Albanese criticises Grace Tame for her ‘F--- Murdoch’ T-shirt

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has criticised former Australian of the Year Grace Tame for attending a function at The Lodge wearing a T-shirt with the words “F--- Murdoch” on the front, saying her protest took focus away from the event held to honour past Australians of the Year and this year’s finalists.

Pressed by ABC Radio Perth about his response to the abuse activist’s choice to wear an obscenity on her top to the Australia Day eve event, Albanese said: “I held a function. It is something that, in my view, took away from the people who were there, and my focus was simply on that.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon with former Australian of the Year Grace Tame at The Lodge on Saturday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Asked again at a press conference in Perth why he didn’t respond to Tame’s shirt, Albanese said there were 60 people in the queue to be greeted.

“People were just there, one by one, rolling through, being welcomed. And [Tame’s shirt] was clearly designed to get attention. I don’t intend to add to that attention because I do think that it takes away from what the day should be about, which is the amazing people who were nominated as Australians of the Year.”

Albanese defended his decision to pose for the photo. Pushed further on whether he agreed with the sentiment of the shirt, Albanese said, “I clearly disagree. I want debate to be respectful … and that’s a choice that she made. People are allowed to express themselves, but I thought it was disrespectful of the event and of the people who that event was primarily for.”

Albanese paid tribute to the newly announced Australian of the Year, former champion AFL player and coach Neale Daniher, who was awarded for his work championing research for a cure for motor neurone disease after he was diagnosed with the degenerative condition a decade ago.

On Saturday, the prime minister and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, made no mention of the T-shirt when Tame lined up to shake his hand alongside 15 other former Australians of the Year and current state honourees, although the ABC reported that Albanese asked Tame: “Reliving memories?”

“Yeah, reliving some trauma, maybe,” Tame was heard to respond, promoting polite laughter from Albanese and Haydon.

On Saturday, Tame said she wore the T-shirt to the function because “it’s a great shirt and says it all, doesn’t it?”

“If we want to dismantle the concentration of morbid wealth that undemocratically rules the world and really makes the major political decisions that affect the everyday person; if we want climate action and if we want justice, if we want truth, I think it’s probably a good place to start.

“If you want to get a few birds with one giant, ugly stone, this is it.”

Asked for her message to News Corp mogul Rupert Murdoch, she said: “You’ve ruined the world.”

It is not the first time Tame has used the annual function to make a statement. In 2022, pictures of a stony-faced Tame – the then-outgoing Australian of the Year – standing next to then-prime minister Scott Morrison made headlines.

Tame had criticised Morrison throughout her time in the role for not doing enough to stamp out sexual harassment in Parliament House after a series of sexual assault claims.

At the time, Tame did not meet Morrison’s gaze as she shook his hand, posing for pictures with the former prime minister and his wife, Jenny, without smiling.

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