Updated ,first published
Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has dismissed the prime minister’s attempted apology as condescending after he claimed that by labelling her “difficult” he had meant she had had a difficult life.
“Dude’s quoting Scott [Morrison] now!!! ‘She’s had a difficult life’… Spare me the condescension, old man. We all know what you meant. A badge of honour anyway. A confession that I’ve ruffled him,” Tame commented on social media.
The prime minister was forced to backtrack on the comment he made at a News Corp conference on Wednesday after Tame’s supporters rallied to her defence, calling him a “misogynist” in social media posts that she then shared on her own Instagram account.
Albanese emerged from a visit to a Melbourne endometriosis clinic on Thursday morning to praise Tame’s advocacy work, saying he had had a good relationship with the former Australian of the Year and that “if there was any misinterpretation, then I certainly apologise”.
The prime minister called Tame “difficult” during a word-association game in which he also called ex-prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor a “grub”. He did not always stick to the one-word rule, saying he could not do so for One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce, but that he was “looking forward to the Barnaby Joyce versus Pauline Hanson, you know it’s coming”.
Tame had turned the heat back on the prime minister on Thursday morning by sharing a series of Instagram posts that attacked Albanese for what critics said was a gendered comment.
“‘Difficult’ is the misogynist’s code for a woman who won’t comply. History tends to call her courageous,” said one post by writer and abuse survivor Harrison James.
She shared another from satirical outlet The Chaser that was titled “spineless man frustrated that woman dares to have one”. Tame wrote: “Squealing!!!”
“I was asked to describe people in one word, and Grace Tame you certainly can’t describe in one word,” Albanese told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
“She has had a difficult life, and that was what I was referring to. And what Grace Tame has done is to turn that difficult experience that she had into being a strong advocate for others, which is why she received, quite rightly, the Australian of the Year award.”
Tame was awarded Australian of the Year in 2021 for fighting to overturn Tasmania’s laws that gagged abuse victims after she was groomed and abused by her 58-year-old maths teacher when she was 15.
Tame has since drawn criticism for her pro-Palestinian advocacy, and earlier this month, she led chants to “globalise the intifada”, a phrase the NSW Labor government is planning to ban.
After the protest, Joyce called for her to be stripped of her Australian of the Year title, and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called on the prime minister to condemn the remarks.
While the prime minister praised Tame’s activism, he added that he “disagreed” with the language she used at the demonstration against Israel President Isaac Herzog’s visit.
“So that’s why it’s impossible to describe people in one word, and that wasn’t meant to be taken that way.”
Before the prime minister apologised, Greens leader Larissa Waters said Albanese’s comment about a woman fighting for the safety of children was unwarranted, and suggested Albanese instead try words such as “unbreakable” or “fierce”.
She has been contacted for further comment this afternoon.
Greens Senator Sarah-Hanson Young shared a photo with Tame and said: “Without difficult women, women wouldn’t have the vote, couldn’t run for parliament and wouldn’t be able to have a bank account or buy a house. Thank goodness for all the difficult women out there.”
Actor Kath Ebbs said Tame was a beacon of hope for victims of abuse.
“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,” they said.
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Brittany Busch is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
