Grace Tame to speak at Brisbane’s Iona College
Admitting it “still has much work to do” in the area of child sex abuse, Queensland’s biggest Catholic boys’ college will be the first school visited by Australian of the Year Grace Tame.
Education
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Australian of the Year Grace Tame will address students at Queensland’s largest Catholic boys’ school, as its rector admits the church has a long way to go to rebuild trust around its handling of historic child sexual abuse.
Iona College rector Father Michael Twigg said his invitation to Ms Tame, a sexual assault survivor, was the first she had accepted from any school in Australia.
Ms Tame will speak to boys, their families and the wider community in the Wynnum West school’s new 2500-seat arena next Thursday at 7pm.
“Grace’s message is about shame sitting with the perpetrator of abuse and not survivors,” Father Twigg said.
“As a Catholic school and church, we have much work still to do to guarantee that we have the culture and processes in place to ensure that all people are safe… and survivors feel secure enough to report abuse.”
Ms Tame was a Year 10 student in Tasmania when she was repeatedly raped by her 58-year-old maths teacher.
Free tickets to the event can be booked here
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