Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame says criticism has been ‘indefensibly cruel’

The former Australian of the Year has spoken out about the cruel treatment she has faced since being in the spotlight.

Adella Beaini

@adellabeaini

4 min read

March 16, 2022 - 8:18AM

News Corp Australia Network

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Trigger warning: This article contains discussion of suicide that may be triggering for some readers

Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has opened up on the “indefensibly cruel” attacks she has endured since being thrust into the public spotlight and its toll on her mental health.

Speaking at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia women’s leadership event, Ms Tame said she didn’t take her platform as an advocate for abuse survivors lightly.

“I’m very aware of the fact it’s a great privilege to be heard and a privilege very few get,” she told the event on Tuesday night.

“First Nations people, people who have disabilities, migrants and other further marginalised people face even greater barriers to justice and in fact in some cases, their paths to justice are impossible – let’s be real.”

However, she conceded her “journey has not been easy”.

“Some of the criticism that I receive, it’s part and parcel of being in a public space, but at times it is indefensibly cruel, and the toll on our mental health, not just my own, is … I can’t really describe it because unless you’ve been in that space, it’s hard to relate to,” she said.

Grace Tame. Picture: Getty Images

Her comments come just days after she that she was rushed to the emergency room just following the relentless pressure of her public profile which contributed to a suicidal breakdown.

Speaking at the Sydney Opera House’s All About Women festival, Ms Tame said that in the wake of recent media storms including over her drug use as a teenager and frosty relationship with the government, that she needed to seek mental health treatment.

“I was actually in the ER the other day because I actually lost control and I was really scared,” Ms Tame said.

“I called up the clinic and I said, ‘I can’t, I can’t, I’ve stepped too deep into the shame spiral,” she said, making references to suicidal thoughts.

Grace Tame talks made the startling admission while speaking at the Sydney Opera House’s All About Women festival. Picture: NCA NewsWire

“And that’s real. That’s the toll that takes. That’s the price of shame. And so that’s why I wrote that open letter. You know, I’ve got a sense of humour, I can have a laugh.”

She said that while she could “make jokes” about the pressure, that the trauma was real and that the media had “a lot to answer for” after running a picture of her with a bong when she had made no secret that she had used drugs to manage trauma and her own self-harming behaviour.

“The media has a lot to answer for where it directs its shame. There is a disproportionate amount of shame that is still pointed towards people who do not understand yet what has happened to them,’’ she said.

“And that shame needs to be pointed squarely, not these people who are trying to figure out what the f**k happened to them. It needs to be pointed at the perpetrators of domestic violence, of sexual assault and child sexual abuse.”

Grace Tame Picture: Stellar Magazine

Ms Tame was thrust into the spotlight at just 26 when she was awarded the national accolade for her advocacy work for sexual assault survivors after she was abused herself by her high school teacher.

But in recent weeks, Ms Tame said she had experienced a backlash over a campaign she had been involved in to fight for women’s rights amid complaints that there were too many white, middle class faces.

She urged feminists and progressive campaigners to not to use language that excluded people.

“There’s been a lot of criticism, and that’s part and parcel of the landscape. But, you know, people bring their heart and soul to this. And there’s a lot of trauma in it,’’ she said.

“I’m accountable for my mistakes. And that’s one thing that I’ve tried to do as best as I can, especially as someone who, you know, I didn’t go to university. I didn’t do gender studies.

“You know, and I don’t have as good a knowledge as I could have feminist history, and all the terminology, but I do my best to understand and to learn. And, and one of the things on this deep learning curve.”

Grace Tame. Picture: Gary Ramage

Last week, Tame opened up on why she refused to smile during the infamous photo opportunity in her first exclusive interview since her frosty exchange with Scott Morrison.

“It’s hard to single [out] the toughest moments during a time of so many back-to-back tough ones, so it’s more a question of the cumulative impact of them. The real challenge is in surviving the relentlessness of intense scrutiny, pressure and action,” she told Stellar.

“Tough” isn’t necessarily synonymous with “negative”, though. By tough, I mean testing of strength and character. That said, the constant re-traumatisation of reliving my experience of child sexual abuse over and over in the media has left me like a punch-drunk boxer in a ring, unable to get back up on my feet before being struck with another unexpected blow to the head.

‘Not enough time has passed yet to allow me to [process] all the emotional pain that has been repeatedly poked and prodded at. I’m still waiting for it to settle.”