Peter van Onselen’s regret over article condemning Grace Tame

Peter van Onselen has made the shock admission that he regrets penning an article slamming Grace Tame for not smiling in photos with the prime minister.

Divisive presenter Peter van Onselen has expressed regret following his controversial opinion piece that labelled Grace Tame “ungracious, rude and childish” for not smiling in photos with Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week.

Van Onselen criticised the 2021 Australian of the Year in a column for The Australian last Tuesday, describing her conduct at The Lodge for an Australian of the Year event “embarrassing, for her that is”.

“She was ungracious, rude and childish, refusing to smile for the cameras, barely acknowledging his existence when standing next to him. The footage tells the story free of overstatement,” he wrote.

Peter van Onselen said he regrets making his thoughts on Grace Tame public. Picture: Channel 10/The Project

Van Onselen wrote a column in The Australian calling Tame “childish” for not smiling in a photo opportunity with Scott Morrison. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

In the wake of facing heated backlash, including from The Project co-host Carrie Bickmore and guest Amy Remeikis Tuesday evening, van Onselen has backflipped on his decision to write the piece.

“I think it was probably unnecessary for me to bother to write the opinion piece. To say all of those things. I can just think it,” he told podcast Critical Line Item with Tom Ravlic on Friday.

While he did acknowledge the article was not necessary, he insisted he had not changed his stance on whether Ms Tame should have smiled for the photos or not.

“I’m still very firm, personally, of the view that [Tame’s actions were] uncalled for, if I could put it that way. And inappropriate, and she shouldn’t have done it,” he said.

Van Onselen claimed he did not care about the backlash he received, but conceded it was the reason for his change of heart.

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“That’s different I should say to saying that on reflection I wouldn’t have written the opinion piece because I didn’t like the blow back that I got, I don’t care about that. That’s not a reason I wouldn’t write it on reflection.

“Seeing how strongly people feel about it doesn’t change my view. But it probably has changed my view on whether it needed to be written.”

“While I think it, what’s the point in saying it? In a sense, me on my side of the ledge of deciding to write about it, became me being – I would argue – as bad as Grace Tame choosing to act the way she acted, which I’m critical of.”

He also revealed that both his wife and daughters told him he should never have written the article.

“They all agree that there was no need to write it … given what she [Grace Tame] has been through,” he said.

Peter van Onselen has not changed his stance, but regrets writing the article. Picture: Channel 10/The Project

They did however, according to van Onselen, think Ms Tame should have smiled for the photos.

He added that he thought lots of people “silently” agreed with his stance.

“I do think it [Grace Tame not smiling] was rude, and I do think it was impolite and I do think it was unnecessary,” he said.

“I freely accept that lots of people don’t agree with me. By the way, I think lots of people do agree with me, but the loudest people don’t.”