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Grace Tame slams PM’s new appointment of Assistant Minister for Women

HN

by Hayley Noble

Image: The Canberra Times

Image: The Canberra Times

HN

by Hayley Noble

Grace Tame slams the PM for promoting Amanda Stoker to Assistant Minister for Women, accusing her of undermining survivors of sexual assault.

Australian Of The Year, Grace Tame, has blasted PM Scott Morrison for elevating Liberal Senator, Amanda Stoker and told Kerry O’Brien why this decision in the front-bench reshuffle kerfuffle is, to put it lightly, not ideal.

Speaking at Griffith University, Tame accused senator Stoker of endorsing a “fake rape” crisis tour and drew attention to Stoker’s “deeply flawed” university disciplinary procedures for men accused of sexual assault.

Grace Tame Image 2
Image: abc.net.au

“The new Assistant Minister for Women is someone who previously endorsed a ‘fake rape crisis’ tour, aimed at falsifying instances of sexual abuse on school and university campuses across Australia,’’ said Tame.

“It goes without saying that this came at an immeasurable cost to already traumatised student survivors”. 

 

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A post shared by Grace Tame (@tamepunk)

Tame also pointed out that Stoker has been associated with men’s rights campaigner, Bettina Arndt, whose views ‘arndt’ too crash hot.

Tame said that Stoker supported last year’s Australia Day Honour of Arndt, “a woman who gave a platform to the convicted paedophile who abused me”. 

In the video Tame is referring to, Arndt interviews Tame’s rapist, Nicolaas Bester, after his release from jail and sympathises that school girls “exploit their seductive powers to ruin the lives of men,” labelling them as “sexually provocative”.

The Sydney Morning Herald reminded readers that Stoker also supported Arndt when she argued that universities are becoming increasingly unsafe for men (rather than women) “because they risked false accusations.”

Stoker also added that university disciplinary procedures “do not afford men access to legal representation and the rule of law and can ruin men’s lives”. 

Oh yeah, Stoker is also pro-life and has previously championed a petition titled “stand up to the transgender agenda”. Oh, dear.

Senator Stokes has responded to Tame’s comments in a statement, saying: “Ms Tame’s comments are passionate but not informed and they do not correspond with my longer history of work in this area, of which Ms Tame must be unaware.”

“I’ve spent my career as a prosecutor and barrister working for justice for women and children who are victims of sexual crimes and unconscionable exploitation,” said Stoker.

“I hope that she and I can work together to advance our many shared goals.”

We’ll just leave this here.

Tame had this to say about PM Scott Morrison and his decision to appoint Stoker to the role of Assistant Minister for Women:

“In light of these facts, either the Prime Minister is ignorant of the cultural issues at hand, or he understands them completely, and is making calculated moves to perpetuate them,’’ Tame said.

“If the latter is true, then what we are seeing is further abuse of power, masterfully disguised as progress, the very same psychological manipulation at the heart of these recently exposed evils.”

On Instagram, Tame concluded that despite the ill-advised appointment of Senator Stoker, she remains hopeful.

Petition for Prime Minister Tame, anyone?

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