Prime Minister Anthony Albanese slams Grace Tame’s ‘f... Murdoch’ shirt as ‘disrespectful’

Anthony Albanese has slammed the T-shirt worn by former Australian of the Year Grace Tame at a morning tea with the prime minister as “disrespectful”, saying it was “clearly designed to get attention”.

Speaking in Perth, Mr Albanese said he did not notice the provocative message — F... Murdoch — emblazoned on the shirt before shaking hands and posing for a photo with the controversial abuse survivor turned advocate.

“It was clearly designed to get attention,” he said on Monday.

“I don’t intend to add to that attention because I do think that it takes away from what the day should be about, which is the amazing people who are nominated as the Australians of the Year.”

Ms Tame said Saturday’s morning tea at the Prime Minister’s Canberra residence ahead of the Australian of the Year announcement was a platform to make change and said she wore the shirt to “speak truth to power”.

Mr Albanese defended posing for a photo with her, but said he “clearly” disagreed with the message.

“Well, I clearly disagree. I want the debate to be respectful. And that’s a choice that she made,” he said.

“We do have in this country, people are allowed to express themselves, but I thought it was disrespectful of the event and of the people for who the event was primarily for.

“There was a queue of more than, how many people in the queue, at least 60.

“There was all the Australia Day nominees, there was all of the past Australians of the year, there was the Australia Day Council. People were just there, one by one, going through, being welcomed.”

Earlier, asked why she was not “kicked out” of the venue, Mr Albanese said: “Look, I held a function, it is something that, in my view, took away from the people who were there, and my focus was simply on that,” he told ABC Radio.