Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins wield considerable cultural power. When the National Press Club agreed to host the duo for a joint address on Wednesday, there was a stampede for tickets. The event was a sellout. Tame, the former Australian of the Year and survivor advocate, and Higgins, the Liberal staffer who triggered parliament’s #MeToo reckoning, did not mince words. Here are some key highlights.
1. An unwelcome August phone call
Tame, who fought for the right to tell her own story, knows how to hold the attention of a room. On Wednesday, she revealed she had received a “threatening” phone call from a “senior member” of a government-funded organisation who asked her not to reflect negatively on the prime minister “with an election coming soon”. In the context of Tame being roasted for giving the prime minister, Scott Morrison, some robust side eye at a function at the Lodge in January, this anecdote was quite the mic drop.
Wednesday’s claim triggered an immediate investigation by the government, and a statement from Morrison’s office that the prime minister would not (and had not) authorised any intervention of that nature. Journalists, being journalists, wanted more information. Tame didn’t intend to elaborate. In response to the inevitable who, what, when, where inquiries, she said: “I reckon if I was willing to name either, I would have put them in the speech.” Can you tell us what you said back to that person? “Nope. Doesn’t matter now, does it?”
2. Don’t be Scott
Tame and Higgins fielded a number of questions about whether they planned to enter politics, or enter the election campaign fray. The answer was no. Higgins said in tribal terms she was “stateless”. Tame said the former Labor leader Kim Beazley “did try to sway me”. At one point, she also winked at the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, who was watching on in the audience. But it was still no. She said: “I feel like I can achieve more change outside of politics”. Tame was asked whether she could nominate some things that Albanese could do better, “and what would it mean if Australians chose to vote Scott Morrison back in?” Tame waited for half a beat before returning serve. “All Anthony would have to do is none of the things that Scott’s done.”
3. It wasn’t a march for language
Higgins spoke of her determination to drive change. She referenced the public rallies last year – women marching for justice around the country. “Last year wasn’t a march for acknowledgment,” Higgins said. “It wasn’t a march for coverage. It wasn’t a march for language. It was a march for justice. And that justice demands real change in our laws, as well as in our language, in our national culture, as well as our national conversation. That starts with the prime minister – yes, some of his language last year was shocking and, at times, admittedly, a bit offensive. But his words wouldn’t matter if his actions had measured up. Then, or since.”
Higgins said that Morrison’s comments after her allegation of sexual assault became public last year, that his wife had encouraged him to think about his own daughters, were misplaced. “I didn’t want his sympathy as a father. I wanted him to use his power as prime minister. I wanted him to wield the weight of his office and drive change in the party and our parliament, and out into the country. And one year later, I don’t care if the government has improved the way that they talk about these issues. I’m not interested in words any more. I want to see action.”
4. Is sorry the hardest word?
On Tuesday, the presiding officers and political leaders acknowledged the pain of many former political staffers subjected to bullying, harassment, and worse. Given she had been the catalyst for that parliamentary apology, how did Higgins feel when that moment ultimately came? “It was deeply emotional in the way that I wasn’t anticipating and I think being in that room, kind of, made all the difference … It made it so much more tangible to not see these people as, you know, flattened characters on a TV screen like I have watched most of this year play out.”
5. He’s built like a … you know
During a question about whether cultures with consequences made people safer, one journalist referenced a question she’d previously asked Morrison about what had done to make parliament safer today than it was 12 months ago. Tame’s brow furrowed. “I do love the part where you asked the prime minister if he thought it was a safer workplace. You know, because he’s about six foot three, in my understanding, he’s built like a – you know! Probably a bit safer for him.”
6. What about every other workplace in the country?
Higgins has been the catalyst for reform of the toxic workplace culture in Parliament House but as she asked on Wednesday – what about the rest of the country? Higgins noted the government was following the advice of Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, when it came to workplace reform in the parliament. But the government had ignored Jenkins’ advice to impose a positive duty on employers to keep their employees safe from sexual harassment. “I’m shocked that that was not more of a flashpoint moment for people,” Higgins said. Imposing a positive duty “would have impacted every single working woman in the country, and we just kind of let that moment slide by without thinking”.
7. Aspirational statements won’t cut it
Higgins also took aim at the national plan to reduce violence against women – at one point holding a direct eye-line with the Liberal ministers who were its architects. “The national plan doesn’t aim low,” she said. “Unfortunately, its aims are so lofty and vague that it’s impossible to disagree with and equally difficult to examine … But the question is – how will they be achieved?
“That is, unfortunately, where the draft plan has lost its way. Instead, it is largely a collection of statistics describing the problem, filled with warm sentiments and platitudes attached to noble outcomes which lacks the promised learnings from the past decade towards a future free from violence against women and children, and clear targets to that end. Without clearer action and firm targets, there can be no accountability.”
8. Is parliament doing enough to protect the rights of vulnerable people?
Tame and Higgins were asked about the current parliamentary debate about religious discrimination. Was enough being done to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ students? Tame was short and sharp. “No,” she said. “Why does one group of people have more of a right to be themselves than another – that’s what I have to ask the government.” Higgins was worried about the well being of young people. “I can’t even imagine how they’d be feeling having to listen to all this play out right now.”
9. I really have nothing to lose
Tame gave a sharp summary of what it is like to be commodified by the media; what it’s like to have your objectives lost in translation. “Certain members of the [media] have consistently labelled me as politically divisive, failing to mention that I spent most of last year having frank, productive meetings with politicians on all sides at both the state and federal level. So, after a year of being re-victimised, commodified, objectified, sensationalised, delegitimise, gaslit, thrown under the bus by the biased mainstream media – despite my inclusive messaging – I would like to take this opportunity to take a glass of water, and remind you that I really have nothing to lose.”
