Election 2022: Grace Tame criticises Anthony Albanese for agreeing to interview with Alan Jones

Grace Tame has slammed Anthony Albanese’s decision to do an interview with media personality Alan Jones.

The Labor leader tweeted that he had done a prerecorded interview with Jones on Monday afternoon.

“Good to chat with Alan Jones today in his new Sydney studios,” he wrote, beside a photo of the pair shaking hands.

Jones left Sky News in November 2021 and has now launched his own digital television show, named after him, which went live four nights a week last Monday.

“It’s a privilege to be on your program so early. I congratulate you and I look forward to coming on in the future,” Mr Albanese told Jones in the segment, which aired at 8pm.

But former Australian of the Year Ms Tame wasn’t impressed with Mr Albanese’s decision to speak with Jones.

“Yeah nah, this is where you could’ve just frowned and walked off,” she wrote in reply to Mr Albanese’s tweet.

Camera Icon Labor leader Anthony Albanese tweeted this picture of himself and Alan Jones. Twitter Credit: NCA NewsWire

“Or better yet, not done it.

“There are plenty of other ways to broaden your messaging without enabling known agents of sexism and abuse.

“None of us is obliged to speak to bigots.

“The optics of this aren’t good.”

When Jones was contacted about Ms Tame’s comments he issued the statement: “No problem at all, Grace Tame is entitled to her opinion”.

In the program, Jones grills Mr Albanese about Labor’s climate policy.

“How is your policy different from the government’s policy, both of you talk about net zero by 2050. But you’re talking about significant reductions by 2030… How do you get to that?” he asked.

Mr Albanese said that his first goal was to fix transmission, and make sure that renewables could plug into the grid.

“If you plug it into the grid and make sure you fix transmission, that makes an enormous difference,” he said.

“Let me get to the guts of this though, because you’ve got to reduce carbon emissions by 2050, you’re talking about cutting them by 43 per cent from 2005 (by 2030),” Jones cut in.

He then asked Mr Albanese about his policy to require 215 of the nation’s heaviest polluters to lower their emissions.

“If they emit more than 100,000 tonnes what happens?” he asked.

“Won’t those companies have to buy permits?”

Mr Albanese said that it was the same mechanism that was established by the Abbott government.

Jones pressed him on whether the companies would have to buy carbon credits under Labor.

“Well, that will be a decision that they make on how they deal with the mechanism that was put in place by the Abbott government,” Mr Albanese said.

“But I’ll make this point – more than two thirds of those 215 companies have a commitment already for net zero by 2050.”

“Isn’t that a carbon tax?” Jones later asked.

“No it’s not Alan,” Mr Albanese responded.

“Well, if it is, it was one that was introduced by Tony Abbott is what you have to argue.”

While working for 2GB in August 2019, Jones was forced to apologise when he suggested that Scott Morrison should shove a sock down the throat of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The 81-year-old wrote an apology letter to Ms Ardern and admitted that he had “made a mistake”.

“In this game you’ve got to choose your words carefully and I didn’t do that,” he said at the time.

Jones has been an outspoken supporter of Israel Folau’s right to free speech, after the former Wallabies star was sacked by Rugby Australia in 2019 after he wrote on social media that “hell awaits” gay people.

In 2011 he said that Julia Gillard should be “put in a chaff bag” and dumped at sea.

Jones won a record run of radio ratings for more than three decades before he left 2GB in 2020.

He is now broadcasting in studios in inner-Sydney Chippendale and his Facebook page has 184,000 followers.

Ms Tame’s criticism of the Labor leader is unusual.

Last month she was moved to tears when hearing about how Mr Albanese was raised by a single mother.

She carried out an interview with him for InStyle Australia.

Mr Albanese shared his late mother’s struggle with rheumatoid arthritis.

“She always respected everyone and I grew up with the confidence of having a mum who lived a lot of her aspirations through me. She couldn’t work. And so she’s the most important role model in my life and she’s very much still part of who I am today.”

On Australia Day the pair posed for a selfie together.

“With our legendary Australian of the Year, Grace Tame. She’s using her voice to stand up for survivors of child sexual abuse everywhere. Her strength makes Australia stronger,” Mr Albanese posted on Twitter.

It followed the furore in which Ms Tame gave Prime Minister Scott Morrison side-eye while standing for a photo with him at an Australia Day event.