"Disrespectful": PM hits out at Grace Tame's Australia Day stunt
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned Grace Tame for "taking focus away" from the 2025 Australian of the Year finalists with her choice of outfit.
The former Australian of the Year winner was greeted by Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, at The Lodge in Canberra on Saturday, as she donned a t-shirt that said "F*** Murdoch".
Speaking with ABC Radio Perth on Monday, Albanese was asked about his meeting with Tame and his views on her T-shirt, as he said her stunt was disrespectful towards the award's finalists.
“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.
Albanese believed Tame’s decision to wear the t-shirt had clearly been designed to get attention, as he said, “I don’t intend to add to that attention because I do think that it takes away from what the day should be about, which is the amazing people who were nominated as Australians of the Year.”
When asked if he agreed with the message of what Tame was trying to portray, Albanese said that he “clearly disagreed” and he wants debate to be respectful, adding, “People are allowed to express themselves, but I thought it was disrespectful of the event and of the people who that event was primarily for.”
Tame explained her decision to wear the shirt to the event to The Guardian Australia, saying, “[The T-shirt is] clearly not just about Murdoch, it’s the obscene greed, inhumanity and disconnection that he symbolises, which are destroying our planet.”
“For far too long this world and its resources have been undemocratically controlled by a small number of morbidly wealthy oligarchs. If we want to dismantle this corrupt system, if we want legitimate climate action, equity, truth, justice, democracy, peace, land back, etc, then resisting forces like Murdoch is a good starting point.”
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