
In Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, it's all about the big three birthdays: 16, 18 and 21. These are celebrated largely due to their legal importance in the Western world, with freedoms like driving, voting and buying alcohol bestowed around these ages.
However, it is not an offence if the person honestly believed that you were 16 or if there was less than a two-year age difference between you. This is exactly two years. For example, if a person is 17 and has sex with someone who is 15, it is not a crime.
All Member States establish a minimum age for sexual consent. Most Member States set this between 14 and 16 years. The lowest minimum age is 14 years, set in seven Member States: Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Portugal. The highest is set at 18 years – in Malta.
Japan Panel Calls for Raising Minimum Age of Sexual Consent to 16. Tokyo, Oct. 24 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government panel on Monday proposed raising the minimum age of sexual consent, stipulated under the criminal code, to 16 from the current 13.
When your child turns 16, you may continue to get FTB for them. However, they need to be in full time secondary study, have an adjusted study load or be exempt from the study requirements. If they're not, then your FTB for them may stop.
It could be against the law. All Australian school-age children are legally required to attend school everyday. Unexplained absences can cause legal problems for your family, including financial penalties. Legal requirements are different for every state and territory.
At EU level, young women left on average their parental household at the age of 25.5 years while young men did it at the age of 27.4 years. In 11 EU countries (Croatia, Portugal, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Malta, Spain, Romania and Poland), men left their parental home on average after the age of 30.
Child marriage is currently legal in 43 states (only Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island have set the minimum age at 18 and eliminated all exceptions), and 20 U.S. states do not require any minimum age for marriage, with a parental or judicial waiver.
Asia: The legal age of consent in Asia for sexual activity varies by jurisdiction, ranging from age 9 in Yemen to age 21 in Hong Kong.
For example, If there is a 3 year age gap, whether older or younger, between you and the underage person you have sex with, it is only considered a misdemeanor and it is possible to be imprisoned for up to 1 year.
A sweet sixteen is a coming of age party celebrating a person's 16th birthday, mainly celebrated in some parts of the United States and Canada.
In the U.S., the celebration is delayed a bit as they celebrate Sweet Sixteen, a party to celebrate the sixteenth birthday of a teenager in the United States and Canada. A sweet sixteen is similar to the celebration of a Hispano-American quinceañera.
In Latin America, families mark a girl's 15th birthday, called Quinceañera, to denote that a girl is transitioning into womanhood. In the UK, US and Canada, girls go all out to celebrate their 16th birthday, calling it 'Sweet Sixteen'.