A provocative act by former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has stolen the limelight – again – at a morning tea with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for recipients of the 2025 awards.
The 2021 winner wore a “F*** Murdoch” T-shirt when she was greeted by Mr Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, at The Lodge in Canberra on Saturday.
The PM and Ms Haydon smiled and greeted Ms Tame, but there was no visible reaction to the incendiary statement on her shirt.
In 2022, the outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual assault also stirred controversy when she attended the same event as the outgoing Australian of the Year.
When Ms Tame and her fiance Max Heerey arrived, they were greeted by then prime minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny, who congratulated them on their recent engagement.
But Ms Tame remained stony faced as they posed for photographs, which famously captured her giving Mr Morrison an ice-cold “side-eye” expression.
She later addressed that moment on Twitter, commenting that the survival of abuse culture “is dependent on submissive smiles, self-defeating surrenders and hypocrisy”.
“What I did wasn’t an act of martyrdom in the gender culture war,” she wrote.
“It’s true that many women are sick of being told to smile, often by men, for the benefit of men. But it’s not just women who are conditioned to smile and conform to the visibly rotting status-quo. It’s all of us.”
Ms Tame had been highly critical of Mr Morrison and his government’s response to allegations of sexual assault and toxic workplace culture in federal parliament.
The winners of the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards will be announced at a ceremony in Canberra on Saturday.
More than 30 finalists are in the running to be named Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year and Australia’s Local Hero.
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