Australia rushes to assure Japan that Anthony Albanese’s comments on female leader’s melons were not offensive
Australia has rushed to assure Japan that Anthony Albanese’s controversial comments about their female leader’s melons were not offensive ‘in the way that has been reported’.
Australia has rushed to assure Japan that Anthony Albanese’s controversial comments about their female leader’s melons were not offensive “in the way that has been reported”.
As the scandal over the Prime Minister’s controversial appearance on the Bush Deep podcast intensifies, Japan’s ambassador to Canberra has revealed that the Albanese Government has formally briefed Tokyo over the incident.
“We are aware of the reporting in the media,” Ambassador Suzuki Kazuhiro said in a brief statement released on Wednesday.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“We have been informed by the Australian side that Prime Minister Albanese did not make the comments in the way that has been reported.”
“In any case, the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Albanese during the Prime Minister’s visit to Australia this May was held in a very relaxed atmosphere, and we believe it helped build a personal trust relationship between the two leaders.”
The Japanese embassy declined to comment at what level the diplomatic assurance was delivered saying “we refrain from commenting on the communication channels”.
During Question Time on Wednesday the Opposition again pursued Mr Albanese over his comments, demanding he apologise to his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi and to reveal whether his office or department leaked diplomatic correspondence on the matter.
On Monday evening reports emerged of a diplomatic message dated July 13, sent by the Japanese government, which “noted” the “sensationalised reporting in the Australian media” about Mr Albanese’s comments in an interview with podcaster Nikki Osborne.
The following day The Nightly revealed a senior Japanese official was “surprised” that the confidential correspondence between the Japanese Prime Minister’s office and Anthony Albanese was leaked to Australian media outlets.
The PM, however, refused to provide a direct answer when questioned by shadow foreign minister Ted O’Brien in Parliament about the correspondence: “Can the Prime Minister assure the House that neither his office nor his department leaked official and private correspondence from the government of Japan?”
Instead he insisted that Australia was taking its relationship with Japan “seriously” and labelled the Opposition’s call for the Australian Federal Police to investigate the leaked correspondence as a “stunt”.
“The Prime Minister of Japan is a good friend of Australia,” he said.
Angus Taylor used his question to ask if Mr Albanese would “man up” and apologise to the Japanese PM.
“Why won’t the Prime Minister stop treating us like fools? Man up and say ‘sorry’ to the Prime Minister of Japan,” Mr Taylor said.
In the episode firmed at The Lodge in Canberra, the PM also joked with Osborne that he would “shag” popstar Kylie Minogue and talked about his sex life with new wife Jodie Haydon.
Mr Albanese referenced the melons when asked by Osborne: “What’s the most crap gift you’ve ever received?”
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson took aim at the PM for what she claimed was a failure to declare the melons on his parliamentary gift register. Ms Hanson performed a two-handed cupping gesture as she took questions about the scandal.
“I feel for that Prime Minister of Japan, Takaichi, and I think it’s wrong the way she has been treated,” she said.
“It’s disgusting what he’s done. If you get it wrong, you call it out and say it’s all wrong, and he’s continued with the lie. That just made it worse.”
Senator Hanson’s colleague Barnaby Joyce had urged people to watch the podcast video “with the sound off” to understand how the PM’s actions when describing the melons could have appeared as sexualised.
Mr Joyce said it was painful to see Mr Albanese’s female-dominated Cabinet defend him, arguing that a “riot” would have erupted if he had made the same comments.
“It’s absolutely excruciating to watch Tanya Plibersek and others trying to defend him,” he said.
The melon saga prompted a fiery clash between Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash on Sunrise on Wednesday morning.
Ms O’Neil dismissed the referral to the AFP as a political stunt and accused the Opposition of wasting police resources.
“The Liberals have absolutely lost the plot here. They are referring this podcast matter to the Australian Federal Police,” she said.
But Senator Cash said the matter had moved beyond the original controversy about the Prime Minister’s clumsy remarks and was now about the Albanese Government’s handling of sensitive diplomatic material.
“This has now gone from embarrassing to extraordinary. A sensitive diplomatic cable from one of our closest allies has ended up in the media, and the AFP should investigate that,” Senator Cash said.
Tokyo’s former ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami wrote in the Australian on Monday that Mr Albanese’s cackhanded innuendo about the crown melons was an “insulting joke” which betrayed his “ignorance about what this gift means”.
