Grace Tame attacks Scott Morrison for promoting Amanda Stoker
The Australian of the Year says Stoker’s endorsement of a campaign promoting a ‘fake rape crisis’ traumatised sexual assault survivors.
Australian of the Year Grace Tame has lashed Scott Morrison’s promotion of Queensland Liberal senator Amanda Stoker to Assistant Minister for Women, accusing her of endorsing a “fake rape crisis” on university campuses.
Senator Stoker, who has been criticised by activist groups for her anti-abortion stance and views on transgender issues, added the women’s portfolio to her frontbench responsibilities in the Prime Minister’s ministerial reshuffle on Monday, which was designed to contain an ongoing backlash against the government’s handling of rape and sexual harassment allegations.
Ms Tame said Senator Stoker undermined accounts of abuse by supporting a campaign spearheaded by controversial columnist Bettina Arndt that targeted university disciplinary bodies for males accused of sexual assault.
“Needless to say that came at a great expense to student (abuse) survivors who are already traumatised,” she told an event at Griffith University on Tuesday night, hosted by veteran journalist Kerry O’Brien.
She added in an Instagram post after the event: “In light of these facts, either the Prime Minister is ignorant of the cultural issues at hand, or he understands them completely and is making calculated moves to perpetuate them.”
But Senator Stoker said Ms Tame had misrepresented her participation in Ms Arndt’s campaign.
“I did not attend Ms Arndt’s campus tour. I raised it in Senate estimates to highlight the universities’ inconsistent approaches to free speech and de-platforming,” she said.
Senator Stoker pointed to her long career as a “prosecutor and barrister seeking justice for women and children survivors of sexual crimes”, adding she would use her new ministerial role to improve the lives of all Australians who faced violence.
“Ms Tame’s comments are passionate but not informed and they do not correspond with my longer history of work in this area, of which Ms Tame must be unaware,” she said.
“I’ve argued for the importance of due process in sexual assault cases in the interests of both victims and people accused.”
Senator Stoker said she would reach out to Ms Tame to organise a meeting and hoped they could work together to “advance our many shared goals”.
Addressing Mr Morrison’s promotion of women in cabinet, Ms Tame acknowledged it was important to “remain hopeful” about change but warned against being “naively misled by actions that are quite calculated distractions posing as solutions”.
Ms Tame has previously been outspoken in her criticism of Mr Morrison’s handling of the rape allegation by former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.
Mr Morrison said he disagreed with Ms Tame labelling the ministerial reshuffle a “distraction”.
“I wouldn’t share those views. I respect Grace and I once again congratulate her on her strong advocacy on the issues that have been so front of mind but they’ve always been front of mind for people who have been dealing with these issues over generations,” he said.
“There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with each other, but I think we’ve got to find better ways to disagree and this comes and builds from a culture of respect in this country which I’m sure Grace would agree is something we need to continue to build.”
Liberal MP Fiona Martin defended her colleague against Ms Tame’s criticism, telling Sky News she had facilitated a “discussion in the past about a broad spectrum of views”.
“She was discussing the issue broadly. I don’t think that in itself is problematic because people are entitled to have their views and it’s important that we have discussions about issues like this so we can bring about positive change and certainly people’s views can change over time,” she said.
Ms Tame, who is a rape survivor, campaigned to change Tasmania’s sexual assault laws, which prevented her from legally speaking about her abuse by one of her schoolteachers when she was teenager.
She was named Australian of the Year in January.
Mr Morrison’s third ministerial reshuffle since the 2019 federal election returned the number of female MPs in cabinet to a record seven.
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