In this week’s episode, Josh chats with Harrison James who was the Winner of the 2023 Spirit Super Connecting Communities Award at the 7News Young Achiever Awards for NSW & ACT.
*Content Warning*: This episode includes a discussion about child sexual abuse. Listener discretion is advised.
Harrison James is a survivor of child sexual abuse and is now an advocate for other survivors. He was the co-founder of the Your Reference Ain’t Relevant campaign that is petitioning to the NSW government to remove the provision of character references for perpetrators of child sexual abuse in the sentencing procedure. Harrison was also a key collaborator for Safe Sounds, Australia’s first sexual assault awareness music festival.
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Transcript
[00:00:08] Christine
Welcome to Inspirational Australians, where we share stories of Australians making a difference in their communities and in the lives of others. We at inspirational Australians acknowledge the Wurundjeri and Bunurong people of Kulin Nation as the traditional owners and custodians of the lands and waterways on which this podcast is produced. We pay our respect to elders, past and present, and those who are emerging and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At Inspirational Australians, we are inspired by the world’s oldest living culture and pay homage to their rich storytelling history. When we share stories on our podcast.
[00:00:58] Josh
Thank you very much, and I’m excited to welcome today’s guest. Someone that I met at the New South Wales
[00:01:06] Josh
ACT gala presentation dinner for the 7News Young Achiever Awards in Sydney at the Fullerton hotel,
[00:01:12] Josh
the winner of the Spirit Super connecting communities award. Twenty twenty three saints, Harrison James. And he’s
[00:01:19] Josh
a child sexual abuse survivor and an advocate for survivors. Harrison is founder of
[00:01:24] Josh
the Your Reference Ain’t Relevant campaign. Aiming to improve the provision of
[00:01:28] Josh
good character references for perpetrators of child sexual abuse in the sentencing procedure. Now,
[00:01:33] Josh
Harrison’s Petition for this will go to New South Wales parliamentary debate in
[00:01:37] Josh
August. So by the time this episode is live, that will be
[00:01:40] Josh
a Petition will be up and ready to go. So tell us all about the campaign about
[00:01:45] Josh
Harrison’s important work and authority. Harrison welcome. How are you
[00:01:49] Josh
going?
[00:01:49] Harrison
Hey, hey, thank you for having me. I
[00:01:51] Harrison
really, really appreciate it Josh. Yeah, it’s awesome to have a chat.
[00:01:57] Josh
It’s a pleasure mate. So Harrison yeah,
[00:02:00] Josh
great to have you on now, can you tell us a little bit, you know,
[00:02:03] Josh
obviously I mentioned the bio there. The that You’re Reference Ain’t Relevant. I
[00:02:07] Josh
think that’s a really good place to start.
[00:02:09] Josh
Can you
[00:02:09] Josh
tell us, I mean I’ve got two questions here. Firstly, tell us
[00:02:12] Josh
a bit more about it. And secondly, how do you get something like this to
[00:02:19] Josh
a parliamentary debate because that is so interesting.
[00:02:21] Harrison
Yeah, of course. So I started the your reference that Relevant campaign with my friend
[00:02:27] Harrison
and fellow architect, Jared gruss in May of this year.
[00:02:31] Harrison
There was obviously a build up to that,
[00:02:32] Harrison
but we were planning and making sure all our lives were in order. But yeah,
[00:02:38] Harrison
we started, we met with greens MP Abigail Boyd who’s
[00:02:44] Harrison
a member of the legislative council here in New South Wales. So the upper house of parliament,
[00:02:49] Harrison
of the New South Wales state parliament. And we essentially met with her and just had
[00:02:54] Harrison
a chat about this sort of Strange quirk in the law that I recognised. Where convicted
[00:03:02] Harrison
paedophiles able to use good character references if they didn’t meet their chart,
[00:03:10] Harrison
that the victim in the sort of so that they’re an obvious person of
[00:03:17] Harrison
good standing in the community and they’ve met their child. They’ve met the victim
[00:03:21] Harrison
through that good standing. Then they’re not allowed to use them for any other sort
[00:03:27] Harrison
of convicted Pedophile. They are allowed to use them.
[00:03:29] Harrison
So in cases like mine where
[00:03:31] Harrison
my stepmother did what she did to me for many, many years,
[00:03:35] Harrison
she would be entitled to use her good character references with the current law.
[00:03:42] Harrison
And our position is that it is never appropriate for
[00:03:45] Harrison
a child sex offender to utilise. Good character provisions in sentencing in an effort to reduce the sentence.
[00:03:55] Josh
Strange quirk?
[00:03:57] Harrison
Yeah, definitely. So I mean the terms good character and Pedophile by definition they
[00:04:04] Harrison
cancel each other out. They don’t really work. So that’s helpful argument and yeah, I sat down with
[00:04:11] Harrison
a few different lawyers to sort of come up with the legislation and and what we
[00:04:16] Harrison
needed to ask for in the Petition. And then yet we just ran that Petition through
[00:04:20] Harrison
with Abigail and it’s been open to signatures since May. And yeah,
[00:04:26] Harrison
since then we’ve just been working with different journalists and trying to get the
[00:04:30] Harrison
word out so we can get some say some action on it
[00:04:35] Josh
or something. I think that’s one thing. I misunderstood so that the Petition is live now.
[00:04:40] Harrison
That’s right. Yeah. So it plays on both. Yeah, it closes on August first.
[00:04:47] Harrison
So you can, if you’re
[00:04:49] Harrison
a New South Wales resident, people can head to the parliament of New South Wales website on the legislative
[00:04:54] Harrison
council page. And yes, on that it takes less than a minute to sign. And yeah,
[00:05:00] Harrison
it’s a good thing and that will be debated in August. Yep.
[00:05:05] Josh
That’s so yes, obviously to get that to a debate,
[00:05:08] Josh
you have to have an MP’s kind of support. Is that right? That’s correct, you talking about?
[00:05:14] Harrison
Yeah, that’s Abigail Abigail was representing a Petition and then she’ll take it to parliamentary debate and some motion
[00:05:23] Harrison
and yeah, it’ll trigger a debate in late August. We think it’s going to go ahead. So yeah. Petition court,
[00:05:30] Harrison
August third, and then late August it will go head to the
[00:05:34] Josh
Yeah. So you raise a good point there about, you know, the word good character or the term good character
[00:05:40] Harrison
and
[00:05:41] Josh
Yeah. Pedophile and how obviously that clearly clashes. Yeah. You know, it’s obviously such
[00:05:47] Josh
a good point.
[00:05:48] Josh
Any parent out there, you know, that’s narrowing it,
[00:05:52] Josh
anyone out there really listening to this can obviously have their own thoughts on
[00:05:56] Josh
that and you know, people, it’s a strong such a strong topic for me. It’s,
[00:06:03] Josh
it raises alarm bells that someone could get a good character reference. And then that, you know,
[00:06:07] Josh
and I’m just imagining this scenario in my head that they can then, you know,
[00:06:11] Josh
volunteer in a group that may have access to,
[00:06:13] Josh
to young people and things like that. Is that kind of what good character
[00:06:16] Josh
references are for? What are they? What do they
[00:06:18] Harrison
say? Yeah. So anyone who commits any sort of crime is, is able to use
[00:06:24] Harrison
a good character reference to prove the sort of good standing in the community. So
[00:06:28] Harrison
if I got a speeding ticket or something, I could use a good character reference. Yeah, I’m, I’m not
[00:06:34] Harrison
a lawyer so I don’t know the ins and outs and specifics of everything, but yeah that’s,
[00:06:40] Harrison
that’s what it’s utilized for. And but else sort of position as I was explaining
[00:06:46] Harrison
before is that the actual good character is part of the crime when it comes to child sexual abuse, perpetrators,
[00:06:53] Harrison
weaponize that good character to get in contact with the victims. That’s why
[00:06:59] Harrison
there’s this whole sort of good bloke mentality. People think Oh, he wouldn’t harm
[00:07:05] Harrison
a fly or whatever and he sucks to leave my child with. And yeah, so that’s,
[00:07:10] Harrison
it’s sort of a sort of They corrupt that, that they not only groom the victim,
[00:07:20] Harrison
they groom everyone around the victim into thinking they’re blessed to be around.
[00:07:24] Harrison
So yeah, good character is actually good. It’s a, it’s a part, it’s a part of the crime.
[00:07:29] Josh
Yeah, that’s such an interesting way to think about it because it’s so true. People have
[00:07:34] Josh
heard that before. But when you hear, you know, allegations and things,
[00:07:37] Josh
even if it’s someone in this like a celebrity, people say, Oh, they wouldn’t do that. Yeah, obviously that’s such
[00:07:45] Josh
a tough one. They’ve created this persona around themselves. And yeah,
[00:07:49] Josh
so obviously it’s a very personal topic for you. Harrison. Did it take you
[00:07:56] Josh
a long time to kind of, you know, get, did you have this thought
[00:07:59] Josh
a long time ago and then come to it or what was it in your personal journey that
[00:08:04] Josh
led you to take this kind of action?
[00:08:07] Harrison
Yeah, so I’ve been an advocate for about
[00:08:10] Harrison
a year now and before I was I wanted to do advocacy different. I’ve never been
[00:08:16] Harrison
political or into politics or anything like that. Just
[00:08:24] Harrison
It’s wasted on the youth, I guess. And then when I was doing my advocacy,
[00:08:29] Harrison
I was doing things like events and like I started alongside a charity called, what were you wearing?
[00:08:35] Harrison
We worked together to create australia’s first ever sexual assault awareness music
[00:08:40] Harrison
festival. And I did things like I ran a clothing brand, then I ran a brand that had these condoms,
[00:08:47] Harrison
and they had consensual warnings on the front of them and stuff like that.
[00:08:49] Harrison
So I
[00:08:50] Harrison
wanted to get people comfortable with an uncomfortable situation topic to talk
[00:08:54] Harrison
about. I wanted them to have a sort of avenue to go through,
[00:08:58] Harrison
so it could spark these conversations and then with my advocacy, it just got to
[00:09:03] Harrison
a point where I think I wanted to be taken more seriously amongst amongst my peers
[00:09:08] Harrison
in the space. And that’s sort of, I had this idea about
[00:09:13] Harrison
a year ago. They’re good with the good character,
[00:09:18] Harrison
but I didn’t know where to start with it. And then me and my friend, Jared,
[00:09:22] Harrison
we just went out for a couple of beers one day. And we were saying, Oh, that’s such
[00:09:26] Harrison
a good thing to sort of sort of work on and
[00:09:29] Harrison
we should pursue it. And then I said, yeah, we should,
[00:09:33] Harrison
I just needed that sort of driving force to give me the kick to start it off. And
[00:09:41] Harrison
yeah, and so that was on the Saturday when we went for
[00:09:43] Harrison
a cup and then he called me on Monday and was like, Oh yeah,
[00:09:46] Harrison
I think we really got to work at that. And
[00:09:48] Harrison
I responded, well, what do you mean?
[00:09:50] Harrison
I’m already got meetings with three different lawyers this week and stuff. So yeah, it was,
[00:09:56] Harrison
it was funny. I just needed that sort of kickstart and Jared was able to provide
[00:10:00] Harrison
that to me and yeah, that was earlier. That was in about February this year. So. And also I got
[00:10:07] Harrison
a taste of, of what sort of politics and what government changes in government can
[00:10:16] Harrison
do when when I work with New South Wales police to bring forward their New sexual assault reporting options,
[00:10:24] Harrison
it’s an online version.
[00:10:26] Harrison
So people can report and take and be anonymous when they’re reporting.
[00:10:31] Josh
So that was previously possible to be anonymous.
[00:10:34] Harrison
So, so there was a thing called, sorry, but it was a paper based document. So
[00:10:40] Harrison
a survivor who is reporting to police had to like download this file, print it off,
[00:10:46] Harrison
fill it out, scan it back in,
[00:10:47] Harrison
and email it off to the state. And I think after you’ve just had one of the worst
[00:10:52] Harrison
things imaginable happen to you,
[00:10:53] Harrison
that’s the last thing you’d ever want to do. So it became this online sort of
[00:10:58] Harrison
version and it’s in twelve different languages. And now yet people can report
[00:11:05] Harrison
that they can choose not to be contacted or to be contacted by police or they can
[00:11:11] Harrison
choose to only be contacted if several victims come forward for the same
[00:11:15] Harrison
perpetrator. So it was just an easier way for people to gain access and upload,
[00:11:22] Harrison
upload this stories to police, I guess. And yet when I, when we,
[00:11:27] Harrison
when I did the press conference with New South Wales police and the New South Wales
[00:11:31] Harrison
government and it came out officially like we did the reports. We got
[00:11:37] Harrison
a third of the amount of last year’s reports in two weeks. And I just saw the real
[00:11:44] Harrison
reporting went up seven hundred, thirty five hundred percent. And I just saw the impact that that change can have.
[00:11:50] Harrison
So that also really cemented that I wanted to get into policy making as well. And I
[00:11:57] Harrison
just sort of went, yeah, we’re at this point now.
[00:12:00] Josh
Yep, that’s unbelievable. Those stats that you know,
[00:12:04] Josh
you make something easier for someone and of course you’re going to see good
[00:12:08] Josh
results. So that’s how horrible to think that the flip side of that is that people
[00:12:13] Josh
obviously weren’t reporting enough because
[00:12:16] Harrison
these right
[00:12:17] Josh
now and thought and so unfortunate. Now I’ve got a, I’ve got two young kids, six and four,
[00:12:22] Josh
and I know the innocence of them sometimes just makes you think about the world
[00:12:26] Josh
differently. And they asked something about robbers or something like we talked
[00:12:30] Josh
about how it came up and they’re saying, Oh, why did people do that? Like bad things
[00:12:35] Josh
and dumped me silence for what? Chase yeah, no. And it’s shocking that this does happen. And you know,
[00:12:44] Josh
these people, so I shouldn’t say shouldn’t I say put these things that sound easy and when you,
[00:12:50] Josh
when you say it out loud and the reality of all the different policy that’s behind
[00:12:53] Josh
it, the work has to go to change it. So I mean, yeah,
[00:12:58] Josh
Super impressed with your work, Harrison. It said something.
[00:13:02] Harrison
And they said, so the thing with Sarah,
[00:13:06] Harrison
the police thing and the Europeans aren’t Relevant campaign. They’re only for New
[00:13:09] Harrison
South Wales at the moment. But I know that I’m keen to pursue them in other states and territories too,
[00:13:16] Harrison
because everyone deserves the same sort of rights and privileges when it comes to this sort of thing.
[00:13:22] Harrison
And yeah,
[00:13:24] Harrison
there’s so much more work that we can do. These are just two simple fixes,
[00:13:28] Harrison
but there’s a plethora of things that we can do to make this,
[00:13:30] Harrison
this whole process easier for victims and survivors because right now the odds are stacked against us. There’s no,
[00:13:40] Harrison
there’s no incentive for us to come forward because we know the system is set up
[00:13:44] Harrison
for us to fail. So we don’t bother participating. So yeah, we’ve got to do
[00:13:48] Harrison
a lot more. But these sort of examples are a great starting point. Especially for
[00:13:54] Harrison
a wider conversation amongst people as well.
[00:13:57] Josh
The other comment I had just going
[00:13:59] Josh
back a little bit, you were saying that you caught up with your mate and you know,
[00:14:03] Josh
and then that was kind of a spark.
[00:14:06] Josh
It’s just another reason why you’re
[00:14:08] Josh
a young achiever and inspiration Australian Harrison, because I think most people, when they catch up with they have
[00:14:14] Josh
a good idea whether it’s frivolous or important. Usually you leave and have
[00:14:20] Josh
a good time. And the idea kind of ends there and you might bring it up
[00:14:22] Josh
a year later. Or you remember that that thing we talked about. And just,
[00:14:27] Josh
Yeah. So so cool that not only did you just go out and start booking,
[00:14:32] Josh
conversation with lawyers and your friend actually followed up on the Monday as well. So yeah, that’s yeah, really,
[00:14:38] Josh
really cool. And obviously it shows that you really are driven to make these changes.
[00:14:43] Harrison
Yeah, thanks Josh,
[00:14:44] Harrison
and I think for my friends is survivor as well. And I think the one thing that I mean
[00:14:51] Harrison
a consistent theme amongst survivors is that they want to incite change because they
[00:14:55] Harrison
don’t want it to happen to any other person. We know what it’s like to sort of Be
[00:15:00] Harrison
in what I can only describe as one of the lowest of lows that any
[00:15:07] Harrison
possible person can be driven to,
[00:15:09] Harrison
I guess. And yet we just don’t want anyone else to feel like that. So I think survivors,
[00:15:15] Harrison
some of the most intellectual people I’ve ever met and the driven so driven and,
[00:15:21] Harrison
and they want to see change and, and yeah, there are forces to be reckoned with. So that’s,
[00:15:27] Harrison
I’m inspired by the community that I’m part of. So yeah,
[00:15:32] Josh
you mentioned the australia’s first sexual assault awareness music festival. Can you tell us a bit about that?
[00:15:38] Josh
You know how it came about and then what the actual festival was like?
[00:15:42] Harrison
Yeah, yeah, of course. So I have a friend named Sarah Williams who runs what were you wearing? Yep. It’s
[00:15:49] Harrison
a founder dedicated to ending sexual violence and she was the winner of the another
[00:15:54] Harrison
category. This in this year’s young chamber awards. But yeah, this was last year. Yeah.
[00:16:03] Harrison
Last year and yeah,
[00:16:06] Harrison
I was receiving an award in Newcastle and She was
[00:16:13] Harrison
giving it to me and I said, Oh I have this great idea to do
[00:16:19] Harrison
a music festival. I think it’d be really sort of
[00:16:21] Harrison
a great thing to bring people together. And she replied, Oh my God,
[00:16:24] Harrison
you’d have no idea what we’re announcing tonight.
[00:16:26] Harrison
It’s how music festival would you
[00:16:28] Harrison
like to be a part of it. And I said,
[00:16:29] Harrison
of course I would love to help out and yeah,
[00:16:33] Harrison
so I did all the merchandise for it because I was running my clothing brand at the
[00:16:37] Harrison
time and a host of one of the, one of the three stages which I love doing as well. And
[00:16:47] Josh
yes, I mean you were kind of like up and up on the stage and
[00:16:50] Harrison
Yeah, yeah, in front of
[00:16:51] Josh
people said yeah,
[00:16:52] Harrison
but between acts and introducing acts and stuff like that. Yeah. It was fun. After
[00:16:57] Harrison
I’d go in the audience and meet with people and have conversations and stuff if
[00:17:02] Harrison
they weren’t enjoying the music, of course. But it was
[00:17:06] Harrison
a great time we had over. So the first one
[00:17:09] Harrison
is good numbers. I think we had like, over
[00:17:11] Harrison
a thousand people come through throughout the whole day and it was an enclosed venue.
[00:17:17] Harrison
But of these three, three massive rooms and three stages and yeah,
[00:17:23] Harrison
it was a great day. And it just, I think it was created,
[00:17:29] Harrison
it was created to combat sort of drinks spiking and unsafe practices in venues. And yeah,
[00:17:38] Harrison
so I think we wanted to show an alternative so that we people can make this work
[00:17:43] Harrison
and the big organisations can actually implement legitimate practices. We can do it,
[00:17:49] Harrison
they can definitely do it. So we want to show them that this can be done,
[00:17:53] Harrison
and yet that’s all Sarah’s work in. And what were you wearing the,
[00:17:58] Harrison
what were you wearing to work and I was just, I was just
[00:18:02] Harrison
a part of it. And I’m grateful to have been a part of it.
[00:18:06] Josh
Yeah, for sure. So Sarah, as you said, she won what you were wearing, what were you wearing one,
[00:18:10] Josh
the Freemasons of New South Wales and state community service award. And that was,
[00:18:15] Josh
that would have been amazing to have you both being there, you know,
[00:18:19] Josh
as winners and up on the same stage at one point together at the end of the night.
[00:18:24] Josh
I’ll be a bit of a surreal moment. I’m guessing.
[00:18:26] Harrison
Yeah, it’s a great feeling. Yeah, we were just talking about it after and. Yeah, it’s, it’s, it was
[00:18:33] Harrison
a very surreal moment for sure to see that we’ve gone through very similar journeys
[00:18:38] Harrison
and to, to sort of Be on that stage together. Was a great feeling.
[00:18:42] Harrison
Yeah,
[00:18:44] Josh
I think it also tells
[00:18:45] Josh
a little bit about what people are now starting to value. And you said it yourself
[00:18:50] Josh
earlier making these. Yeah. Not so comfortable conversations. More common and
[00:18:56] Josh
making it more comfortable for people. That now as part of awards Programs that
[00:19:02] Josh
aren’t focused on this area that they’re focused on all different fields. And now
[00:19:08] Josh
we’re actually trying to celebrate and put in the spotlight. These kinds of
[00:19:13] Josh
conversations that maybe aren’t so comfortable for people and showcasing different
[00:19:17] Josh
types of things that sparked these conversations. And yeah, you know,
[00:19:22] Josh
it’s great to have you and obviously Sarah as well amongst others leading that, that charge.
[00:19:28] Harrison
Thank you.
[00:19:30] Josh
So that sounds like such a cool festival and you know their plans to to do it again.
[00:19:36] Harrison
I think there’s a yeah at there’s another one coming soon, but I think I’m not,
[00:19:42] Harrison
I’m not too in on it yet. I think I
[00:19:44] Harrison
think they’ve asked me to come back and do it again,
[00:19:47] Harrison
but I’d be more than happy to but I’ve been so busy with the campaign. I’m running
[00:19:51] Harrison
at the moment. I just, I don’t want to spread myself to want to.
[00:19:55] Harrison
If I’m going to do something,
[00:19:56] Harrison
I want to make sure I’m going to be there to give it my all
[00:20:03] Josh
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Past performance
[00:20:53] Josh
isn’t a reliable indicator of future performance. So I think with that you know,
[00:20:59] Josh
advocacy work and policy. And then you know, you’ve also got
[00:21:05] Josh
a like an income and those kind of things. How you juggling all of these things and
[00:21:11] Josh
where do you find the time for it?
[00:21:13] Harrison
Yeah, so I work, I work part time at
[00:21:18] Harrison
a bar which I love doing. And then I dedicate all my other time to sort of the
[00:21:23] Harrison
advocacy and the policy making. And yeah, it’s, it’s,
[00:21:27] Harrison
you have to find time to meet with friends and, you know,
[00:21:31] Harrison
with family as well. And you always have to make time for that. You need to set
[00:21:36] Harrison
time aside for yourself as well, which is really important. You know,
[00:21:39] Harrison
sometimes you just need to recharge separately. So it’s is all, I think it’s
[00:21:44] Harrison
a difficult Balancing act for not just me, but for everyone. I think everyone has difficulties. Balancing the schedules and
[00:21:54] Harrison
yeah, but also I just have this drive that I and not to sound egotistical,
[00:22:00] Harrison
but I haven’t seen it in anyone else. I think I’m sort of different in that sense.
[00:22:08] Harrison
I just yeah, I wake up each morning. It’s the first thing I think about,
[00:22:13] Harrison
and I go to bed thinking of what I’m going to
[00:22:15] Harrison
do for the next day for it. So yeah,
[00:22:19] Harrison
it’s sort of taking up a lot of my time at the moment,
[00:22:21] Harrison
but it’s only been since May and that we’ve gone full force with it and it’ll wrap
[00:22:27] Harrison
up soon when we win. And yeah, so I just have to
[00:22:33] Harrison
Yeah, I’m just so motivated. In getting it done and yeah,
[00:22:38] Harrison
but I do still take time out for myself and the
[00:22:41] Josh
hours and how much of it is kind of a solo effort of you know,
[00:22:45] Josh
you said that you’re driven and I think that’s not egotistical at all. I think it’s
[00:22:49] Josh
fantastic to embrace our strengths and our skills and you know,
[00:22:52] Josh
the assets that we have to believe in ourselves if we want to achieve great results. So that is,
[00:22:58] Josh
I really want to applaud that as well. But how
[00:23:00] Josh
much of it is solo versus, you know, bringing other people in. And I only mentioned that about, you know,
[00:23:06] Josh
how you said you were driven because I guess it’s a true poll question. I’m making this
[00:23:10] Josh
a long question. If you are teaming up with people,
[00:23:12] Josh
do you find it difficult to work with others who may not share that drive that you have?
[00:23:18] Harrison
So it’s like it’s like spinning plates. So I think you have to,
[00:23:22] Harrison
when I went to And also it’s very much for taking, you know, this,
[00:23:29] Harrison
this work is the make up of lots and lots of
[00:23:32] Harrison
people. It’s not just me. But I think
[00:23:34] Harrison
I just calibrate the teams and put them in place so we can all go towards a,
[00:23:41] Harrison
you know, United sort of end point, which I think is what
[00:23:46] Harrison
a leader does. And I think that’s a really important attribute to have. But yet,
[00:23:52] Harrison
like when it comes to sort of spinning these plates,
[00:23:55] Harrison
there’s the survivors that want to share their stories for the campaign. There’s the journalists, there’s the politicians,
[00:24:04] Harrison
there’s the lawyers. So there’s all different groups that have to interact to try
[00:24:08] Harrison
to put it into this one big pot. So you can make this happen. It’s
[00:24:13] Harrison
a sort of difficult thing to sort of get your head around. But I think if you have
[00:24:19] Harrison
a great support system,
[00:24:20] Harrison
which I do with lots of my friends that are part of the survivor community as well.
[00:24:26] Harrison
And they put me in contact with certain individuals and stuff like that,
[00:24:29] Harrison
which I’m very, very grateful for.
[00:24:32] Harrison
Yeah, that helps a million a million times over,
[00:24:35] Harrison
but I also think that people are often scared to ask the question,
[00:24:40] Harrison
like do you know this person or or that scared to to send that email to that. So
[00:24:45] Harrison
that person that think that they think that that or that that No can get them to
[00:24:50] Harrison
the next point. So my advice to cope with that would just be Yeah, that self-belief,
[00:24:58] Harrison
that self determination and that sort of manifesting of I know that I’ll get this done and yeah,
[00:25:04] Harrison
just driving through. That’s sort of my advice with that. I guess.
[00:25:09] Josh
Well it’s
[00:25:10] Josh
awesome. You get to mind, I was going to
[00:25:11] Josh
ask you if you have any tips for people, you know,
[00:25:13] Josh
wanting to get into advocacy and policymaking and this kind of work that you’re
[00:25:17] Josh
doing and you kind of beat me to the punch there. So in terms of journalists, you mention them. Yeah,
[00:25:23] Josh
I can be quite difficult. Sometimes people just need to get their story or that
[00:25:26] Josh
campaign out there. Have you found any, you know,
[00:25:29] Josh
useful ways or kind of have you got any other tips I guess with people wanting to
[00:25:34] Josh
engage in that way?
[00:25:36] Harrison
Yeah, of course. I think the thing with journalism and getting your story out there is
[00:25:42] Harrison
that it’s such there’s so many stories out there. So you really have to
[00:25:51] Harrison
differentiate yourself and sort of it’s weird because you have to pitch it,
[00:25:56] Harrison
but I don’t want to say pitch it because I just think it’s such
[00:26:00] Harrison
a with what I’m doing. It’s such
[00:26:02] Harrison
a valid story to be put out there. And it could really change the conversation and
[00:26:06] Harrison
how people approach preventing child sexual abuse. It’s such a,
[00:26:11] Harrison
I think with the statistics that we see of how prevalent child sexual abuse is,
[00:26:17] Harrison
which is one in three girls and one in five boys. I think it’s a necessity that,
[00:26:22] Harrison
that information is out. So yeah, it’s all and how you pitch it to two journalists. And difficult thing
[00:26:31] Harrison
with journalism as well. Is that, and this is, and I’m not knocking it,
[00:26:34] Harrison
but it specifically for survivors. You have to be careful that it’s not just being
[00:26:39] Harrison
sensationalized for sort of their own needs.
[00:26:44] Harrison
And so for that,
[00:26:45] Harrison
you really need to be upfront and clear with your intentions and what your
[00:26:49] Harrison
boundaries are with it and stuff like that. It’s really,
[00:26:51] Harrison
really important. And that’s a whole nother conversation, but in terms of tips,
[00:26:57] Harrison
I would say that some of the best advice I’ve received so far is really being stern
[00:27:02] Harrison
and clear with your boundaries and how you want to approach this. And also what you
[00:27:07] Harrison
expect to come of it as well so that the people that are uploading these stories or
[00:27:13] Harrison
working with you on these stories can,
[00:27:15] Harrison
can put the appropriate measures in place to sort of try their best to meet those
[00:27:20] Harrison
expectations. So yeah, yeah, it’s about developing, it’s all about relationships and strengthening relationships and keeping them alive and yeah,
[00:27:30] Harrison
that’s what it’s all about. So that would be my sort of advice. Think of it as
[00:27:35] Harrison
a like you’re trying to build a business almost. Yeah.
[00:27:40] Harrison
And don’t be afraid to send that email,
[00:27:42] Harrison
we’ll Bring that phone number or whatever, you know. Yeah, it’ll all work itself out of you believe it will.
[00:27:52] Josh
Yeah. I remember someone telling me once they were having a, you know, on a similar vein, they’re like, Oh,
[00:27:59] Josh
just feeling a bit anxious to make that call or whatever
[00:28:02] Josh
. Yeah, I said, Oh, well, the worst that can happen is they don’t pick up. But they actually had
[00:28:06] Josh
a good point. They said, no, I’m actually more worried if they do pick up
[00:28:12] Josh
And they didn’t want to have the,
[00:28:13] Josh
you know, that conversation or face any tough questions or any of that. And I had to laugh
[00:28:19] Josh
because it’s funny. Everyone is so different,
[00:28:20] Josh
I think of it in different ways but but you’re right
[00:28:23] Josh
. You just got to give it a go, don’t you?
[00:28:26] Harrison
Yes. Well I think um, I think what’s it a wasted opportunity causes more pain for us than the rejection?
[00:28:34] Harrison
So yeah it’s, it’s really important just to give it a crack because you’ll be kicking yourself later.
[00:28:41] Josh
Yep. So true. Now you mentioned before as well. Of, you know, the great support iPad and that it’s definitely
[00:28:47] Josh
a team effort. And going back to the awards night just quickly,
[00:28:51] Josh
I could definitely say that that was the case because not only were you Super
[00:28:55] Josh
supported at the awards night event when you won the Spirit Super connecting
[00:28:59] Josh
communities award, but then afterwards as well.
[00:29:01] Josh
And so, so many people were really backing you and supporting your efforts,
[00:29:06] Josh
which was great to see, you know, I guess,
[00:29:08] Josh
going back to that moment when you were announced as the winner,
[00:29:11] Josh
what was it that was going through your head when that happened, when they announced Harrison James,
[00:29:17] Harrison
there was lots of different emotions. Um
[00:29:23] Harrison
It was great excitement and a real thrill. And there was
[00:29:28] Harrison
a great sense of like I felt humble and really appreciated and
[00:29:35] Harrison
that was lovely. But I was also sort of conflicted because at the time one of the
[00:29:42] Harrison
which I mentioned in my speech as well, was the, the uh,
[00:29:48] Harrison
the Bruce lemon video interview that was going on channel seven. And I sort of
[00:29:54] Harrison
thought it was appropriate to mention that and that got
[00:29:57] Harrison
a lot of attention as well after the fact so, but yeah,
[00:30:03] Harrison
it was great to see from the awards night themselves like the young achiever
[00:30:09] Harrison
awards. They said we fully support what Harrison said and stuff like that,
[00:30:12] Harrison
which I was really appreciative of. And yeah, I just thought for, if I’m an advocate for survivors,
[00:30:19] Harrison
I have to use those opportunities to call certain things out. Yeah,
[00:30:26] Harrison
it was really important to me and I appreciated that I was supported by the like
[00:30:31] Harrison
the organization as well. So
[00:30:33] Josh
was it a tough, tough choice for you to do it? Or was it something that you know,
[00:30:38] Josh
you kind of knew you were going to do or did it just come to you in the moment
[00:30:42] Harrison
now
[00:30:42] Harrison
it’s sort of just kind of, I knew I was
[00:30:44] Harrison
going to, I thought about doing it and I,
[00:30:47] Harrison
I just knew it was the right thing to do.
[00:30:51] Harrison
Yeah. And I thought if I didn’t do it,
[00:30:54] Harrison
I would be I would be there for my own interests and not the interests of my
[00:30:59] Harrison
community who I advocate for. And yeah, the,
[00:31:04] Harrison
the best interest to me is making sure that survivors are given a voice,
[00:31:08] Harrison
and they’re shown the temples that you know,
[00:31:13] Harrison
in the face of very real fear. If you speak up it and it, it’s
[00:31:18] Harrison
a good thing to do. It’s not a bad thing to speak up and to Yeah that that’s,
[00:31:25] Harrison
that was my thinking at the time. I thought it would inspire the people that,
[00:31:28] Harrison
that feel like they’re voiceless. It felt like it would give them a voice. So
[00:31:34] Josh
yeah, I think because you did it with such integrity as well that it was even more
[00:31:38] Josh
powerful in my opinion.
[00:31:39] Harrison
Yeah. I don’t think I didn’t go up there to offend anyone.
[00:31:42] Harrison
I didn’t go up there to really repent or anything like that. It was just
[00:31:47] Harrison
a point that I felt needed to be made and I wanted to remain respectful and I think,
[00:31:51] Harrison
I think I did, and yeah,
[00:31:54] Harrison
I didn’t go there with the intent to cause any drama or anything like that. I went
[00:31:58] Harrison
out there with the best interests of the people that are, that I represent on a daily basis.
[00:32:04] Josh
Yeah, I think it was good. I think it was very strong.
[00:32:07] Josh
And you got your point across more
[00:32:08] Josh
effective because in my opinion, you know, the young achiever was Ah,
[00:32:13] Josh
a platform for young people. And therefore the platform is given and what the young
[00:32:18] Josh
person does with the platform is up to them. Yeah. One thing, you know,
[00:32:24] Josh
people do say occasionally is that you know, people use the platform to make a big statement, which again,
[00:32:30] Josh
I actually encourage. But my personal which I think that’s not my life preference but,
[00:32:37] Josh
but what I love to see is that people use it effectively to get the message across
[00:32:42] Josh
and to bring people in the journey with them. And so that’s what you did, you know,
[00:32:46] Josh
because I have seen in the Past where people try and use the opportunity. And
[00:32:49] Josh
unfortunately it has almost adverse effect where it doesn’t bring people on the
[00:32:53] Josh
journey. It does, does spark a conversation so that really, you know, effectively does that,
[00:32:59] Josh
but it kind of doesn’t bring them on the journey with them and then keep that,
[00:33:03] Josh
that following and that support going into the future. So
[00:33:06] Harrison
yeah,
[00:33:07] Josh
I guess that long winded comment is really to ask you in your journey as a, you know,
[00:33:13] Josh
getting into advocacy and that kind of thing. How have you found the best way to
[00:33:18] Josh
bring people with you on that journey?
[00:33:20] Harrison
Yeah, I think if you go into it wanting to be divisive,
[00:33:23] Harrison
you’ll get those sort of results. I never want to be divisive. I want to bring
[00:33:28] Harrison
people together. I want people that have an experience. So
[00:33:33] Harrison
a crime as heinous as what I’ve experienced to sort of not feel it, but I want them to get,
[00:33:39] Harrison
get an understanding of what’s out there and what’s going on. And the only way you
[00:33:44] Harrison
get people on board with your sort of mission is by having appropriate and
[00:33:50] Harrison
civilized conversations with them. I think pointing the finger at anyone is it’s
[00:33:55] Harrison
never the the answer. And that’s what I start to do. I
[00:34:02] Harrison
only ever want to bring people together and you know, it is, it is
[00:34:07] Harrison
a very grave and just this where it’s very stuck and there’s
[00:34:11] Harrison
a real power dynamic that’s. It’s a bit of a different thing, but yeah, that,
[00:34:16] Harrison
that’s, that’s always my intention. It’s never to be divisive or,
[00:34:20] Harrison
or create controversy. I don’t want to be that at all,
[00:34:25] Harrison
but I will use a platform like like I was given and
[00:34:31] Harrison
a platform that I’m very grateful that I was given. And I’m very grateful that I
[00:34:36] Harrison
was supported in my decision to utilise that platform to,
[00:34:41] Harrison
to give people an insight on what the point that I was making and how that would
[00:34:46] Harrison
have made people like me feel, I guess. Yes
[00:34:49] Harrison
. So yeah, really, really important to, to do it with the right intention.
[00:34:55] Josh
Surely a bit easier to just be bitter though and an angry because you say such horrible
[00:35:00] Josh
things. Yeah. How do you grapple with that with the,
[00:35:04] Josh
with those emotions that and do they spill over into your, you know, everyday life?
[00:35:09] Harrison
Look, I think if you say things that make you inherently angry,
[00:35:13] Harrison
it’s better to sort of not be so reactive to things. So I think it’s great to sort
[00:35:17] Harrison
of see things through and think them through and feel them and then come up with an
[00:35:22] Harrison
argument or counsel. I think there’s a lot of sort of instances where there’s been reactive sort of statements and
[00:35:30] Harrison
people want to retract them later and stuff like that. So it’s better to sort of
[00:35:33] Harrison
think and your point will still be Relevant in
[00:35:36] Harrison
a few days time when you’ve thought of it. Instead of like an hour after the thing,
[00:35:40] Harrison
I think we live in such an instant. Everything’s at our fingertips and we get
[00:35:45] Harrison
everything we need.
[00:35:46] Harrison
It’s on, you know, movies are on demand. We have UberEATS food,
[00:35:51] Harrison
you know, everything’s so instant. And on social media,
[00:35:54] Harrison
we get an instant form of gratification. We feel that our output needs to be
[00:35:59] Harrison
instantaneous and I think it, I think it’s a real contrast when and it shows real empathy in real and
[00:36:09] Harrison
a real sort of thought out argument when someone waits and not like waits
[00:36:13] Harrison
intentionally but thinks it through. Yep. Yeah, I think that’s important.
[00:36:18] Josh
So you’re a fan of the clapback two days later.
[00:36:21] Harrison
Yeah. Maybe
[00:36:23] Josh
I reckon we should bring it in. That’s really good because I’m like, yeah,
[00:36:26] Josh
I know exactly what you’re talking about and someone has this comment and you’re
[00:36:29] Josh
just like, Oh, I just want to come back. That’s such, you know,
[00:36:33] Josh
so it’s crap. They’re talking about. But then and the moment you’re like,
[00:36:37] Josh
I haven’t really got the words to really say this in the right way. It’s not coming across.
[00:36:40] Harrison
Right? Yeah.
[00:36:41] Josh
You’re right. That it feels like, do you think that’s it. Now I have to say it.
[00:36:46] Harrison
Yeah.
[00:36:46] Harrison
Let me get back to you in forty eight hours. Guess
[00:36:50] Josh
it should be mandatory on any argument just to get a little cooling off
[00:36:55] Harrison
period. Programs should listen to us and put like a forty eight hour timer on responses to comments.
[00:37:02] Josh
It’s not a bad idea, Harrison. Another thing I want to come back to,
[00:37:07] Josh
so I’ve had so many good points that I keep thinking, well,
[00:37:11] Josh
I’ll come back to that. So coming back to that,
[00:37:14] Josh
your work because of those police and the essay that you were talking about. So you know,
[00:37:20] Josh
I’ve got in my notes that you were the voice and face of one of their campaigns. Was that something
[00:37:26] Josh
a bit different for you with having to get behind the camera and recording and things like that?
[00:37:32] Harrison
Yeah, that was very different and it sort of gave me it was like
[00:37:36] Harrison
a trial to put on what I was,
[00:37:38] Harrison
what I’m doing now type of thing. You’re seeing how media operates and I sort of,
[00:37:46] Harrison
I was very grateful for that opportunity because it was
[00:37:52] Harrison
a great sort of starting point for when I could do my own thing later. I didn’t
[00:37:56] Harrison
realize I was going to do my own thing later,
[00:37:58] Harrison
but it
[00:37:59] Josh
was actually when did that take place that you were getting involved with that case?
[00:38:05] Harrison
Yeah, so Sara took place I was was introduced in December of last year and the launch
[00:38:12] Harrison
took place in early January of this year. Yeah,
[00:38:15] Harrison
yeah. So this is before your reference, St. Relevant was ever, it was, the idea was there,
[00:38:21] Harrison
but it was before it went to launch in May. Yeah. So there’s quite
[00:38:26] Harrison
a bit of time so, but to sort of get
[00:38:28] Harrison
a feel of what the space is like because I never really got involved in that.
[00:38:34] Harrison
And yeah, that was, that was,
[00:38:37] Harrison
it was an amazing privilege to be able to do that with the place. And like I
[00:38:43] Harrison
remember before we did the conference, I was in a room with the deputy premier,
[00:38:50] Harrison
sitting across from me and the commissioner, the police commissioner next to me as well. And I just was thinking,
[00:38:56] Harrison
I can’t believe I’m in this room right now and it’s real. Yeah. At the time,
[00:39:01] Harrison
I think I’ve been doing advocacy for three months now. And before this was after I
[00:39:05] Harrison
came out with a video I up so how I got started with advocacy was I uploaded
[00:39:10] Harrison
a video of my story and it got like a lot of got a lot of views.
[00:39:14] Josh
So where did you upload that to? If people wanted to find that up,
[00:39:18] Harrison
Oh yeah, it’s on Instagram. Yep. Username is,
[00:39:22] Harrison
it’s Harry James, Harry. So then I but yeah, so I uploaded that video and it got
[00:39:28] Harrison
a lot of sort of views and then it solidified the following. For me,
[00:39:31] Harrison
that’s how I built some of those opportunities, but anyway, back to Sara. Yeah,
[00:39:36] Harrison
I was sitting there and I was like,
[00:39:37] Harrison
Oh this is crazy. That are built up to this point and yeah, it was, it was a great privilege,
[00:39:44] Harrison
but the real privilege was saying the numbers after the fact and the laws that
[00:39:47] Harrison
actually impacted that was like So I’m saying this selfishly,
[00:39:53] Harrison
but it was the greatest reward to see that it had made
[00:39:56] Harrison
a really positive impact on people’s lives. Because I know what it’s like to be
[00:40:01] Harrison
voiceless, and that’s, that could have given someone, you know,
[00:40:06] Harrison
a real voice and made them feel seen and heard and,
[00:40:09] Harrison
and respected. And I think that’s also I just want so to be a part of that was was
[00:40:16] Harrison
a real privilege. Yeah.
[00:40:18] Josh
Yeah, that’s awesome. Let me know if you prefer not to talk about this, but you know,
[00:40:22] Josh
with your personal situation and obviously you’re helping people now to,
[00:40:26] Josh
to do the reporting and to get these results that for fairness and for justice for
[00:40:31] Josh
what’s right. You know, in your situation, did you have to go through that?
[00:40:36] Josh
Were you able to get justice for what happened to you?
[00:40:39] Harrison
Know, so I my stepmother to sexually
[00:40:47] Harrison
abused me from the ages of thirteen to sixteen and it happened every day before and
[00:40:52] Harrison
after school. And when I was fifteen,
[00:40:55] Harrison
she actually fell pregnant. To my daughter who I had to pretend was my sister so many years later,
[00:41:01] Harrison
to avoid being physically hurt by another certain family member. But then when I was nineteen,
[00:41:10] Harrison
they fled the country.
[00:41:11] Harrison
My stepmother took my daughter slash sister with her to her
[00:41:16] Harrison
home country of the Philippines. So my case and then that’s when I had to come
[00:41:21] Harrison
forward with my story and what happened for the first time to my family members. So
[00:41:27] Harrison
yeah, because they fled the country. I can’t get justice in the traditional sense,
[00:41:34] Harrison
but it keeps me. So I’ve changed my name legally so I can talk publicly about this
[00:41:39] Harrison
and stuff like that. And I put all those protective measures in place.
[00:41:43] Harrison
But the,
[00:41:44] Harrison
my justice doesn’t come from seeing my perpetrator on
[00:41:51] Harrison
a stand. It comes from helping other people. And that’s why I’m so driven into
[00:41:54] Harrison
helping others, so they don’t have to feel a tenth
[00:41:58] Harrison
of what I sort of feel, I guess,
[00:42:00] Harrison
even though. Yeah. So that’s what keeps me driven and keeps me going. So
[00:42:07] Harrison
yeah, I hope one day I can get justice but for now this is,
[00:42:10] Harrison
this is phenomenal. And I’m I’m so grateful that I’m able to help other people like
[00:42:16] Harrison
it really does it. It’s almost selfish because it really does bring me happiness. Like it does. Yeah.
[00:42:23] Josh
Yeah. Well, compared to what you’ve been through the hard work you’re putting in, you know,
[00:42:28] Josh
it might seem easy at times for you, I don’t
[00:42:30] Josh
to put words in your mouth, but yeah,
[00:42:32] Josh
I can see why obviously you’re so driven because of what you’ve been through that.
[00:42:35] Josh
The journey you’ve had to endure? Yeah.
[00:42:38] Harrison
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So. Yeah, going through that.
[00:42:43] Harrison
Losing my daughter as well. And then yeah, going through
[00:42:48] Harrison
a plethora of different things after the fact of grieving and um yeah,
[00:42:54] Harrison
I don’t want anyone anyone to feel anything like that. So hopefully I,
[00:43:00] Harrison
I hope I can help in any way and I think it is. So yeah.
[00:43:05] Josh
Were you able to find support from your family as well?
[00:43:09] Harrison
Well, see, that’s the thing with Child sexual abuse that occurs in
[00:43:13] Harrison
a family. It’s different to something like say for instance,
[00:43:18] Harrison
a case of institutional child sexual abuse where a religious leader preys on
[00:43:24] Harrison
a child because that child’s family has a very clear enemy. When it happens with
[00:43:30] Harrison
a family, it divides the family. So some people go, well I can’t believe that, but some people do,
[00:43:36] Harrison
it creates this weird dynamic within the family. So it’s just another layer of trauma, I guess, because yeah,
[00:43:45] Harrison
some family members didn’t support and still don’t support what I do. They don’t believe what I say,
[00:43:51] Harrison
but other family members make up for that tenfold. So I’m really,
[00:43:54] Harrison
really grateful for. So it’s a difficult one to navigate, but yeah,
[00:43:59] Harrison
I just grateful for the ones that do support me.
[00:44:04] Josh
It is, you know, people believing your story is that one of the hardest things for survivors to
[00:44:12] Josh
grapple with and to, to battle through.
[00:44:16] Harrison
Well, I think We often say that it’s so important for survivors to be late,
[00:44:23] Harrison
which is so true because With we’re faced with such an
[00:44:31] Harrison
uphill battle and to not be believed is like it’s one of the
[00:44:38] Harrison
it’s the biggest punch in the guts of the whole sort of process of it,
[00:44:42] Harrison
especially when it’s family members and stuff like that. So yeah,
[00:44:48] Harrison
it’s imperative that survivors of AIDS, you know, and I spoke with recently about
[00:44:54] Harrison
a month ago, I was invited by New South Wales police to go to
[00:44:59] Harrison
a conference to speak about my story. And what police can do better in terms of
[00:45:06] Harrison
report when it comes to reporting. And I was telling them it’s so important
[00:45:13] Harrison
that everyone in this room realises the responsibility and the weight that comes
[00:45:19] Harrison
with the fact that we met that we will definitely be will most likely be the first
[00:45:25] Harrison
point of contact for survivors. And to say,
[00:45:27] Harrison
I believe you and what you’re saying in this moment, what you’re telling me,
[00:45:30] Harrison
I believe it’s so if we don’t do that,
[00:45:34] Harrison
it could completely change the trajectory of where survivor ends up. So it’s so important. It’s so important. Yeah, yeah.
[00:45:43] Josh
I think for anyone who’s is listening and having questions around, whether it’s
[00:45:49] Josh
a personal experience that they’ve had with someone else or stories that,
[00:45:52] Josh
that don’t seem believable to think about. The situation that survivors are put through what they, as you said,
[00:45:58] Josh
the hurdles they have to jump to get their story heard. It’s not
[00:46:05] Josh
a nice thing. It’s not something they want to go through.
[00:46:08] Josh
So I just always can’t
[00:46:10] Josh
believe when people say, Oh, they want the attention. Yeah, you know, they
[00:46:14] Harrison
also like it’s a very rare according to statistics. They have very,
[00:46:20] Harrison
very rare and often when a false allegation does come up, it’s because the, it’s
[00:46:26] Harrison
a cry for help for something else. And it’s very,
[00:46:29] Harrison
very minimal. I don’t think any sane person would make something like this up
[00:46:36] Harrison
to just to go through the process of court and like it, it’s such
[00:46:41] Harrison
a draining and taxing process. No one. Yeah. I,
[00:46:46] Harrison
I couldn’t imagine anyone making it out to have to go through all that. It’s,
[00:46:49] Harrison
it’s hard, it’s horrible. Parents, the current system is horrible. So yeah,
[00:46:54] Harrison
that’s why it’s so important to Billie scruggs yet.
[00:46:58] Josh
Well, thanks for sharing your story here as well. Because as I’ve said a few times,
[00:47:04] Josh
it is important and it’s, you know, it’s difficult,
[00:47:07] Josh
but it’s something that we need to talk about.
[00:47:09] Josh
And hopefully by more people talking
[00:47:11] Josh
about it and more people advocating like yourself,
[00:47:14] Josh
it’s going to make it easier for people to talk about it to help support and,
[00:47:19] Josh
and get behind things like the, your reference St Relevant campaign, which is,
[00:47:25] Josh
you know, obviously exciting to hear that it’s coming to, you know, the next step in August.
[00:47:30] Harrison
Yeah. And just on that point as well, I think the conversations around child sexual abuse can be uncomfortable. But
[00:47:39] Harrison
that discomfort is necessary for progress. And we have to create a society that refuses to turn
[00:47:46] Harrison
a blind eye and works to support all survivors. That’s really important that we get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Yep.
[00:47:57] Josh
Now I’ve got two questions for you before we wrap up. If that’s okay if you’ve got
[00:48:00] Josh
a little bit more time. Oh
[00:48:02] Harrison
yeah.
[00:48:03] Josh
So as I mentioned, Spirit Super are sponsoring. This week’s episode of the inspirational strains
[00:48:07] Josh
podcast and as such, they’ve actually provided a question. So I’ll put that forward to you. You know,
[00:48:12] Josh
we’ve kind of covered it in other aspects,
[00:48:15] Josh
but I want to ask it just to kind of get your thoughts on it anyway. You know,
[00:48:19] Josh
if you can kind of boil it down to two,
[00:48:22] Josh
one thing or maybe it’s more than one thing, but you know,
[00:48:24] Josh
what is it that drives you to want to protect and help your community so actively
[00:48:31] Harrison
yeah, we’ve touched on it, but I’ll just reiterate it, it’s, I don’t want anyone else to feel
[00:48:37] Harrison
a tenth of what I’ve been through. It’s one of the most horrible things I think any
[00:48:41] Harrison
person can experience it’s innocence being stolen. You have to rebuild yourself. And it’s such
[00:48:49] Harrison
a traumatic thing to go through and it’s so rife as well. Like I mentioned those
[00:48:53] Harrison
statistics with one in three girls and one in five boys. That’s what drives me and yeah,
[00:48:59] Harrison
inciting change and I want to be I want to be for the fourteen year old boy going
[00:49:05] Harrison
through it today. What I needed when I was fourteen telling me Yeah, yeah. So that’s what drives me and
[00:49:14] Josh
Yeah, yeah, well you’re doing it so publicly as you mentioned, Instagram, it’s Harry James,
[00:49:20] Josh
Harry with a Y. And, you know, hopefully
[00:49:24] Josh
it’s sad that there are, as you said,
[00:49:26] Josh
that of course as fourteen year old boys that they’re going through it, which is sad in itself,
[00:49:30] Josh
but hopefully they can see something come across their on social media. That gives
[00:49:35] Josh
them hope, gives them motivation, gives them strength. And I think that’s what,
[00:49:39] Josh
that’s what you’re doing.
[00:49:41] Josh
The last question I had for you, Harrison,
[00:49:43] Josh
is that your on the inspirations range podcast because you most certainly are an
[00:49:47] Josh
incredibly inspirational person. But what is it that inspires you,
[00:49:52] Josh
whether that’s on a day to day basis, or whether that’s, you know,
[00:49:56] Josh
a long term kind of thing. What is that? Yeah, it inspires you, Harrison.
[00:50:01] Harrison
Oh, there’s a few examples. Actually. There’s the other survivors that I work with on
[00:50:07] Harrison
a almost daily basis. People like anecdotes, Shona, Amanda Morgan, Sarah Williams. Yeah, Sam Watson, they’re all people,
[00:50:20] Harrison
great time. They’re people I look up towards and I just think they’re amazing. And
[00:50:28] Harrison
I want to, I want to work with them and
[00:50:30] Harrison
I want to be their friends and I want to,
[00:50:32] Harrison
you know, it’s so and All right, they teach me to be
[00:50:37] Harrison
a better version of myself. They support me and they uplift me and yeah,
[00:50:42] Harrison
they’re great people to be around. The community of survivors is such an inspiring
[00:50:47] Harrison
and amazing group of people. And what inspires me in the long term,
[00:50:51] Harrison
I think. And this is just the complete self. And so like ego answer, I just want to leave
[00:51:01] Harrison
a legacy that lives beyond me.
[00:51:03] Harrison
And I hope that my work can
[00:51:07] Harrison
provide safety and security to generations of people you’re referenced and Relevant.
[00:51:14] Harrison
And what I’ve done with Sara and what I’ve done so far. I mean,
[00:51:17] Harrison
I’ve only been doing this for just over a year now it’s,
[00:51:21] Harrison
I can just say it’s only the beginning. I have my five year plan out of my ten year
[00:51:26] Harrison
plan. And yeah, it’s exciting that,
[00:51:30] Harrison
that drives me to keep going forward because I want, I want to leave the world
[00:51:34] Harrison
a better place before I go.
[00:51:36] Josh
That’s brilliant, Harrison. Thank you for sharing that. And anyone listening out there,
[00:51:41] Josh
if you know any young people in advocacy policy that have an important message,
[00:51:46] Josh
please nominate them in the young achiever awards.
[00:51:48] Josh
So we can help share their story
[00:51:50] Josh
and hopefully inspire other people just like what Harrison is doing. So Harrison, thanks for your time today.
[00:51:56] Harrison
Thank you. I really appreciate it
[00:51:58] Josh
and look forward to following your journey,
[00:52:01] Josh
your advocacy and all the best with the with August and the your reference, any Relevant campaign.
[00:52:07] Harrison
Thanks Josh. Appreciate it.
[00:52:13] Christine
The Inspirational Australian’s podcast is brought to you by awards Australia; we recognise, celebrate and share the stories of inspirational Australians through our awards Programs across the country. To find out more, to nominate an inspirational Australian in your life, or to partner with our awards, visit awards Australia dotcom. If you enjoyed today’s story, we’d love it if you could subscribe, rate and review to make sure you don’t miss an episode and to help our guests reach more people with their inspirational stories.
