Grace Tame: Women’s Safety Minister confirms investigation into ‘threatening’ phone call

Grace Tame’s claim she was called by a government-funded organisation and asked not to embarrass Scott Morrison close to the election is “already” being investigated.

An investigation into the source of a threatening call made to Grace Tame asking her not to embarrass Scott Morrison close to the election has been launched, the federal government has announced.

Five months after being named Australian of the Year, Grace Tame says she received a “threatening” phone call from a “senior member of a federal government organisation” begging her not to say anything “damning” about Scott Morrison close to the election.

Women’s Safety and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said she was unaware of the allegations until Ms Tame revealed them at the National Press Club, but it was now her understanding an investigation has “already” commenced.

“That is an unacceptable thing for any agency that is funded by the government to be seeking to do that to anybody,” she said.

Grace Tame addressing the media at the National Press Club on Wednesday. Picture: Gary Ramage

A spokesman for Mr Morrison said the first he or his office became aware of that allegation was during Ms Tame’s speech on Wednesday.

“The PM has not and would not authorise such actions and at all times has sought to treat Ms Tame with dignity and respect,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman said Ms Tame “should always be free to speak her mind and conduct herself as she chooses”.

“The PM has made no criticism of her statements or actions,” he said.

Minister for Women's Safety Senator Anne Ruston says she was unaware of the allegations prior to Tame’s speech. Picture: Gary Ramage

“While Ms Tame has declined to name the individual, the individual should apologise.

“Those comments were not made on behalf of the PM or PMO or with their knowledge.

“The PM and the government consider the actions and statements of the individual as unacceptable.”

Speaking at the National Press Club, Ms Tame said she felt she had “nothing to lose” after being constantly branded “politically divisive,” and revealed she received the call from an unnamed official on August 17 last year who was fearful about her impact on the Prime Minister’s reputation.

“I received a threatening phone call from a senior member of a government funded organisation, asking for my word that I would not say anything damning about the Prime Minister on the evening of the next Australian of the Year Awards,” she said.

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

Ms Tame said the caller told her she was an “influential person” and Mr Morrison would “have a fear” about her behaviour.

“What kind of fear, I asked myself. A fear for our nation’s most vulnerable? A fear for the future of our plan? And then I heard the words, ‘with an election coming soon’,” she said.

“A fear he might lose his position or, more to the point, his power.”

Ms Tame said she had watched how even her most “common sense movements” were “lost in translation” because others deliberately misrepresent them, and then “projected division onto them” that was not “real”.

Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins ahead of addressing the National Press Club. Picture: Gary Ramage

“For instance, certain members of the commentariat have consistently labelled me as politically divisive, failing to mention that I spent most of last year having frank, productive meetings with politicians on all sides at both the state and federal level,” she said.

“So, after a year of being re-victimised, commodified, objectified, sensationalised, delegitimised, gaslit, thrown under the bus by the biased, mainstream media, despite my inclusive messaging, I would like to take this opportunity to … remind you that I really have nothing to lose.”

Brittany Higgins makes her way among guests at the National Press Club. Picture: Gary Ramage

Higgins fears ‘moment of reckoning’ slipping away

In the year since former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins revealed her alleged rape in parliament, “too little has changed” and the federal government’s response has not “measured up”.

In a powerful speech to the National Press Club in Canberra, Ms Higgins said she was fearful the “national moment of reckoning,” sparked almost a year ago when she came forward to publicly allege she had been raped in parliament, was slipping away.

The man charged over the incident has pleaded not guilty.

“Nearly a year after the March4Justice made its way to the threshold of federal parliament, too little has changed,” she said.

“I stand here today fearful that this moment of transformative potential, the bravery of all those women who spoke up and stood up and said, ‘enough is enough’ is in danger of being minimised to a flare-up, a blip on the radar.”

Brittany Higgins addressed the National Press Club on Wednesday to deliver her response to the Prime Minister’s apology on Tuesday. Picture: Getty

Ms Higgins was critical of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, saying much of his language when talking about the treatment of women in parliament, including her own experience, was “shocking and at times … a bit offensive”.

“But his words wouldn’t matter if his actions had measured up,” she said. “Then, or since.

“What bothered me most about the whole, “imagine if it were our daughters” spiel wasn’t that he necessarily needed his wife’s advice to help contextualise my (alleged) rape in a way that mattered to him personally.

“I didn’t want his sympathy as a father. I wanted him to use his power as Prime Minister.”

Ms Higgins said she wanted Mr Morrison to “wield the weight of his office and drive change in the (Liberal) party and our parliament and out into the country”.

Brittany Higgins outside Parliament House, Canberra, on March 15, 2021 as part of a rally calling for action against gendered violence. Picture Sam Mooy

“One year later, I don’t care if the government has improved the way that they talk about these issues,” she said. “I’m not interested in words anymore. I want to see action.”

Ms Higgins said recognising there was a problem with the sexual assault and harassment of women in Australia was “50 years short of what’s required”.

“The women and girls of Australia deserve so much better than an improvement in the way that we publicly discuss the dangers that they face at home and in their daily lives,” she said.

“Last year wasn’t a march for acknowledgment. It wasn’t a march for coverage. It wasn’t a march for language. It was a march for justice.

“And that justice demands real change in our laws, as well as in our language, in our national culture, as well as our national conversation.”

Originally published as Grace Tame: Women’s Safety Minister confirms investigation into ‘threatening’ phone call