Grace Tame’s surprise compliment for Prime Minister Scott Morrison

In a highly unusual move, former Australian of the Year has complimented Prime Minister Scott Morrison ahead of election day.

It’s no secret that Grace Tame isn’t a fan of Scott Morrison but in a surprise move the former Australian of the Year has offered up a compliment to the Prime Minister.

Ms Tame, an activist and advocate for survivors of child sexual assault, has been openly critical of Mr Morrison during his time as Prime Minister.

However, she has offered up one compliment for the PM, conceding to the Betoota Advocate’s podcast that Mr Morrison is “intelligent”.

“He’s quite intelligent. I’ll give him that,” Ms Tame said.

She then followed up the compliment with a jab at Mr Morrison, adding: “No-one can be the leader of a country without having intelligence and skills and mastery at least of manipulation.”

Stream more election news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

Grace Tame has offered Scott Morrison a surprise compliment during her latest interview. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards

The 27-year-old went on to brand Mr Morrison “vindictive” and accused him of using his government powers to silence her after she refused to smile in a now-viral photo with the PM earlier this year.

“The problem is Scott Morrison – his entitlement. ‘I’m the Prime Minister, and she should smile at me because I’m the Prime Minister’,” she told the podcast.

“I was standing next to Scott Morrison, and I’m friends with Brittany [Higgins].

“And I’m like, I can’t smile at you. Like, this is a crock of s**t.

“All these play-nice institutions that just harbour abusers and cover it up – for the sake of what?”

Ms Tame alleged Mr Morrison then used his “resources” to “intimidate” her following their tense interaction.

“The way that he responded to me – because I called him out and called a spade a spade – was to intimidate me with his resources,” she said.

“That’s how you want to use your resources as Prime Minister – to carry out your petty vindictive vendettas?

“Yeah, great. I hope you feel good about that.

“While the country is in the middle of a pandemic, and there are people dying in floods, and there are still people who don’t have their homes after the bush fires. Good job, Scott.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Grace Tame at the 2022 Australian of the Year Finalists Morning Tea. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

The former Australian of the Year said she was “surprised and not surprised” at how low the Morrison government is “willing to sink”.

She criticised Mr Morrison’s treatment of minorities, particularly targeting his support for controversial Liberal candidate Katherine Deves.

Mr Morrison has stood by Ms Deves, despite her calling transgender Australians “genetically mutilated”.

“The Prime Minister is prepared to sacrifice one of the most discriminated against minorities – LGBT youth. They’re the underdog,” Ms Tame said.

“Who else is he prepared to sacrifice? That is not the Australian way. Nobody gets left behind. Nobody.”

Ms Tame has also criticised Labor leader Anthony Albanese during the campaign over his decision to do an interview with Alan Jones.

The Labor leader tweeted that he had done a prerecorded interview with Jones on Monday afternoon.“Good to chat with Alan Jones today in his new Sydney studios,” he wrote, beside a photo of the pair shaking hands.

But former Australian of the Year Ms Tame wasn’t impressed with Mr Albanese’s decision to speak with Jones.“Yeah nah, this is where you could’ve just frowned and walked off,” she wrote in reply to Mr Albanese’s tweet.

Ms Tame’s latest criticism of Mr Morrison comes a week after she branded him “unauthentic” and accused him of being more interested in maintaining power than running the country.

The 27-year-old made the comment during an Adelaide Writers’ Week event where she was a guest speaker.

Ms Tame has been a harsh critic of Mr Morrison. Picture; Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

At one point, Ms Tame was asked about previously working with the Federal Government, prompted her to roll her eyes and say she was “politically naive” when she first became Australian of the Year.

“I do want to work with people on all sides — I’m actually apolitical — and I believe in putting differences aside in the spirit of progress … especially when it comes to the abuse of children,” she said.

“But a certain person is not authentic to say the least.”

She said she remained determined to do the work needed for the Grace Tame Foundation and work with everyone because “the goal is more important that anything else”.

“But we’ve found certain people and groups are more concerned with maintaining power and control than running the country.

“I don’t want that to be the case. That’s the sad truth.”

Originally published as Grace Tame’s surprise compliment for Prime Minister Scott Morrison