Published: 25 March 2026
Last updated: 25 March 2026
I used to admire Grace Tame. When she burst into public life in 2021 as Australian of the Year, I remember being so impressed by her, a fellow Australian woman around my age, fearlessly advocating for the victims of child sex abuse. She was badass and I loved her for it.
Then, when I saw her chant "from Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada" at the protest against President Herzog’s visit, and then heard her describe the sexual violence perpetrated against Israeli women on October 7 as "debunked propaganda,” my admiration for her cooled right off.
And still, even though I am deeply disappointed with Grace Tame, I do not think she should be uninvited from the Melbourne Writers Festival.
Last week, Jewish community leaders voiced concerns about Tame’s appearance at the festival in May over the comments I referred to. Dvir Abramovich, head of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said letting her speak at the festival would be “a profound moral failure”. Jeremy Leibler, head of the Zionist Federation of Australia, said “it was a major concern to give a platform to Ms Tame in light of her recent commentary.”
Here is a hard truth: the moment people within the Jewish community start a campaign to get Grace Tame removed from Melbourne Writers Festival, the Jewish community will immediately lose the argument about what she actually said and why it was wrong.
Comments20
Shmuel A31 March at 09:05 am
I agree. Censoring achieves little. There is already significant disgust among non-Jewish Australians about the disregard of some Australian Jews towards the kiling of non- Jews. Take the killing of schoolchildren . Some Australian Jews have dismissed this as fake news.. If these were Jewish children the response from Australian Jewry would be very different. Perhaps this attitude among some Australian Jews needs to be changed. We are all Australians. It is time that both sides of this endless conflict, in Australia realise that the majority of Australians are tired of this partisanship being promoted in this country.
Deborah Friedman30 March at 02:54 am
Bravo to Nomi Kaltmann on this piece. I wholeheartedly agree with the summation. It is a far better narrative for our community to not quash freedom of speech. It is not a moral failure to allow Grace Tame to speak, and indeed it could provide opportunities for valuable conversation.
Doreen Finkelstein30 March at 01:32 am
I absolutely agree. Let’s hope someone gets the chance to ask her in a public forum! You have a well reasoned argument here.
Bianca29 March at 10:57 am
If Grace Tame was an invited speaker to the Melb Writer’s Festival well before her recent public outings then I would definitely agree with you.
However, if she was invited *as a result* of her recent appearances then I think that the Jewish community and all right minded people should loudly object.
Of course, the organizers of Melb Writers Week might already have their own concerns as presumably Ms Tame was invited on the basis of her historical advocacy about CSA and these more recent comments have changed her public perception.
(In a somewhat parallel manner that any invitations to the author Craig Silvey would have to be re-assessed after his criminal charges were made public. Invitations are issued in one context but intervening events change matters.)
The absolute fiasco of Randa Abdel-Fattah and Adelaide Writers Week is a lesson in how NOT to do things!