Untying gag law ‘easy’

Groomed, abused, silenced Victim’s chains finally broken

THERE is no valid reason for not bringing a Tasmanian law preventing sexual assault victims from telling their stories into line with the rest of the country, says the managing partner of a legal firm behind the Let Her Speak campaign.

The State Government is reviewing Section 194K of the Criminal Code, which currently prevents victims of sexual assault from having their story published even with their consent.

Tasmania and the Northern Territory are the only Australian jurisdictions where such laws still exist.

On Monday, Hobart woman Grace Tame shared her story of being sexually abused by a teacher at St Michael’s Collegiate nine years ago. She had previously been prevented from speaking out about the abuse until she obtained the permission of the Supreme Court, which cost $10,000 and took two years.

Liberal MP Michael Ferguson said on Monday the Government did not have any opposition to people wanting to be out to tell their story, but that “we do need to understand that if one person tells their story it might actually lead to other victims being directly identified as well”.

Co-creators of the Let Her Speak campaign, End Rape on Campus and Marque Lawyers, have made a submission to the State Government as part of the review of the law.

Marque Lawyers managing partner Michael Bradley told the Mercury there was no need for concern about inadvertently identifying another victim of the same perpetrator without their consent.

“Every other state in Australia has a law allowing victims to give consent to their identification,” he said.

“They are framed so that if there were multiple alleged victims — for example, siblings — then they would all have to consent.

“There is no valid reason for not rectifying this [law] and bringing it into line with the rest of the country.”

Let Her Speak co-creator Nina Funnell said Tasmania did not need to “reinvent the wheel”.

“There just needs to be engagement with other jurisdiction where there is legislation in place,” she said.