View
comments
Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame focused her energies on a new project to help sexual abuse survivors in the wake of a wave of commentary about an old photo of her with a bong.
The outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual abuse has established a fundraiser to help change legislation that protects perpetrators of abuse through including the phrase 'sexual relationship' in offences.
The Grace Tame Foundation, a non-profit charity, has set a goal of raising $100,000 and is already at more than $72,000 as of Monday morning.
The money will be used to campaign for consistent laws around child sexual abuse across all states and territories.
Grace Tame (pictured) wants to help change legislation that protects perpetrators of abuse through including the phrase 'sexual relationship' in offences
With one-in-five Australian children experiencing sexual abuse, some perpetrators are protected by outdated legislation.
As Ms Tame said in her recent speech at the Press Club in Canberra: 'The man who abused me was convicted of "maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under the age of 17".
'In other jurisdictions this exact same offence was called "the persistent sexual abuse of a child".
'The former implies consent, while the latter reflects the gravity and the truth of an unlawful criminal act committed against an innocent, vulnerable child-victim,' she said.
The campaign page explained the reasons behind the push. 'Language matters,' it said.
