Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been branded a “hypocrite” for making crude comments about the Japanese Prime Minister’s “melons” just weeks after saying it was “unacceptable” to objectify women.
It comes in the wake of Mr Albanese’s appearance on the Bush Deep podcast, where he talked about his sex life, made crude jokes and commented on senators’ penises.
Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price described Mr Albanese’s language as “extremely misogynistic” and said he needed to deliver a formal apology to women.
Mr Albanese has apologised for suggesting he wanted to shag popstar Kylie Minogue, but issued the statement through the Prime Minister’s Office.
He has not yet taken any questions about his podcast appearance as he travels around Pacific Islands as part of a diplomatic mission.
“What a shameful Prime Minister we have with his recent comments that he made on a podcast which were extremely misogynistic,” Ms Price said on Tuesday.
“Not just about an iconic Australian pop singer such as Kylie Minogue, but also in relation to the Japanese Prime Minister.
“This Prime Minister should stand before the Australian people, stand before women right around our country and apologise unreservedly himself.
“Not through a statement, but for the sake of every single woman in this country and girl child in this country that his behaviour is unacceptable.”
Mr Albanese made jokes about Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s “melons”, said the NRL was an “aphrodisiac” and chose Kylie Minogue in a game of “shag, date, marry”.
Ms Price said the comments were “disgusting” and “misogynistic”, questioning what kind of message it sent young males around the country.
“What sort of message is he telling our young men that it’s okay to treat women and objectify them in this manner. It is highly inappropriate,” she said.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor also accused Mr Albanese of hypocrisy, after he recently said it was unacceptable to objectify women.
“The hypocrisy of his comments on that podcast is extraordinary,” Mr Taylor told reporters on Tuesday.
The criticism comes after Mr Albanese said it was “completely unacceptable to demean, objectify, belittle or offend women” just weeks ago.
Those comments were made about the Victorian “Ditch the Witch” billboard campaign against Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan.
“No matter who you support in politics, it is completely unacceptable to demean, objectify, belittle or offend women,” Mr Albanese said.
Ms Allan declined to condemn Mr Albanese’s crude comments on Monday, saying they were made “in a more light-hearted manner”.
“I have not heard the interview. I understand this is something that was in a more light-hearted manner,” she said.
“But I’ll leave the rest of the commentary on this matter to the Prime Minister. My understanding is this is a more light-hearted forum, and I’ll leave that matter there.”
Acting Minister for Women Anne Aly declined to comment on the matter when approached by Sky News.