Folks are rushing to defend former Australian of the Year Grace Tame after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled her “difficult” at a recent media summit in Victoria.
Albanese was asked to give one-word answers to a rapid-fire selection of names while appearing on stage at the Future Victoria summit with host and Herald Sun editor Sam Weir.
When asked about Tame — 2021’s Australian of the Year and child sexual abuse survivor and advocate — Albanese chose the word “difficult”.
The PM’s response was met with backlash on social media, particularly from prominent politicians. Greens leader Larissa Waters said the label was “absolutely unwarranted”.
“Labelling women as difficult won’t silence us. It won’t stop us speaking truth to power. Next time try ‘unbreakable’ or ‘warrior’ or ‘fierce’, Prime Minister,” Waters wrote.
Meanwhile, South Australian Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said “some of my best friends are ‘difficult’ women (OK, all of them, and I love them for it!)”
Tame also received support from Aussie entertainers, with influencer Kath Ebbs sharing a pic of the pair on Instagram and describing her as “a gift to so many”.
“If by ‘difficult’ you meant women not void of personality, a spine and a voice then yeah difficult it is… people standing up for something is more than we could say for our PM,” Ebbs wrote.
“Not only is Grace one of the greatest gifts in my life but she is a gift to so many. A voice for the voiceless and a beacon of hope for victims of abuse everywhere,” Ebbs added.
Elsewhere, journalist Narelda Jacobs described Tame as “difficult to fault”, while musician Jack River said she is “someone who has overcome difficulty, and turned it into action”.
Sherele Moody, who runs the popular Instagram page Femicide Watch, shared a picture of herself alongside Tame with the words “DIFFICULT!” repeated multiple times in the caption.
Tame has not yet responded directly to Albanese’s comments, but she did reshare multiple supportive posts on her Instagram Stories.
Tame wasn’t the only one mentioned in the PM’s rapid-fire questioning. In response to recently ousted Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, Albanese replied “best wishes”, and he responded “grub” to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Of Australia Day, Albanese said “great”, before responding to the prompt of Donald Trump with “President” and Pauline Hanson with “divisive”.
The Future Victoria summit was held in partnership with Herald Sun and took place on Wednesday night. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and Leader of the Victorian Opposition Jess Wilson also appeared at the event.
Last year, Albanese criticised Tame for wearing a “FUCK Murdoch” shirt to an Australian of the Year event, in reference to the media family empire.
“[It] took away from the people who were there,” Albanese said of the shirt. “It was clearly designed to get attention.”
Lead images: Sky News/TikTok, Getty Images and Instagram
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