The confronting topic of child sexual assault was thrust into the national spotlight when Tasmanian survivor Grace Tame was announced as the winner of Australian of the Year Award 12 months ago.
Within just weeks of the announcement, Ms Tame was having an impact across the nation on conversations around dinner tables, in workplaces and in political spheres.
"I didn't have any expectation ... but it's been incredible," she told ABC Radio Melbourne in March 2021.
"The flow-on effect, it's like a domino effect I suppose of change and it's a paradigm shift that we're witnessing.
"It's been incredible, the private outreach from survivors across the nation, both men and women, who are reaching out with stories that they thought they were going to take to their grave because of shame-induced silence.
"That's one of the things that I'm quite proud of, I've brought this aspect of prolonged sexual abuse to the forefront of the conversation."
Ms Tame was the first Tasmanian to ever win the top honour, since the award's inception in the 1960s.
In Ms Tame's home town of Hobart, the Sexual Assault Support Service (SASS) saw a huge increase in referrals.
In the 2019/20 financial year, it received 553 referrals, an average of 46 per month.
In 2020/21, that rose to 832 — a more than 50 per cent increase — and an average of 69 referrals per month.
So far this financial year, the service is averaging 84 new referrals each month.
Jill Maxwell, the chief executive officer of SASS said it was a considerable spike.
"We had a lot of people saying that as a result of Grace speaking out they felt like it was OK to reach out to a service like ours and seek some support."
Stories about sexual assault flooded the media, especially in the early months of 2021.
"It was quite triggering for a lot of people that were sitting with their own stories of sexual violence, they were reaching out to us to help them manage those reactions to the trigger," Ms Maxwell said.
"There are some people that are more vocal, that do choose different paths in seeking justice, and there are others that don't want that — and whatever you choose is OK for you."
National conversation brought out 'triumphs' and 'hypocrisy'
Sexual assault survivor Emma Skalicky said Ms Tame had been "amazingly strong and articulate in the face of constant questioning".
"This year has really highlighted for me how much silence is used as a weapon almost to try to shame and literally silence survivors, and how strong people like Grace and Brittany [Higgins] have been in resisting that and highlighting it," she said.
"The thing that boggles my mind is that in Grace's Australian of the Year speech she said 'we will not be silenced, let's make some noise'.
Ms Skalicky said the increase in conversations about sexual assault had been eye-opening, sometimes in a negative way.
"It really brought out both the triumphs of the movement but also how hypocritical people can be, even in friendship groups," she said.
"Probably the hardest thing for me this year, both watching it play out in the news and in local life, is finding out where people's discomfort is."
Ms Skalicky said it had made for some upsetting conversations.
"I've heard multiple times from people I would consider close friends, 'can't they advocate for the cause without making it about themselves? Can't you talk about the cause without making it about you?'" she said.
Ms Skalicky said it had been "painful to find in both friends and workplaces people putting their discomfort on the survivors and not the perpetrators".
"I just can't even imagine them having to juggle that on a national level with all the publicity and everything when on a personal level it's so exhausting."
Calls for nationally consistent laws
Since first speaking out publicly about her experiences, Ms Tame has been vocal about grooming and how it is used by sexual predators.
Michael Salter is an Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of NSW and an expert in child sexual exploitation and gendered violence.
He said the conversation on grooming was not one that Australia had had publicly before.
"Over the last five to seven years, we've unpacked domestic violence, we've talked about coercive control, we've talked about the dynamics of abuse between adults but we've never really spoken at this length or depth about the ways in which adults manipulate children into sexual abuse," he said.
"In my own life I've seen family and friends who have been finally able to put the pieces together and understand that what happened to them is not their own fault when they were children, that they were manipulated and controlled and groomed.
Dr Salter backed Ms Tame's calls for a nationally consistent laws pertaining to sexual assault.
"I think it's really important that we have correct labelling on sexual offences against children," he said.
"That's comparatively easy, in fact, for governments to pay attention to and to take up and implement these law reforms."
Ms Tame has launched the Grace Tame Foundation, with the purpose of driving cultural and structural change.
Ms Skalicky said the not-for-profit's work was so encouraging to see.
"A foundation like this is going to fill so many spaces that have been in the shadows for so long," she said.
In the days before handing over the next Australian of the Year, Ms Tame took to Twitter.
"There's no higher honour than bearing witness to this unprecedented, nationwide surge in reconnection, empowerment, healing and progress — for women and men.
"There's still work to be done. Keep making noise!"
