Carrie Bickmore defends Grace Tame as she reflects on The Project’s debate with Peter Van Onselen

Carrie Bickmore has opened up on her fiery clash with Peter Van Onselen after he called Grace Tame ‘immature’ for not smiling when greeting the prime minister.

Van Onselen criticised Ms Tame in a scathing opinion piece after she gave Scott Morrison a handshake and icy scowl when she arrived at The Lodge in Canberra to mark the end of her period as Australian of the Year on Tuesday.

Van Onselen hosted Channel 10’s The Project later that night before he was berated by journalist Amy Remeikis and his co-host Bickmore, who claimed Ms Tame should not be forced to smile because of etiquette.

Bickmore claimed the criticism was a distraction from the serious conversation about ending violence against women and children before doubling down on her claims while speaking with Remeikis on The Fox 101.9’s ‘Carrie and Tommy’ segment on Thursday.

She explained she had lost faith in her government’s ability to bring about the necessary change and said disruptive women like Remeikis and Ms Tame, who was labelled ‘rude’ and ‘childish’, were her last hope. 

Remeikis admitted the televised confrontation with Van Onselen had left her shaken and that she was unable to watch footage from the night.

Van Onselen hosted Channel 10’s The Project later that night before he was berated by journalist Amy Remeikis and his co-host Bickmore, who claimed Ms Tame should not be forced to smile because of etiquette

Van Onselen criticised Ms Tame in a scathing opinion piece after she gave Scott Morrison a handshake and icy scowl when she arrived at The Lodge in Canberra to mark the end of her period as Australian of the Year on Tuesday

‘When I look to the government, to be honest Amy, I just don’t have any hope at all,’ she said. 

‘And then I look at people like yourself, at Grace Tame, at people who are not willing to play the game, I have so much hope.’

Remeikis revealed she had not re-watched footage from the Tuesday night segment.

‘I was a bit shaken afterwards,’ she said. ‘I’m not good at confrontations. I was a bit overwhelmed by the response.’

The journalist agreed with Bickmore’s sentiment that change would come from the grassroots level.

‘I don’t think it’s going to come from the government, or leaders in general,’ she said. 

‘I think it comes from the groundswell from people saying, enough is enough.’ 

Remeikis said the debate about Ms Tame’s behaviour distracted commentators from the serious issue of violence against women.

‘I think it’s about time we stopped having all the silly side discussions and actually got to the root of this which, I think, (is) men actually stepping up and doing something in this space,’ she said.

‘This isn’t an issue you can use civility for. This is something that impacts so many people. One in three women are going to be impacted by this.’ 

Ms Tame avoided eye contact with Scott Morrison and refused to smile for a photograph with him on Tuesday morning at The Lodge at the AOTY morning tea for this year’s finalists.

Van Onselen called the sexual abuse survivor ‘ungracious, rude and childish’, and suggested she should have stayed home.

Remeikis agreed with Bickmore’s sentiment that change would come from the grassroots level, not the federal government

Bickmore and Remeikis, who is a sexual assault survivor herself, took issue with his comments and questioned why Tame needed to act a certain way.

‘Your column today, devastating to so many people,’ Remeikis said.

‘Women constantly have to come out and talk about their trauma… talk about not being taken seriously, scream the roof down get to the point where I’m almost crying on national television to talk about this.

‘We’re constantly being told how we should act, who we should think about and who perhaps should be seen in our place.’

Bickmore then asked van Onselen why he felt he needed to tell Tame to act in a certain way and to smile during a ‘catastrophe’.

‘I didn’t think she should smile and pretend it’s OK, I just thought she shouldn’t go, if you can’t be polite in some form, I think just don’t go,’ he said, adding he applauded everything Tame had done for survivors of sexual assault.

Carrie Bickmore unleashed on Peter van Onselen after he labelled Grace Tame (pictured) ‘immature’ after her controversial meeting with the Prime Minister in Canberra on Tuesday 

The Project panellist then asked why should Tame be silenced and not able to attend the morning tea to which van Onselen said ‘if you can’t show basic courtesy I think it’s immature’.

‘You spoke about how she acted as a child, you know when she should have been able to act as a child? When she was a child. But she was preyed upon by a man and lost part of herself in that,’ Bickmore fired back.

‘I’m unsure how that article today helps when I’m assuming, like the entire nation, you want violence against women and children to end?’

The commentator responded saying he had been the victim of an attempted sexual assault and understood the importance of the conversation around sexual abuse.

‘But I just think if you can’t be polite to the prime minister of the country, I get it, I said in the article, I get it if she can’t be polite to him, but then just don’t go,’ van Onselen said.

Commentator van Onselen said while he supported what Tame had done for survivors of sexual assault, he believed her interaction with the PM was ‘childish’

Grace Tame (pictured second from right with fiance Max Heerey) looked underwhelmed as she stood alongside the PM and his wife Jenny (pictured left)

Remeikis asked why Tame and other sexual abuse survivors should have to ‘be polite’.  

‘I don’t think she should. I don’t think she should stand there and smile, I just think she shouldn’t go if you can’t show basic courtesies to the prime minister,’ the panellist responded.

‘But you wrote an entire column saying she was being childish because she showed her authentic feelings,’ Remeikis hit back.

‘I thought she was being childish, I don’t have a problem with her having a problem with Scott Morrison,’ van Onselen said.

He was then asked repeatedly why he wrote the article to which he said, ‘I think it’s juvenile to respond that way.’ 

Tame is seen at Tuesday’s morning tea following her tense encounter with the PM 

In the aftermath of the tense interview, Twitter erupted with many rushing to support Bickmore and Remeikis.

‘Hello NSW Police? I’d like to report a murder live on TV. PVO absolutely destroyed on The Project by Amy Remeikis. Long may it continue,’ one tweeted.

‘This is the best thing that has ever been on The Project. Thank you Amy Remeikis for being so eloquent and fierce. Thank you Carrie Bickmore for your honest and strong comments,’ said another.

‘Unbelievably powerful. Thankyou. Van Onselen. Be better. Waiting to speak is not a conversation,’ wrote one.

Others said that everyone should be entitled to their own opinions.

‘I cannot believe the man bashing that goes on in this show. Women do not help their cause by trying to belittle men. It was an interesting exchange of words from rival columnists though,’ one woman tweeted.

Tame later joked about her frosty encounter with the PM, reposting a meme from the satirical Instagram page Betoota Advocate which captioned the reunion ‘Woman faces backlash for not pretending everything is OK’. 

Tame, 27, was awarded Australian of the Year for leading a campaign for a legal change that allowed sex abuse survivors to speak out. 

She had been groomed and molested as a schoolgirl by one of her teachers.

Tame has been open about her opinion on the Morrison government and Tuesday’s morning tea wasn’t the first awkward encounter she’s shared with the PM.

Having given a speech at last year’s Australian of the Year ceremony, she was surprised by the Mr Morrison’s reaction and went public with it.

Tame later joked about her frosty encounter with the PM, reposting a meme from the satirical Instagram page Betoota Advocate which captioned the reunion ‘Woman faces backlash for not pretending everything is OK’

‘Do you know what he said to me, right after I finished that speech and we’re in front of a wall of media?’ the Tasmanian later told a podcast. 

‘I s**t you not, he leaned over and right in my ear he goes, ”Well, gee, I bet it felt good to get that out”.’ 

Soon afterward, Tame took up the cause of Brittany Higgins, a former Liberal Party staffer who said she was sexually assaulted inside Parliament House and accused the Morrison government of covering it up.

When Mr Morrison later apologised to Ms Higgins for her experiences, citing advice from his wife and consideration of his own children, Tame hit out at him and said ‘it shouldn’t take having children to have a conscience’.

Tame and fiancé Max Heerey are seen at this year’s Australian of the Year ceremony

In tweets, she accused Mr Morrison of using a speech to the Women’s Safety Summit to ‘leverage his own image’, and said of his appearance in a cricket commentary box that he used ‘well practiced dribble’ to win favourable media coverage. 

She had launched her attacks on the PM before she was even in the AOTY role, taking a swipe at the government’s record on climate change hours before she was given the prestigious honour. 

Before the 2021 ceremony, her then-boyfriend Max Heerey posted a video on his Instagram showing Tame walking up behind Prime Minister Morrison, with the caption: ‘Creeping up like climate change’.

The Instagram story – which Tame also later shared to her own page – included an emoji of a Santa sack full of coal, and the word ‘aloha’ – in reference to Mr Morrison’s controversial trip to Hawaii last year at a time when bushfires raged across Australia.