EDITORIAL: PM’s podcast saga reaches a sorry ending

It is usually the case that the best way to deal with a stuff-up is to tackle it as soon as possible.

Acknowledging you made a mistake and offering a full and meaningful apology.

If that does not happen there is a risk the situation will re-emerge.

A case in point is the saga of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s now infamous appearance on the Bush Deep podcast with comedian Nikki Osborne.

Incredibly, that has now dragged on since early July.

To recap, it is the one in which Mr Albanese was asked for his response to “shag, marry, date” questions about Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore.

Mr Albanese ended up with “Kylie, clearly”. And: “All of the above”.

Osborne also asked whether Mr Albanese and his wife, Jodie Haydon, were “bonking like rabbits”.

Mr Albanese replied: “Well, when we have time. After the footy. It’s always a good aphrodisiac, a Souths (NRL team Sydney Rabbitohs) win.”

As the fallout began, Mr Albanese issued an underwhelming statement. “I apologise unequivocally for the comments.”

It was not immediately entirely clear who the apology was directed to. But it did appear aimed at Ms Minogue.

Then what became known as Melongate blew up into an international incident amid debate about what he meant in his podcast references to melons given to him by Japanese female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as he made hand gestures near his chest .

Mr Albanese strongly denied he had insulted Ms Takaichi and resisted repeated calls to apologise.

“When I give interviews, anyone who has sat down with me . . . will see that I don’t do them with my arms crossed,” he said last week.

“The interpretation that some have put on this is simply not correct, and the Japanese ambassador has made that clear as well.

“There have been a lot of words written about this. There hasn’t been one word attributed to me that people have pointed towards as being inappropriate,” he said.

But the issue dragged on and he was asked about it again in a TV interview on Thursday.

“You always need to do better and that’s why initially, I made a very clear and unequivocal apology,” Mr Albanese said. Again, that was apparently about Ms Minogue.

When pressed, he said he had “learnt that I need to do better every day, and of course, if I had my time again, which you don’t, then I wouldn’t have done that podcast”.

“We have a view which is trying to talk to as many people as possible, but clearly that was an error,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Albanese or his staff surely either knew or should have known exactly what the tone of the podcast would have entailed.

So the question remains.

What on earth were they thinking by agreeing that the Prime Minister should take part?

It is a question that must be exercising the minds of the line-up of Labor ministers, including senior women, who had to defend Mr Albanese as the storm broke all around them.

They would not have enjoyed the experience.

The episode has raised wider issues around Mr Albanese’s judgment and character.

And it has left people scratching their heads in bemusement at the whole sorry saga.