Anthony Albanese ruthlessly trolls Prime Minister Scott Morrison over awkward Grace Tame photos

As the PM’s frosty encounter with 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame went viral, Albo wasted no time in sticking the boot in.

ALP leader Anthony Albanese has brutally mocked Scott Morrison as the fallout from his awkward photo op with 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame continues to make headlines.

Photos of the Prime Minister and the widely respected sexual assault survivor and advocate went viral on Tuesday after photographers captured the frosty interaction between the pair at The Lodge in Canberra ahead of a morning tea for this year’s Australian of the Year finalists.

The tense pictures show an unsmiling Ms Tame refusing to make eye contact with the PM during a handshake, and posing alongside him looking visibly unimpressed.

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The pictures caused an immediate sensation. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Ms Tame has been a vocal critic of the Morrison government. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

The icy photos caused a sensation on social media, and immediately inspired a rush of commentary and opinion pieces from well-known Australian figures.

But while Australians lost it over Ms Tame’s silent protest, Labor leader Anthony Albanese lost no time in subtly but brutally sticking the boot in and having a dig at his rival’s expense.

Taking to Facebook on Tuesday, Mr Albanese shared a picture of himself and a beaming Ms Tame taken at an event later that day.

It was accompanied by the caption: “The extraordinary 2021 Australian of the Year, Grace Tame”.

ALP leader Anthony Albanese shared this photo of himself with 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame soon after her frosty encounter with current PM Scott Morrison went viral. Picture: Facebook/Anthony Albanese

Mr Albanese’s post sparked a massive reaction, with thousands of Australians liking and commenting.

Immediately, people began to point out the glaring difference between Ms Tame’s reaction to Mr Albanese and Mr Morrison, with Labor MP Libby Coker thanking Ms Tame for her contribution – and sharing a savage meme.

Ms Tame has long been a vocal critic of Mr Morrison and his government.

In December, she and fellow advocate Brittany Higgins slammed the Prime Minister’s response to the damming Jenkins Report into the culture of Australian Parliament, saying “Scott (Morrison) doesn’t get it” after the government failed to commit to the 28 recommendations outlined by Kate Jenkins in the Set the Standard report.

The report had found one in three workers at Parliament House were sexually harassed, and one per cent had been sexually assaulted.

In September 2021, Ms Tame hit out at the PM over his decision to appoint Lorraine Finlay as Australia’s next human rights commissioner, after she previously spoke out against consent reforms.

ALP MP Libby Coker shared this meme on Facebook.

Ms Tame described to call as a “grave mistake” and accused the government of having a “lack of understanding”.

In August, she also criticised Mr Morrison’s decision to temporarily promote Christian Porter to leader of the House of Representatives while fellow Coalition MP Peter Dutton was in mandatory Covid-19 quarantine.

Mr Porter, the former Attorney-General, is the subject of historic rape allegations, which he strenuously denies.

And in May last year, Ms Tame also blasted the PM’s response to her groundbreaking and emotional Australian of the Year acceptance speech in an interview with the Betoota Advocate.

“Do you know what he said to me, right after I finished that speech and we’re in front of a wall of media? I shit you not, he leant over and right in my ear he goes “Well, gee, I bet it felt good to get that out’,’’ she said.

It’s not the first time Mr Albanese has used an innocent-looking photo to mock the PM, after trolling him in December at the launch of parliament’s Kmart wishing tree event, which brings together leaders from across the political divide to donate gifts to families in need over the Christmas period.

Photos from the event show that Labor’s presents included a submarine and a jigsaw puzzle of the Eiffel Tower – poking fun at the Prime Minister’s ongoing spat with France over the decision to nuke a $90 billion submarine deal with the Naval Group.

Other gifts in Mr Albanese’s trolley included a fire truck (a reference to Mr Morrison’s “I don’t hold a hose mate” comment during the 2020 Summer Bushfires), and a build your own solar windmill kit.

Anthony Albanese trolled Scott Morrison at a Kmart Wishing Tree event.

Ms Tame is known for her tireless contribution to legal reform on Australian laws which previously prevented sexual abuse survivors in certain states from publicly sharing their story. In December 2021, she also began The Grace Tame Foundation alongside her fiance, Max Heerey.

– with NCA NewsWire