Grace Tame

Tame was a dual-scholarship holder at St Michael's Collegiate School in Hobart, and had been diagnosed with anorexia in Year 10. She was groomed and then repeatedly sexually abused by her 58-year-old teacher.[3][4] Although the school was found to have had multiple opportunities to intervene, the abuse did not stop until Tame reported her attacker.[4] He was arrested and convicted of the offence of "maintaining a sexual relationship with someone under the age of 17", a crime, Tame argued, that needed to be renamed as in other jurisdictions due to its misleading use of the word "relationship" for abuse.[4] In sentencing Tame's abuser, Justice Helen Wood said Tame had been "particularly vulnerable given her mental state" and that her abuser "knew her psychological condition was precarious" and had "betrayed the trust of the child’s parents and the school’s trust in an utterly blatant fashion.”[4]

In 2017, social commentator Bettina Arndt was criticised for conducting a 17-minute interview with Tame's attacker, who had been convicted of sexual assault[5][6] and possessing child pornography.[7] He was subsequently jailed again for producing child exploitation material[8][9] and bragging that the sexual abuse of Tame had been "awesome".[10][11] During the interview, Arndt laughed and referred to "sexually provocative behaviour from female students". Tame criticised Arndt for supporting her attacker, accusing Arndt of "trivialising" and "laughing off" his crime,[11] saying, "Not only is the interview disturbing because it gives a platform to a paedophile. It's not a truthful interview."[12] Arndt was criticised for not seeking out Tame for her side of the story,[7][13] and drew police attention by including her name and photo without consent.[14]

Tasmania's Evidence Act had prohibited publication of information identifying survivors of sexual assault since 2001.[15] In practice, this prevented Tame and other survivors speaking publicly about their experiences, even as Tame's abuser bragged about his crimes on social media.[3][15] Tame's case led to journalist and sexual assault survivor advocate Nina Funnell working alongside Tame to create a campaign called #LetHerSpeak, in partnership with Marque Lawyers and End Rape on Campus Australia,[16] seeking to overturn this law and a similar law in the Northern Territory.[3] The campaign attracted global support from celebrities including Alyssa Milano, Tara Moss and John Cleese, and from leaders of the MeToo movement.[17] In August 2019, Tame spoke out for the first time after the campaign obtained a court order on her behalf through the Supreme Court of Tasmania [18] [19] winning Tame an exemption from the gag law.[20] She was the first female sexual assault survivor in Tasmania to win a court order to speak about her experience.[19]

In October 2019, in response to the #LetHerSpeak campaign led by Funnell and featuring Tame, Attorney-General of Tasmania Elise Archer announced that legislation would be amended to allow sexual assault survivors to publicly speak out. Archer also announced planned changes to the wording of the crime noting that "the word relationship has connotations of consent."[21] In April 2020, the law was changed to allow Tasmanian survivors to speak out.[22]

Tame has become an advocate for others, focusing on helping people understand how grooming and psychological manipulation work and breaking down the stigmas associated with sexual assault.[2][23] She has worked with the Los Angeles Human Trafficking Squad to help them understand how grooming works.[17] She advocates education as a means of primary prevention of child sex abuse, rather than too-heavily focusing on responses, which can "fuel the unconscious belief that child sexual abuse is just a fact of life that we have to accept in our society".[1] She wants to eradicate victim blaming and normalise speaking out, and says greater consistency is needed between federal and state laws.[1]

In October 2020, Tame was named Tasmanian Australian of the Year 2021, ten years after her abuse.[16] She said, "I could be wrong but I don't think that a survivor of rape has ever been awarded in such a way and that's huge." "It's hugely empowering for that community recognising and normalising the act of speaking out. There's no shame in surviving. The shame sits at the feet of predators, of perpetrators of these crimes."[16]

On the eve of Australia Day 2021, she was named Australian of the Year.[24] The panel said, "Grace has demonstrated extraordinary courage, using her voice to push for legal reform and raise public awareness about the impacts of sexual violence."[2] She is the first Tasmanian recipient of the award[2][25] and the first as a public survivor of sexual assault.[26] Upon receiving the award, she said "All survivors of child sexual abuse, this is for us ... When we share, we heal. Together we can end child sexual abuse. I remember him saying, 'Don't make a sound.' Well, hear me now, using my voice amongst a chorus of voices that will not be silenced."[2][23][27][28] Her speech was praised as "powerful" and "extraordinary".[28]

Tame completed Year 12 at a different school in Australia before moving to the United States where she graduated from Santa Barbara City College with degrees in theatre arts and liberal arts.[4] She is an artist, and her clients have included John Cleese.[4] Tame married American actor Spencer Breslin in 2017.[29][30] Her current partner is Tasmanian Max Heerey.[31]