The South Australian Government has admitted in legal proceedings that it breached its duty of care to a 14-year-old girl who was exposed to explicit sexual content at a public school without her parents’ knowledge or consent.

We first covered Nicki Gaylard’s story in December, when she announced her intention to sue the state.

Her daughter Courtney was among a group of Year 9 girls at Renmark High School who were removed from regular class in March, 2024, and placed into an unsupervised presentation by national youth mental health foundation, Headspace.

No teacher was present. No parents had been notified or asked to consent. 

The session included explicit sexual material, references to bestiality and incest, and images of “trans bodies” displaying surgical scars from double mastectomies. 

Courtney walked out halfway through, distressed. The family has not returned to the public school system since.

Ms Gaylard is suing the state for negligence, breach of duty to prevent child abuse, and misfeasance in public office, seeking $250,000 in damages, with assistance from ADF International.

The State has now admitted in its written pleadings that it breached a non-delegable duty of care to Courtney, by failing to review the content of the presentation and by failing to notify and seek parental consent. 

Yet it is still fighting the case, arguing that neither Courtney nor her mother suffered harm, and is seeking to have the matter dismissed. 

The admission and the defence sit in sharp tension with one another.

The organisation that delivered the presentation has continued to refuse to show the materials to parents. 

As Ms Gaylard put it: “My daughter's childhood was shortened through exposure to completely inappropriate material that Headspace won't even let me see. How can they be happy to show children what they are ashamed to show adults?”

This week, Ms Gaylard addressed the Human Rights Council in Geneva, at an ADF International event highlighting the dangers of so-called Comprehensive Sexuality Education. 

ADF International’s director of advocacy, Robert Clarke, said: “No parent should be kept in the dark about what their child is being taught.”

The state's authority over children in an educational setting is delegated, not absolute. 

When a school removes a child from class to attend an unsupervised session on explicit sexual content, without notifying parents or seeking their approval, it has acted outside those limits entirely. 

Admitting a procedural failure while denying any harm resulted does not adequately answer for that.

The protection of parental rights is central to HRLA’s legal work, and this case demonstrates exactly why. HRLA will continue to monitor this case closely.