{"id":786093,"date":"2026-07-08T03:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T03:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786093\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T03:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T03:15:15","slug":"anthony-albanese-fronts-media-after-shag-and-melons-scandal-involving-kylie-minogue-and-japanese-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786093\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese fronts media after ‘shag’ and ‘melons’ scandal involving Kylie Minogue and Japanese PM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not personally apologised for his highly controversial comments about the Japanese PM\u2019s \u201cmelons\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Albanese has faced heavy criticism over his appearance on the Bush Deep podcast<\/a>, where he talked about his sex life, made crude jokes and commented on senators\u2019 penises.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister also joked about Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi\u2019s \u201cmelons\u201d,<\/a>\u00a0said the NRL was an \u201caphrodisiac\u201d and suggested he would \u201cshag\u201d Kylie Minogue.<\/p>\n

While Mr Albanese issued an apology statement through the Prime Minister’s Office, he has not personally said sorry for the joke about Ms Takaichi despite holding multiple press conferences.<\/p>\n

He faced the media on Wednesday where he spoke about electric trucks, the telecommunications outage and China’s missile test.<\/p>\n

He did not address the ongoing controversy surrounding his podcast appearance, but was also not asked about the scandal by journalists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI apologise unequivocally for the comments,\u201d Mr Albanese said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.<\/p>\n

Liberal Senator Jane Hume told Sky News on Wednesday that Mr Albanese should make an in-person public apology rather than a written one.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than an apology, I think, is needed here issued from the Prime Minister’s office… you know, it’s wholly inadequate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comments themselves were awful. They were sexist, they were creepy. What really gets up my nose is the fact that my female Labor colleagues are nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing from Penny Wong about this weird, creepy, pervy stuff that’s come out from her own leader’s mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody’s saying a word. Where’s Clare O’Neil? Where’s Tanya Plibersek? Where’s Katy Gallagher, the Minister for Women?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Gallagher has gone on holidays, but Acting Minister for Women Anne Aly declined to comment on Mr Albanese\u2019s scandal when contacted by Sky News.<\/p>\n

\"Bolt<\/p>\n

Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price earlier described Mr Albanese\u2019s language as \u201cextremely misogynistic\u201d on Tuesday and said he needed to deliver a formal apology.<\/p>\n

Mr Albanese previously apologised for suggesting he wanted to shag popstar Kylie Minogue, but issued the statement through the Prime Minister\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

He had not taken any questions for several days about his podcast appearance as he was on a diplomatic mission in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a shameful Prime Minister we have with his recent comments that he made on a podcast which were extremely misogynistic,\u201d Ms Price said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot just about an iconic Australian pop singer such as Kylie Minogue, but also in relation to the Japanese Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Prime Minister should stand before the Australian people, stand before women right around our country and apologise unreservedly himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Very<\/p>\n

Ms Price said the PM\u2019s comments were \u201cdisgusting\u201d and \u201cmisogynistic\u201d, asking what kind of message it sent young males around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat sort of message is he telling our young men that it\u2019s okay to treat women and objectify them in this manner. It is highly inappropriate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor also accused Mr Albanese of hypocrisy, after he recently said it was unacceptable to objectify women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hypocrisy of his comments on that podcast is extraordinary,\u201d Mr Taylor told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The criticism comes after Mr Albanese said it was \u201ccompletely unacceptable to demean, objectify, belittle or offend women\u201d just weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Those comments were made about the Victorian \u201cDitch the Witch\u201d billboard campaign against Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter who you support in politics, it is completely unacceptable to demean, objectify, belittle or offend women,\u201d Mr Albanese said.<\/p>\n

Ms Allan declined to condemn Mr Albanese\u2019s crude comments on Monday, saying they were made \u201cin a more light-hearted manner\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not heard the interview. I understand this is something that was in a more light-hearted manner,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But I\u2019ll 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\u2019ll leave that matter there.”<\/p>\n

Acting Minister for Women Anne Aly declined to comment on the matter when approached by Sky News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not personally apologised for his highly controversial comments about the Japanese PM\u2019s \u201cmelons\u201d.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2324,371150,64,8931,63,651,134,170771,63496,371149,668,130747],"class_list":["post-786093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-anthony-albanese-fronts-media-after-shag-and-melons-scandal-involving-kylie-minogue-and-japanese-pm","tag-au","tag-auspol","tag-australia","tag-brisbane","tag-entertainment","tag-japanese-pm","tag-kylie-minogue","tag-pm-breaks-silence-after-shag-scandal-involving-kylie-minogue","tag-press-conference","tag-sanae-takaichi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}