Grace Tame makes statement at PM’s Australian of the Year function with ‘F--- Murdoch’ T-shirt

Activist and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has slammed Rupert Murdoch and his media empire, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words “F--- Murdoch” to an event at the prime minister’s residence in Canberra.

Outside The Lodge on Saturday, where Anthony Albanese hosted a morning tea ahead of the Australian of the Year awards, Tame told this masthead that the event was a great platform to make change.

Grace Tame (right) greets Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, at the Lodge while wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “F--- Murdoch”.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“It’s a great shirt and says it all, doesn’t it?” Tame said of her attire.

“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.”

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

Tame with then-prime minister Scott Morrison at an Australian of The Year function in 2022.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

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.

Tame is an activist and advocate for survivors of sexual assault and was named 2021 Australian of the Year.

Asked on Saturday what her message would be to Murdoch, she said: “You’ve ruined the planet.”

In December, Albanese called out the influence of News Corp’s alleged bias, warning colleagues during a cabinet meeting that Murdoch’s media empire was openly working to back Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

In that meeting, Albanese said News Corp’s newspapers – which include The Australian and city tabloids – and the Coalition were increasingly “working together” on similar lines of Labor criticism months out from the federal election, according to four cabinet sources.

“He said News Corp and the opposition were now working hand in glove and that this was an embedded part of the political dynamic that we all needed to deal with,” one source said.

The prime minister made the criticisms days after having a “long chat” with Murdoch at a Christmas party in Sydney hosted by Rupert’s son, Lachlan, an event Dutton also attended.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller later rejected Albanese’s claim that the company’s mastheads were working with the opposition to bring down the government.

With Paul Sakkal

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