![\"Brittany](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768905264_300_af71def990bb09f8d3ae9269dff8c75c2d45963c.png\")
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Updated February 26, 2026 \u2014 1:42pm,first published 11:29am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has dismissed the prime minister\u2019s attempted apology as condescending after he claimed that by labelling her \u201cdifficult\u201d he had meant she had had a difficult life.<\/p>\n \u201cDude\u2019s quoting Scott [Morrison] now!!! \u2018She\u2019s had a difficult life\u2019\u2026 Spare me the condescension, old man. We all know what you meant. A badge of honour anyway. A confession that I\u2019ve ruffled him,\u201d Tame commented on social media.<\/p>\n The prime minister was forced to backtrack on the comment he made at a News Corp conference on Wednesday after Tame\u2019s supporters rallied to her defence, calling him a \u201cmisogynist\u201d in social media posts that she then shared on her own Instagram account.<\/p>\n Albanese emerged from a visit to a Melbourne endometriosis clinic on Thursday morning to praise Tame\u2019s advocacy work, saying he had had a good relationship with the former Australian of the Year and that \u201cif there was any misinterpretation, then I certainly apologise\u201d.<\/p>\n The prime minister called Tame \u201cdifficult\u201d during a word-association game in which he also called ex-prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor a \u201cgrub\u201d. 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 \u201clooking forward to the Barnaby Joyce versus Pauline Hanson, you know it\u2019s coming\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Difficult\u2019 is the misogynist\u2019s code for a woman who won\u2019t comply. History tends to call her courageous,\u201d said one post by writer and abuse survivor Harrison James.<\/p>\n She shared another from satirical outlet The Chaser that was titled \u201cspineless man frustrated that woman dares to have one\u201d. Tame wrote: \u201cSquealing!!!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was asked to describe people in one word, and Grace Tame you certainly can\u2019t describe in one word,\u201d Albanese told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Tame was awarded Australian of the Year in 2021 for fighting to overturn Tasmania\u2019s laws that gagged abuse victims after she was groomed and abused by her 58-year-old maths teacher when she was 15.<\/p>\n Tame has since drawn criticism for her pro-Palestinian advocacy, and earlier this month, she led chants to \u201cglobalise the intifada\u201d, a phrase the NSW Labor government is planning to ban.<\/p>\n After the protest, Joyce called for her to be stripped of her Australian of the Year title<\/a>, and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called on the prime minister to condemn the remarks.<\/p>\n While the prime minister praised Tame\u2019s activism, he added that he \u201cdisagreed\u201d with the language she used at the demonstration against Israel President Isaac Herzog\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s why it\u2019s impossible to describe people in one word, and that wasn\u2019t meant to be taken that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the prime minister apologised, Greens leader Larissa Waters said Albanese\u2019s comment about a woman fighting for the safety of children was unwarranted, and suggested Albanese instead try words such as \u201cunbreakable\u201d or \u201cfierce\u201d.<\/p>\n She has been contacted for further comment this afternoon.<\/p>\n Greens Senator Sarah-Hanson Young shared a photo with Tame and said: \u201cWithout difficult women, women wouldn\u2019t have the vote, couldn\u2019t run for parliament and wouldn\u2019t be able to have a bank account or buy a house. Thank goodness for all the difficult women out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Actor Kath Ebbs said Tame was a beacon of hope for victims of abuse.<\/p>\n \u201cIf by \u2018difficult\u2019 you meant women not void of personality, a spine and a voice then yeah difficult it is\u2026 people standing up for something is more than we could say for our PM,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Tame](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772077513_104_3108e50919cbc141ca5d86e375858a0854c0acd3.jpeg\")
Tame led the controversial chant in Sydney earlier this month.Getty<\/p>\n![\"Brittany](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/af71def990bb09f8d3ae9269dff8c75c2d45963c.png\")
Brittany Busch<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated February 26, 2026 \u2014 1:42pm,first published 11:29am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-504465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}