LetHerSpeak, LetUsSpeak: news.com.au’s sexual assault survivor campaign wins Walkley

News.com.au’s groundbreaking #LetHerSpeak and #LetThemSpeak campaigns have won a Walkley Award for public service journalism.

Journalists Nina Funnell, Kerry Warren and Lori Youmshajekian have won a Walkley Award for news.com.au’s groundbreaking #LetHerSpeak and #LetUsSpeak campaigns.

The trio were awarded the 2020 Public Service Journalism award for the campaigns which launched on news.com.au in November 2018.

In the two years since the campaigns started, they have changed laws in two states and a territory, giving victims of sexual assault their voices back.

Here’s how it unfolded.

THE CAMPAIGN

News.com.au launched the #LetHerSpeak campaign in November 2018, in partnership with The Mercury, End Rape on Campus Australia and Marque Lawyers.

The first story we shared was the anonymous tale of Jane Doe, who was a 15-year-old Tasmanian schoolgirl when she was sexually assaulted by her 59-year-old teacher.

“Jane” was actually 22-year-old Grace Tame, who wanted to tell her story but was prevented from doing so under her real name thanks to an archaic gag law.

Grace contacted journalist Nina Funnell in May 2017, and with news.com.au’s help, Grace took her fight to be named to the Supreme Court. Along the way, international celebrities and thousands of everyday Australians signed up to support the campaign and agitate for law reform.

In August, 2019, news.com.au’s lawyers finally won Grace’s matter in the Supreme Court of Tasmania and she was allowed to tell her own story for the first time. Several days later, it was announced that the gag laws would be repealed.

Since then, the campaign has helped survivors tell their stories in the Northern Territory and, more recently, Victoria, with the help of the Herald Sun, the NT News, Rape & Sexual Assault Research & Advocacy, the Walkley Public Fund and the Judith Nielsen Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

The second campaign, #LetUsSpeak, launched in October this year, after Victoria quietly brought in changes to the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act, which silenced all sexual assault victims whose offenders had been found guilty, banning them from speaking out using their own names.

Within hours of launch, #LetUsSpeak went viral and was picked up by media around the world. More than 200,000 people signed a petition for law reform, and the campaign’s GoFundMe raised more than $20,000 which was used to secure court orders for 11 survivors to enable them to self-identify.

Earlier this month, Victoria confirmed the laws would be changed, giving survivors their voices back.

LAWS WE CHANGED

Laws banning sexual assault survivors from telling their stories have now been successfully changed, or have changes pending, in Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Victoria.

Thanks to the work of Nina Funnell and our partners, tens of thousands of survivors now have their voices back.

RECOGNITION

In addition to this month’s Walkley Award, the campaigns won Campaign of the Year at last year’s News Awards, the Our Watch award at the Walkley’s Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism, as well as numerous other accolades.