Claims from former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins that she was raped by a co-worker within the building and the rape allegations levelled against Attorney-General Christian Porter have caused young women to rethink a potential career in politics. And they're also causing a rethink on how and when to talk to boys about consent.

Girls Takeover Parliament founder Caitlin Figueiredo surveyed 100 young women aged 16 to 23 who had participated in the program which gives teenagers a taste of political life.

Upon graduating the program 95 per cent of participants wanted to engage in politics. This dropped to 32 per cent after the recent events, while nine out of ten alumni said they would not run for office in the current environment.

Added to this, a damning online petition started by former Kambala School student Chanel Contos has led to thousands of young women sharing their harrowing testimonies of sexual assault perpetrated by their male peers from some of the most elite private schools.

This has led to some difficult but necessary conversations in schools across Canberra, with most principals sending letters home to parents and discussing the issues head-on with students.

St Edmund's College principal Joe Zavone says the issues of sexual harassment and assault are not unique to this generation of students. The difference is that young women have found their voice - and they're not afraid to use it.

Over the past few weeks, St Edmund's has taken a good look at its pastoral care and sex education programs and asked critical questions about whether they were targeting the right programs at the right age groups.

One gap they found was that parents weren't involved enough in their sons' education in this area.

"When we do get a guest speaker to address the boys on those issues what we're looking at now is a program where the night before or the evening after almost the same presentation is given to parents, so they have a chance to know what program the boys are going through and to have a chat with a presenter about issues that are emerging from there," Zavone says.

But the independent Catholic school doesn't want to rely too heavily on guest speakers to deliver programs as a tick-a-box exercise on consent.

"It needs to be a regular part of school life rather than a standalone, discrete program that's almost a fly-in fly-out arrangement."

Tim Bavinton's team at Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT is often working with schools to deliver programs to students and teachers. He says requests for professional development increase when these issues are aired in the media but the work is ongoing.

"Some schools would still avoid any of this conversation if they could, and they do the bare minimum that's required and they do it in a way that maybe is isn't as useful for the children and young people that they teach as it could be.

"And we've got some schools that are doing some of the best work in this space in the country."

Bavinton says the concept of consent should start in early childhood with discussions about personal hygiene. In middle to late primary school it moves on to talking about consent to touch their bodies with a child protection lens. These conversations move on to discussing sexual consent in the teenage years.

"If you are waiting until someone's 14 or 15 or 16 to introduce the notion at all that they have a right to say who touches their body, I think we're waiting much too late, but that doesn't mean that you necessarily teaching sexual consent with four-year-olds either," Bavinton says.

This is the approach taken by Canberra Girls Grammar, where principal Anna Owen says it begins with lessons on respectful friendships in the early learning centre and builds to more explicit sexual education in later years.

"Our students graduate out of our pastoral care programs each year knowing very clearly what their boundaries are and they know very clearly how to assert their rights," she says.

"And like the the students that we've heard on the online petition they are comfortable voicing their concerns."

It hasn't made reading the testimonies from thousands of private school girls any less shocking. Owen says it was distressing as an educator to discover the extent of the abuse young women were experiencing.

"If that many students are coming forward and giving their voice and telling their stories, I think we would be safe to assume that it is more pervasive than perhaps we realised prior to that petition being made public."

Owen says it's been an extremely difficult time but hopes it will serve as a pivotal moment for schools, parents and the community to support each other to create change.

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A large part of the picture is speaking to boys about their attitudes to women.

Young women are finding their voice. Now the focus is on empowering young men to stand up for what is right, Zavone says.

Drugs and alcohol cloud young men's judgement, as does having such easy access to pornography.

"Unfortunately we all know that young people and young men especially have such easy access to pornography now, and the status of power in pornography between men and women is just warped," Zavone says.

"It's completely unequal, completely unrealistic, completely undignified. And this is unique to this generation, as opposed to other generations."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the Australian public that he had to consult his wife when confronted with Higgins' rape allegations and that she advised him to consider how he would feel if it were one of his daughters speaking out.

But Zavone says boys and men shouldn't have to think of someone as their daughter, sister or mother to have empathy.

"To have to put it into a relational context takes away part of the inherent human dignity of that person. There shouldn't be a relational context. It should be just acknowledging that they're human and every human comes with rights and respect."

With the Canberra Girls Grammar campus just metres away from Parliament House, Owen hopes her students won't be turned off a career on the hill.

"It will take some time for people to get over the current brave, young women that are speaking truth to power, but I think it will continue to move students and particularly women into government because they understand that it gives them the power to make real, long-term and meaningful change, basically to do what is right."

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