Australian PM sorry after saying sexual assault survivor ‘difficult’

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologized for any “misinterpretation” Thursday after describing a sexual assault survivor who became an advocate for women as “difficult.”

The Australian leader’s comments were condemned, however, by the outspoken activist Grace Tame who labelled them a “patronizing cop out from a total coward.”

The prime minister was asked at a forum the previous day to give one-word reactions to various personalities.

He replied “grub” when asked about Britain’s disgraced former prince Andrew, and “winner” at the mention of Melbourne-born Formula One driver Oscar Piastri.

When the host named Tame, who was the 2021 Australian of the Year, Albanese said: “difficult.”

“I was asked to describe people in one word and Grace Tame, you certainly can’t describe in one word,” the prime minister told reporters Thursday.

“She has had a difficult life and that was what I was referring to.”

The Australian leader said he had a good relationship with Tame.

“If there was any misinterpretation then I certainly apologize. I think that Grace Tame has taken what is personal trauma and that awful experience that she had and channelled that into helping, in particular, other young women.”

‘Patronizing’

Albanese said he disagreed with language Tame used in a Sydney protest against a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog this month, when she was filmed chanting “globalize the intifada.”

“So, that’s why it’s impossible to describe people in one word,” he said.

Tame took to Instagram to criticize Albanese, comparing him to conservative former prime minister Scott Morrison who apologized in 2022 for the sexual harassment faced by political staff in the corridors of power.

“‘She’s had a difficult life’... Spare me the condescension, old man. We all know what you meant,” she wrote on Instagram.

“What a patronizing cop out from a total coward. Straight from the Scott playbook.”

Tame was abused and raped by a school teacher in the Tasmanian state capital Hobart as a teenager and became a fearless campaigner for sexual assault survivors.

At first, she was unable to tell her story because of a Tasmanian state law barring child sexual abuse survivors from being identified even after becoming adults.

Her case led journalist Nina Funnell to launch a Let Her Speak campaign that resulted in Tame being given a Supreme Court exemption, and eventually in the law being changed.

By David Williams, AFP