
In his opening speech at the national Women's Safety Summit on Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked the women of Australia for sending their stories of violence and abuse to him.
For trusting him with their stories.
He shared details about handwritten notes and the horrible allegations within them, providing a warning about the confronting nature of the stories before providing a few examples that had landed on his desk.
It was a lengthy speech, one that hit all the right catchphrases from a leader who has long been criticised for this inaction and missteps when it comes to talking about the topic of violence against women.
Watch: Some of the speech below. Post continues after video.
He acknowledged the problem; "Australia does have a problem."
Apologised; "Sorry doesn't cut it."
And committed to action; "We can and must change the story."
But it's not these words of conviction that've been splashed across the headlines in the wake of his speech. Instead, the focus has been on those confronting details.
Mamamia reached out to the Prime Minister's office for confirmation he sought consent to tell those women's stories. They told us he didn't, but "all excerpts were carefully de-identified, while also preserving the impactful voices of their authors, which are now shaping the National Plan."
As Australian of the Year and abuse survivor-turned-advocate Grace Tame wrote on Twitter, "Scott has just finished his opening keynote address at the Women’s Safety Summit in which he appropriated private disclosures from survivors to leverage his own image. Gee, I bet it felt good to get that out."
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