SMH · Brittany Busch · Wednesday 20 May 2026
The PM's lukewarm response to calls for a femicide royal commission has reopened old wounds about how this government talks to and about women.
A royal commission is what you call when you've run out of ways to look like you're doing something. Albanese's response to femicide is the same response Canberra has to everything that can't be fixed by a press release — set up the inquiry, brief out the empathy, then act surprised when the women who've been asking for years find the tone a bit thin. Grace Tame copped 'difficult'. Turns out being difficult is the only way anyone in this town listens.