Australians have rallied to the defence of Grace Tame after a news outlet published an old photo of her as a 19-year-old sitting next to a large bong.
The former Australian of the Year and childhood sexual abuse survivor was pictured in an Instagram photo from 2014 sitting on a couch with a water pipe used for smoking marijuana, as a friend next to her appears to be rolling a joint.
The Herald has chosen not to publish the image.
After news outlet The Daily Mail published the now-deleted photo on Monday – which it said had been "unearthed" by her "critics" who had delved into her Instagram timeline, in the wake of the Prime Minister's wife Jenny Morrison's criticism of her manners on 60 Minutes – celebrities, comedians, journalists, musicians and politicians voiced their support.
"Fair chance that bong photo gets Grace Tame nominated for Australian of the Year again!" wrote comedian and Project host Peter Helliar.
"It's hard but I forgive Grace," said comedian Wil Anderson, who then shared a photo of himself smoking a weed pipe.
Musician Ben Lee wrote: "She keeps getting better."
Author John Birmingham wrote: "Didn't think it was possible for Grace Tame to be any cooler. Was wrong."
One Twitter user asked: "But did she s**t herself at Macca's after the '97 NRL GF?", a reference to the viral rumour that Scott Morrison "soiled himself at Engadine McDonald's" – which the PM has described as "the biggest load of rubbish".
In her only direct comment about the photo so far, Tame replied: "Quite possibly, I would've been two years old. I s**t myself a lot back then."
She has "liked" a large number of tweets coming to her defence, including one suggesting she may take legal action.
Tame then liked a tweet from another user in response which said: "How did the Daily Mail get the photo? I've seen tweets saying it came from @TamePunk Instagram. If that's true, then Grace Tame (and/or the photographer) are the copyright holder(s). Be a shame if the Mail got sued."
A number of politicians from both sides of the aisle also voiced their support.
Liberal MP Dave Sharma wrote: "I am sure there is a photo of me like that. I don't think this stuff is remotely in the public interest."
Darcy Byrne, mayor of Sydney's Inner West Council, wrote: "Putting out photos of the much respected former Australian of the Year partying as a youth is beyond pathetic. Grace Tame's manners are fine, it's the politicians scraping the bottom of the barrel that need to learn about respect."
Port Phillip deputy mayor Tim Baxter tweeted: "I'm the Deputy Mayor and I smoked bongs as a teenager. And I've still never been as cool as Grace Tame."
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's son Alex Turnbull also weighed in.
"Going after Grace Tame for drug use is extremely risky for any LNP members under 40 especially some people in the House and Senate. I'll leave it at that. Don't start stuff you can't finish."