25 November 2021
Australian of the Year Grace Tame still wrestles with the demons of her sexual assault as a child.
“My experience of sexual abuse ended 11 years ago but make no mistake the emotional trauma and physical scars will last a lifetime,’’ Ms Tame, 26, told a webinar hosted by the Australian Trade Union Institute today.
Thursday’s speech marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, launching the Australian union movement's participation in 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. It’s also part of the We Won’t Wait campaign to win 10 days’ paid Family and Domestic Violence leave and marks the role of unions in fighting for women’s safety at home, in the workplace and in the community.
The ANMF’s position is that a nurse, midwife or assistant in nursing should be provided with 20 days of paid family and domestic violence leave per year in addition to all other leave.
“I’ve made it no secret that I still battle with residual demons and yet I am one of luckiest ones. One who survived, one who was believed, one who was surrounded by love,’’ Ms Tame said.
“I’m also now one who has a voice that is listened to, that is a great honour and a privilege.
“But we shouldn’t be OK with a child that survives rape being one of the luckiest ones. Our children deserve more than that, they should never have to go through it.
“And right now we collectively have the power to make that guarantee, we collectively have the power to save lives.’’
Ms Tame was sexually abused by her teacher in a Hobart school as a 15-year-old. Her courageous push for legal reform and to raise awareness about sexual assault won her the Australian of the Year award in January and she is now on a mission to bring about national legislative reform.
Ms Tame says the core barriers to progress are legal inconsistencies. “Currently, including the Commonwealth, we have nine different jurisdictions with nine very different legal definitions of consent, of sexual intercourse, sexual assault, grooming, what constitutes a child and what constitutes the age of consent,’’ she says.
“Such ambiguity undermines our collective ability to understand each of these things and therefore our ability to teach them properly.
“We at a state and federal level need to commit to a uniform national standard set of legal definitions of consent, sexual intercourse, sexual assault, grooming, what constitutes a child and what constitutes the age of consent to sex,’’ Ms Tame says.
“We then need to teach these in a national unformed approach, with education resources for parents, children, schools, law enforcement and community and social services.’’
Ms Tame is currently meeting with citizens and political leaders around the country, calling them to “get together and start the necessary processes to create a national and uniform set of legal definitions to, in turn, properly inform a consistent approach to education, education which is our primary means of prevention.
“I’m calling for these to be agreed upon by the end of the year and a commitment to implement them 12 months from then.’’
Ms Tame will be meeting with Federal Attorney-General Michaelia Cash in two weeks, “to ensure the Commonwealth takes leadership of the states and territories” to agree to these definitions.
“About 1 in 10 children will experience sexual abuse before their 18th birthday. It takes a survivor on average 23.9 years before they feel ready to disclose their experience,’’ she says.
“There is, of course, no way of telling how many survivors never actually reach that point.
“If my story and my experience of the last few years has taught me anything it is that one person, every person, has the potential to make a difference and we now collectively have the opportunity and responsibility to drive towards a new future free from child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and other such corrupt cultures.’’
If you need support or assistance you can contact one of the following services:
Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia:
https://fullstop.org.au/, 1800 385 578
1800 Respect:
www.1800respect.org.au/, 1800 737 732