Australian of the Year and former marie claire Australia cover star, Grace Tame, has called out the decision to promote Christian Porter from former Attorney-General to the acting leader of the House of Representatives, given the infamous sexual assault allegations against him.
Taking the temporary role as the leader of the House of Representatives, Porter will be replacing Peter Dutton, who is partaking in a mandatory two-week quarantine after his sons’ Queensland school was named a case location in the current COVID-19 outbreak in the state.
Penning a powerful opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald, Tame takes aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s “chilling apathy” toward sexual abuse survivors through his decision to appoint Porter, calling out his promotion as an “abuse of power”.
“If the Prime Minister’s recent rhetoric about wanting to support assault survivors and protect women’s safety was indeed true, he would surely go to any lengths possible to ensure there was not an accused rapist amongst his own staff,” Tame wrote.
“Clearly, it has been nothing but lip service. His actions speak volumes that drown out his every word.”
Slamming Morrison’s complete lack of empathy for survivors when promoting Porter, she explained that his actions prove that there is a clear “protective privilege” in the current patriarchal parliament.
“There is no way this decision was accidental. It is a transparently deliberate, definitive statement that reeks of abuse of power and a blatant disregard of the people,” she wrote.
Tame added that as soon as last week, she was present at a meeting with members of the Federal government, assuming that it was “productive”. But unfortunately, after witnessing Morrison’s actions, she feels that nothing as been learnt.
“This appointment is an insult to all survivors, and indeed the whole country. It reinforces the idea that accused predators are too often protected, feeding into the already crippling fear of victims and bystanders. It is an act of emboldening perpetrators,” writes Tame.
“My heart breaks at the thought of survivors still living in silence, looking to our leaders for hope.”
Tame has been previously been praised for her work shining a light on child sexual abuse and the warning signs of grooming. The 26-year-old activist from Tasmanian has bravely advocated for other survivors after revealing that she was groomed and repeatedly abused by a teacher, who was found guilty and jailed for his crimes when she was 15.
“I don’t think of myself as an instigator of a revolution,” she told marie claire Australia back in March this year. “I’m a representative of a community of survivors who have been stigmatised for far too long and I’m just proud to be a part of that community.”
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