Government MPs remained seated during standing ovations for Grace Tame, Brittany Higgins

A tiny, telling detail emerged after searing speeches from Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins today — and eagle eyed viewers did not miss it.

Searing speeches by Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins at the National Press Club on Tuesday were capped off by standing ovations from, well, almost all those privileged to witness them in person.

The 2021 Australian of the Year and the woman whose decision to speak out about her alleged sexual assault in parliament sparked a sweeping review that identified deep-seated cultural problems were each met with a stirring applause after they spoke.

But they were telling moments — as much about those who stood to recognise the importance of the messages as those who chose to remain seated.

Eagle-eyed viewers on social media noticed that among those who appeared not to stand were senior members of the Liberal Party whose portfolios are all about women.

Minister for Women’s Safety Anne Ruston did not stand at the conclusion of the speeches by Ms Tame or Ms Higgins.

Minister for Women Marise Payne did not stand at the conclusion of Ms Tame’s speech and stood only briefly at the end of Ms Higgins’ speech.

And Minister for Women’s Economic Security Jane Hume clapped throughout the event and stood at the end of the question and answer segment but did not stand with others at the end of the womens’ speeches.

A spokesperson for Ms Hume’s office told news.com.au she has been a strong supporter of both women and reached out to Ms Tame to wish her a “swift recovery” when she was injured in a bike accident last week.

Brittany Higgins received a standing ovation EXCEPT from MINISTER FOR WOMEN Marise Payne, MINISTER FOR WOMEN'S SAFETY Anne Ruston, and MEMBER OF WOMEN'S TASKFORCE Jane Hume

Unbelievable.

The LNP's attitude to women on full display#npcpic.twitter.com/tNkvCZK36C

— Media Analyst (@MediaAnalystOz) February 9, 2022

It appears some of #LNP's Federal Gov choose to abstain from the Standing Ovation that @TamePunk recevied at #NPC today.

This alone says a Lot about their attributes to People who Exposing Them as Failures of a Gov for all #Australians.#auspol#FederalICAC#Election2022pic.twitter.com/qxkO9TyUvo

— Med (@Medicayy) February 9, 2022

Senator Hume did take to social media immediately after the speeches to praise the “two powerful advocates for change”.

“Today I listened to two powerful advocates for change at the National Press Club, emphasising many points on which I and the Government sit in firm agreement,” she wrote on Twitter.

“Gendered violence is unacceptable, too common, and must be stopped. Sexual violence, regardless of gender, to too common and must be stopped. Institutions, culture, media, Parliament, all of us — as Australians, Parliamentarians, you reading this — can and must do better.

“These issues are something on which our Parliament has not just bipartisanship, but indeed multiparty support. And not just at the Federal level, this is an issue that has rightly received increasing attention at the State level, too. As it should.”

Earlier, Ms Tame revealed that in August last year she had received a “threatening phone call from a senior member of a government-funded organisation”.

“I would like to take this opportunity to — take a glass of water,” Ms Tame said. “And remind you that I really have nothing to lose.

“On that note, brace yourselves. On August 17 last year, not five months after being named Australian of the Year, 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.”

“‘You are an influential person. He will have a fear,’ they said. 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.’

“And it crystallised. A fear for himself an no one else, a fear he might lose his position or, more to the point, his power. Sound familiar to anyone? Well it does to me.

“I remember standing in the shadow of a trusted authority figure, being threatened in just the same veiled way. I remember him saying, ‘I will lose my job if anyone hears about that, and you would not want that, would you? No.’

Liberal Senators Anne Ruston (grey suit, front right) and Jane Hume (in pink, left) did not join the standing ovation after Brittany Higgins’ speech at the National Press Club. Minister for Women Marise Payne (second on left) stood only briefly.

Neither of the three Liberal Senators got out of their chair to applaud Ms Tame after her speech. Labor leader Anthony Albanese (right, standing) stood for both women.

“What I wanted in that moment is the same thing I want right now, and that is an end to the darkness, an end to sexual violence, safety, equity, respect, a better future for all of us. A future driven by unity and truth, not one dictated under the politics of division and spin.”

Ms Tame was subsequently asked about the phone call, and specifically whether she would reveal what she said back to the unnamed individual.

“My answer to your question is that I act with integrity,” Ms Tame replied.

“Can you tell us what you said back to that person?” the reporter pressed.

“Nope. Doesn’t matter now, does it?” she said.

Ms Tame also criticised the federal government for, in her view, doing little of substance to address violence against women.

“The federal government’s approach to social issues seems to consist of nothing but empty announcements, placatory platitudes, superficial last-minute acknowledgments and carefully staged photo ops,” she said.

“Facades and false hope. Reviews, reports, delays and distractions, if not downright denials. All deliberate spin tactics designed to satiate the press and the general public.”

Brittany Higgins, a former Liberal Party staff member, addresses the media at the National Press Club. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Ms Tame went on to identify three “key asks to better our nation”: a government which “takes the issue of abuse in all its forms seriously”, “adequate funding for prevention education” and “national, consistent, structural change”.

Regarding the question of adequate funding, she brought up the tens of billions of dollars spent on submarines “that might be ready by 2040” to combat “a potential offshore threat”.

“Compare that to what they’re prepared to spend on the very real epidemic of violence against women and children.”

Brittany Higgins thanked Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese for their statements during parliament’s formal apology to sexual harassment and assault survivors yesterday.

But she stressed that actions matter far more than words.

“The women and girls of Australia deserve so much better than an improvement in the way we publicly discuss the dangers 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, our national culture.

“That starts with the Prime Minister.”

Grace Tame revealed she received a threatening phone call in August last year. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Ms Higgins expressed her disappointment with Mr Morrison’s remark last year that being the father of daughters helped him understand the gravity of her alleged rape.

“Yes, some of his language last year was shocking, and at times, admittedly, a bit offensive. But his words wouldn’t matter if his actions had measured up,” she stressed.

“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 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. I wanted him to wield the weight of his office and drive change in the party and our parliament, and out into the country.

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

— with Sam Clench