"Spineless and cowardly": Grace Tame hits back at Albo
<p>Grace Tame has penned a blistering attack on Anthony Albanese and his Labor government after the PM called out her "disrespectful" outfit choice. </p>
<p>T<span style="caret-color: #212529; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px;">he former Australian of the Year winner was greeted by Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, at The Lodge in Canberra on Saturday to honour the 2025 Australian of the Year finalists, as she donned a t-shirt that said "F*** Murdoch". </span></p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: #212529; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji';">Speaking with <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #258440; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/live/perth" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link-type="article-inline">ABC Radio Perth</a></em> on Monday, Albanese was asked about his meeting with Tame and his views on her T-shirt, as he said her stunt was <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/disrespectful-pm-hits-out-at-grace-tame-s-australia-day-stunt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disrespectful</a> towards the award finalists.</p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: #212529; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji';">“I held a function. It is something that, in my view, took away from the people who were there, and my focus was simply on that,” he said.</p>
<p>But now, Tame has hit back at the Prime Minister, accusing Mr Albanese of presiding over a "spineless" and "cowardly" government, revealing the real response to her t-shirt inside The Lodge.</p>
<p>In a damning 1,500-word essay published by news website <em><a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/01/29/grace-tame-t-shirt-rupert-murdoch-anthony-albanese/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Crikey</a></em>, Tame took issue with Mr Albanese's suggestion that her outfit took attention away from other award nominees.</p>
<p>"Surely these were not the same people who asked to take selfies with me wearing the t-shirt in the courtyard, who commended me for taking a stand and staying true to myself?", she wrote. </p>
<p>"These people — including medical doctors, academics, scientists, musicians, writers, entrepreneurs, athletes, advocates and even a former soldier who proudly showed me their own anti-Murdoch merchandise?" </p>
<p>"As I was leaving The Lodge, one of the prime minister’s staff remarked, 'There are many of us here who wish we could wear that shirt.' Afterwards, journalists wanted to pose beside me."</p>
<p>Tame also called out the Prime Minster and his government for having "weak knees" over its stance on Israel during the country's devastating occupation of Gaza. </p>
<p>"We’ve all watched in disgust over the past 16 months as the once-impassioned politician, who used to make speeches in Parliament supporting Palestinian liberation, has overseen the contortion of his government’s PR apparatus in defence of Israel’s genocidal operation," she wrote. </p>
<p>She went on to describe Australia as a "spineless colony of the United States" and accused both Labor and the Coalition of being in hock to the Murdoch-owned Press.</p>
<p>"When presented with a petition that received more than half a million signatures demanding a royal commission into the Murdoch regime, Anthony Albanese did nothing," Ms Tame wrote. </p>
<p>She added, "Anthony’s predictable response to my two-word statement has reinforced just how poisonous Murdoch’s grip on the Western world still is."</p>
<p>"It’s also revealed that while Australia casts itself as a laidback larrikin, game for a laugh, it is in fact a cowardly cop bought by the illusion of civility politics."</p>
<p>Despite her decimation of the PM and his government, Tame conceded that Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would be a "more dangerous prime minister than Anthony Albanese".</p>
<p>Tame concluded her essay by writing that "Big conversations start with simple, effective messages," and despite the PM's disapproval of her statement, she does not regret her actions. </p>
<p><em>Image credits: Instagram</em></p>
