2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame has slammed Prime Minister Scott Morrison for completely misunderstanding the problem with the alleged “threatening” phone call she received from a senior member of a government-funded organisation.
In case you missed it, Tame claimed at the National Press Club on Wednesday that she received a call from a senior government official on August 17th last year. She alleged that the individual asked her not to say anything “damning” about the PM at the 2022 Australian of the Year Awards because it could harm Morrison’s chances of winning the federal election later in the year.
As if his government’s failures in the past 12 months hadn’t done that enough.
Tame described the call as “threatening” as well as “crystalis[ing] a fear for [Morrison] and no one else… that he might lose his position [and] power”.
She did not identify the government-funded group that the individual was allegedly a part of. According to News.com.au, there were suspicions that the person was from the National Australia Day Council which runs the Australian of the Year Awards event but they denied that a member of their organisation had made such a call.
The Morrison government announced after the allegation was made that it was investigating the identity of the person behind the alleged call. Tame said on Twitter that finding the culprit instead of investigating the structural problems at hand showed a complete misunderstanding of what was wrong with the alleged situation.
“Scott conducting an investigation into who made the phone call is the very same embedded structural silencing culture that drove the call in the first place and misses the point entirely,” she tweeted on Wednesday afternoon.
“Stop deflecting, Scott. It’s not about the person who made the call. It’s the fact they felt like they had to do it.”
https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1491301827547402245
https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1491304244754120707
Morrison formally apologised to sexual harassment victims in Parliament on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins responded with a pair of extremely moving speeches at the National Press Club.
