CAMERON MILNER: Anthony Albanese’s Kylie Minogue comment deserving of criticism

Anthony Albanese has finally found the ability to say sorry and it took Kylie Minogue to do it.

The PM has previously seemed impervious to criticism and has stubbornly refused to take any responsibility for the numerous stuff-ups and unforced errors he’s presided over.

But when the collective brains trust of fan girls who run his media unit saw his performance on comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast, it was too bad for even them to ignore.

Albanese copped the rightful condemnation of women in high office across Australia, while his allies in Katy Gallagher and Penny Wong went silent, refusing to comment on the remark their boss made during a game of “shag, marry, date” that he would choose Kylie for all three.

His comments weren’t just denigrating of women and unworthy of the office of the Prime Minister, they were cringe and creepy.

Kylie Minogue, after all, would need to be a willing participant — a thought that clearly hadn’t crossed Albanese’s mind.

A woman who has achieved global fame and dated Michael Hutchence and Oliver Martinez might be forgiven for not taking up ageing Albo’s offer.

Perhaps we are getting to see the real Albo. Arrogant Albo, Mr Untouchable. His comment recalled the era of sleaze, when being a pollie meant you had a licence to play up.

Let’s also spare a thought for Jodie Haydon, Albo’s wife of the past six months. She has had to endure her new husband telling the world that a Rabbitohs win is great foreplay. In his own words “a win is a great aphrodisiac”.

The Rabbitohs are on notice to improve their measly nine wins from 15 games.

Any other male leader would have suffered far more public outrage and vitriol.

Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins’ allegation of rape by a colleague at Parliament House were used to hound Scott Morrison from office. Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech made it onto tea towels sold as a Labor fundraiser.

It’s not the first time Albanese has faced the perception that he has a woman problem.

There was the time the organiser of an anti-domestic violence rally called him a “liar” when he claimed he had been asked not to speak at the event.

And now we have the PM doing a soft podcast and not even calling out the sexualised slur of “tits up” as inappropriate language.

Albanese is fond of doing these no-pressure interviews and thinking he’s a social media genius.

Yet his avoidance of traditional media still sees him manage to shoot himself in both feet.

His approach to any form of traditional media questioning is a strategy of “deny and lie”.

He refuses to take responsibility for bad news and overstates his involvement in everything else.

Perhaps this apology might be the first real scratch in his Teflon image.

But Albanese shouldn’t stop there. There’s so many more people he should also say sorry to.

There’s the First Nations leaders who he signed up for the Albanese Voice and have been left abandoned on the path to reconciliation. They certainly deserve a full-throated apology.

Long suffering Australians being crushed by a cost-of-living crisis are paying higher than ever rents and mortgages as the basics of life become more expensive. They deserve an apology for a Government willing to blame Ukraine and Iran rather than own up to domestic inflation.

Then there’s every Australian who will need by 1 July next year to get a formal valuation of their hard earned assets so that Albo’s big new tax on everything doesn’t have the ATO rob them blind when they come to sell.

Australians as a whole were collectively lied to before the last election and Albanese still thinks that doesn’t deserve even a hint of a sorry.

It’s telling that Albanese has decided on this occasion to “unequivocally” apologise.

Given so many others deserve an apology from Albanese, this act of remorse stands in even greater contrast.

This sorry is all about shutting down further scrutiny of himself.

He’s said sorry once, even if it was for the most self-serving of reasons. But he shouldn’t stop there because there’s a long list of people who deserve an apology too.