27-year-old activist, advocate for survivors of sexual assault and 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame is a force to be reckoned with. 

After being groomed and sexually abused by her high school teacher at just 15 years old, Grace found the courage to not only report her abuser but also use her harrowing experience to raise public awareness about grooming and sexual assault. She was also a key figure in the overturning of a law that prevented her and other survivors of sexual abuse to speak out about their experiences.

Grace Tame | Image source: UNSW Sydney

From 2001 to 2020, Tasmania’s Evidence Act prohibited the publication of information which identified survivors of sexual assault; a law that in theory aimed to protect survivors but in practice prevented Grace and many others from sharing their stories. 

During her case, Grace teamed up with journalist and fellow anti-sexual assault advocate Nina Funnell to create the #LetHerSpeak campaign, partnered with Marque Lawyers and End Rape on Campus Australia. The campaign aimed to overturn this gag law and a similar law in the Northern Territory and garnered support from many international celebrities and public figures such as Alyssa Milano, Tara Moss and John Cleese.

The worldwide reach and success of the campaign led to Grace receiving an exemption from the gag law. In 2019, she became the first female sexual assault survivor in Tasmania to win a court order to speak about her assault. The following year, legislation was officially changed to allow Tasmanian survivors to speak out publicly about their experiences.

Other examples of Grace’s outstanding advocacy work include working with the Los Angeles Human Trafficking Squad to help them better understand the warning signs of child grooming, leading the Women’s March4Justice in Hobart in 2021 and earlier this year, delivering an address alongside former Liberal Party staff member and alleged rape survivor Brittany Higgins at the National Press Club of Australia. 

Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame at the National Press Club of Australia | Image source: ABC News (Matt Roberts)

In December 2021, Grace founded the Grace Tame Foundation, which “campaigns for and helps fund initiatives which work to prevent and respond to sexual abuse of children and others”. Since its inception, the Foundation has established two campaigns: one aimed at making laws pertaining to sexual assault more consistent across Australia, and another aimed at stopping convicted offenders from hiding their assets in super, thereby avoiding having to fairly compensate their victims.

Outside of her advocacy work, Grace is a talented visual artist, a yoga teacher and one of Tasmania’s top long-distance runners. 

Grace’s first memoir The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner will be released later this year and she will be touring Australia to talk candidly to live audiences about her story. This October, we are honoured to be hosting the Perth leg of her national book tour, An Evening with Grace Tame, in which Grace will engage in a live conversation with Fremantle-based journalist Gillian O’Shaughnessy. 

The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner is available for pre-order through local bookseller Boffins Books and will also be available for purchase on the night.

Don’t miss An Evening with Grace Tame on Monday 10 October, 7pm. Find tickets and more information.