Australian of the Year: What Grace Tame plans to do this year

Sexual assault survivor and advocate Grace Tame has been named 2021 Australian of the Year.

She led the fight to overturn Tasmanian laws preventing sexual assault survivors from speaking out, after she was groomed and raped by a 58-year-old teacher when she was 15.

Her rapist went to jail, but she wasn’t allowed to talk about it publicly.

So she set about changing that.

Now aged 26, Ms Tame has been given Australia’s highest honour and she intends to use her platform for good.

The sexual assault survivor has vowed not to let anyone put words in her mouth.

Neil Mitchell: I’ve spoken to a few recipients of this award over the years and many of them have found that officially they try to control them as the year goes on, and you’re not allowed to say anything contentious. Is anybody doing any spin doctoring with you yet?”

Grace Tame: “No and I don’t focus on that sort of thing. I speak my truth and that’s why I’m here … Nobody can put words in my mouth. Not any more.”

“I’m going to keep doing what I’ve always wanted to do, and that is help and protect the community,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“I’m going to keep educating and I’m going to keep looking for ways that we can reform legislation and other such structures in our society that enable predators.

“This isn’t a gendered issued, this isn’t a political issue, it’s a human issue.

“We’re all in it together, we’re all learning, we’re all welcome at the table in terms of working out how to deal with it.”

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Image: Nine/Today