Grace Tame says ‘difficult’ remark is ‘misogynist’s code for a woman who won’t comply’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/feb/26/dfat-middle-east-evacuation-syria-isis-families-wives-children-anthony-albanese-angus-taylor-budget-cost-of-living-capital-gains-tax-reform-ntwnfb?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-699f8e278f080f3523777e99#block-699f8e278f080f3523777e99
44 Comments
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That’s not news. For some men, a woman doing her job is « being bolshy » or « being loud ». And it’s been that way ever since I hit thirty and stopped looking young and cute.
She is a teacher. Whether anyone wants to learn and change is up to them.
On a personal note, I can’t wait till Grace hits perimenopause and schools everyone on that particular bullshit. I need her energy right now to deal with the systemic misogyny. I am the very spirit of bloody difficult tbh
She’s right though.
People who criticized her for not smiling at scomo and standing up against sexual assault were probably being misogynistic.
But she used those events to springboard into a general cultural warrior / shit stirrer career. Of course she’s going to piss a lot of people off. Sure some may be attacking her because of her gender, but the majority are likely simply attacking her because of her position on Palestine.
100%. This is very disappointing from our Prime Minister. I honestly thought we were past this.
So many disappointing leaders globally right now.
If you feel uncomfortable good. If you don’t then you’re not the problem.
The people who want the Globalising of the intifada are very much about women’s rights.
Albo saying “I meant she’s had a difficult life” is such a weird and lame cop out. Albo has always had this insistence of trying to partly appeal to Murdoch goblins who spend their entire time trying to end his career.
It’s a badge of honour Grace. The antithesis of what modern politicians want… someone who is principled and doesn’t workshop their opinions to calculate political risk before making a statement.
He wasn’t answering about women, his answer was about Tame only.
Come on Albo, nobody’s buying that ‘oh I meant she had a difficult life’ crap. You didn’t say strong, resilient, determined etc.
Some men can’t handle women having the same presence publicly.
Wtf? No it’s not. I deal with difficult people regardless of gender. This victim mentality bullshit is ridiculous.
Just to be clear, he also called a certain man a grub (which is absolutely true), but nobody is claiming manbashing.
Edit: Albo has explained that he was referring to her difficult life, which shows empathy towards her but go right ahead and jump to the conclusions you feel is necessary.
She’s only “Difficult” now because she did the right thing and spoke against Israel.
Albo losing his base here, pandering to the Genocide Cheerleaders.
Calling everything misogyny to shield women from valid criticism will never get old. Women can be difficult. Get over it.
Any woman who has ever been alive knows this.
Yeah she’s right. Hear it applied to males too.
I think people should watch the video and draw their own conclusions, I think he genuinely meant difficult life and not that she was difficult.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-26/albanese-apologises-for-calling-grace-tame-difficult/106389860
I like how Albo gets all the ire for making some offhand remark that gets a deep interpretative analysis about hidden and coded misogyny and so on, but commentators and politicians including the leader of the opposition making outright misogynist remarks and genuinely making calls and taking action for her to have her Australian of the year award stripped are somehow just not news.
No, you don’t get to use the ‘misogynist’ card each time someone criticises you.
I think if Albo had said she was “difficult” as in she makes things difficult for the establishment in a positive, disruptive way then it may have been a bit of a cheeky, subversive, and self-aware remark.
But based on the mental-gymnastics evident in his damage control I am confident that isn’t how he meant it.
Is this going to be like that beat up where they asked albo to speak at the rally he made a gaff of it and then they claimed he’s a misogynistic cunt trying to silence women?
Albo is good mates with Kyle Sandilands. That tells you all you need to know about Labor misogyny.
Is there a situation when someone (man or woman or anyone) can be labeled difficult?
This is such a non story
I would’ve thought that Tame would regard the label as badge of honour. She clearly intends to challenge the status quo rather than support it. If guardians of the respectable status quo like Albanese are happy to embrace her with open arms, it probably means she’s gone wrong somewhere. “Difficult” also implies that she can’t be dismissed as irrelevant.
Albanese really has lost touch with his roots.
What a dope.
In my experience in corporate life, women complain about other woman far more than men do.
Where’s the lie? They only commend you if you don’t rock the boat too much.
Usually, ‘difficult’ is code for ‘asshole’.
Albo made a political mistake with this one. She should have said she was a great advocate and avoided the question.
So women can’t be difficult or it’s sexist? Can men be difficult I wonder?
I would’ve said “courageous”
I’ve searched my soul and I really truly believe this comes from a non sexist perspective…
But people can be absolute cunts and it shouldn’t be held against you to think that way no matter their gender.
And she is right
because words can’t just mean what they mean.. there has to be some underlying nonsense.
Didn’t all the journalist in this country do their nut because Miss Tame would not look someone in the eye? I thought it was public knowledge that she has ASD? The fact that none of them where capable of connection the dots between eye contact and ASD speaks volumes to the quality of journalism.
There’s a quote which says “Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance.”
This applies to every side of the aisle/spectrum.
I haven’t heard about this story until now but wtf kind of gotcha journalism is asking the PM to rapid fire describe high profile people in one word? And if we are going to accept those as questions from journalists why would we not allow the PM to clarify how he meant it further and accept that explanation?
There should always be nuance to things a leader says and this seems like a crazy thing to be making a big deal out of. All it will result in is less personality being shown by our leaders if they expect everything could be a trap they need to navigate their way out of.
Not to downplay Grace’s comment here as plenty of men do use it that way, but this seems like a dog pile on Albo for no real reason.
His comment was misinterpreted though. he meant she had a difficult life, not that she is difficult. Why would albo call her difficult when he has publicly given Grace support in the past? makes absolutely no sense. I’m sure all the right wing people are loving this though, have to try and make him look like the bad guy.
I used to work in healthcare. Countless times I saw a woman ask a question and the doctor would say ‘I’m not going to argue with you’ or the absolute worst ‘calm down’.
For asking a question.
Both male and female doctors would do it.
Look, really Albo fucked up the moment he agreed to an interview with Newscorpse where they asked him to give one word answers only. He should know better than to walk right into that trap.
Really?
Its misogyny? And not because its the most polite way to describe someone who is stirring up shit in the most politically inconveniant way possible?
pretty sure if she was actually a man, the words used would be a lot less polite.