Australian of the Year Grace Tame lashes out at Scott Morrison AGAIN as she accuses him of ‘gaslighting victim-survivors’
- Australian of the Year Grace Tame claims she is being snubbed by PM’s office
- Scott Morrison’s assistant minister Ben Morton disputed Ms Tame’s version
- Dispute over whether Tame involved in national child abuse prevention plan
- At 15 she was raped by her paedophile maths teacher, who was convicted
Grace Tame has accused Scott Morrison and his office of being ‘disingenuous and misleading’ and engaging in ‘careful spin’ with their response to her claims of being snubbed over a key government plan to combat child sexual abuse.
Ms Tame, a high-profile sexual abuse survivor, claims she was ‘blindsided’ when asked by ABC News 24 on October 22 what would be in the National Strategy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse because she hadn’t been asked to help construct it.
‘Surely we the people deserve politicians who are above gaslighting victim-survivors?’ She Tweeted in her latest broadside directed at the PM.
Since being made Australian of the Year in January the 26-year-old, who was raped by her school teacher as a teen, has been a fierce activist for fellow sexual assault survivors – and critic of the prime minister.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and 2021 Australian of the Year winner Grace Tame during the 2021 Australian of the Year Awards at the National Arboretum in Canberra
‘Surely we the people deserve politicians who are above gaslighting victim-survivors?’ She Tweeted in her latest broadside directed at the PM
On Friday ABC presenter Ros Childs asked Ms Tame what would be in the influential plan, assuming she would be involved.
A visibly embarrassed Ms Tame admitted live before a national audience she wasn’t involved in drafting the strategy.
But when the matter was put to Mr Morrison in Federal Parliament, he asked Ben Morton, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet, to answer.
Mr Morton detailed meetings and conversations with Ms Tame about the strategy in March, May and June.
On Friday, Mr Morrison’s office sent Daily Mail Australia an email outlining those dates and meetings.
But Ms Tame responded fiercely to Mr Morton’s comments, dissecting his claims in a long thread comprising of 10 Tweets.
‘I was genuinely blindsided on Friday,’ she clarified.
‘To be absolutely clear, last Friday 22/10 I was asked if I’d been involved in the strategy’s drafting live on air. I had not.
‘I have not written, seen or approved any official documents. They didn’t proactively engage me. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous and misleading.
‘Ben finished his answer today by saying “victim-survivors deserve to be above politics”. A defence of us? Or a veiled threat?
‘Surely we the people deserve politicians who are above gaslighting victim-survivors.
‘[Mr Morton’s answer] simultaneously made the government look like it values my input very highly and made me look uncooperative.’
Ms Tame claimed at least two of the meetings Mr Morton referred to were not ‘formal strategy consultation/drafting’ sessions.
One ‘meeting’, she said was actually an ‘informal introduction’ to Rebekah Kilpatrick from the National Office of Child Safety over breakfast.
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ben Morton contradicted Grace Tame’s claim she was not invited to help draft the national child sexual abuse prevention plan
Another was a phone call with Mr Morton ‘to discuss budget figures that had already been decided, and my goals for law reform’.
When the Indigenous organisation The Healing Foundation sought Ms Tame’s contribution, it was told by a ‘a government-funded source’ that her involvement didn’t ‘align’ with it.
At another meeting in June, Ms Tame says Mr Morton and Ms Kilpatrick met with her and her partner where ‘we discussed my hopes for specific legislative reforms. We reviewed a table of legal definitions’.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk