{"id":852051,"date":"2026-08-12T01:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852051\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T01:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:26:13","slug":"melon-gate-was-a-non-issue-in-japan-how-did-it-get-elevated-to-a-crisis-in-australia-malcolm-farr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852051\/","title":{"rendered":"Melon-gate was a non-issue in Japan. How did it get elevated to a crisis in Australia? | Malcolm Farr"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government continues to face an all-out effort, led by parts of the media, to depict Anthony Albanese<\/a> as the Benny Hill of international diplomacy endangering Australia\u2019s regional standing.<\/p>\n

There is ongoing anger \u2013 or so we\u2019re told \u2013 over a crude double entendre from the Australian prime minister made over a month ago that indirectly involved his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi<\/a> and her gift of two melons during her recent Australian visit.<\/p>\n

The incident initially produced the kind of sniggering usually found in a schoolyard, and grave demands for public apologies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now the opposition has now referred the leak of a diplomatic note sent by Japan to Australia to the federal police, prompting housing minister Clare O\u2019Neil to declare the Liberals have \u201clost the plot\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There has been encouragement for Tokyo to deliver outrage and condemnation, with the issue resurfacing after former Japanese ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami criticised the exchange in The Australian on Monday.<\/p>\n

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However, the Japanese government has insisted it is more concerned about the condition of its national economy than a crudity pinned to the Australian prime minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a non-issue in Japan, not even reported by any of the mainstream press,\u201d Shiro Armstrong, professor of economics and director of the Australia-Japan Research Centre at the Australian National University, told the ABC last week.<\/p>\n

The controversy may be stored away in the minds of Japanese business and political figures for possible future use, but for now it seems to have a limited use.<\/p>\n

Yet some persistent media coverage of the prime minister\u2019s comments \u2013 which were made last month on a podcast that encourages guests to shed any staidness \u2013 has elevated the matter to a crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is \u2026 here you and I are on our national broadcaster talking about the remarks of the Australian prime minister which implies being vulgar and crude to a female leader \u2026. This is a national embarrassment,\u201d Liberal Ted O\u2019Brien sternly told ABC radio on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

There is a sneaky suspicion O\u2019Brien liked that prominence, even though it was a relatively short element of the broader interview.<\/p>\n

The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, told ABC on Tuesday morning the melon comments \u201cwere not intended to be interpreted the way that our political opponents and some media outlets are reporting\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve been interpreted in a way that he never intended and absolutely rejects,\u201d said the senator.<\/p>\n

But One Nation\u2019s Barnaby Joyce argued \u2013 without supporting detail \u2013 that it would damage trade relations with Japan, but focused on Albanese.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s trying to be clever. It wasn\u2019t clever for the fourth biggest economy in the world, an absolutely vital strategic partner in our defence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The tone of the offending podcast played a part in the controversy, possibly exceeding anything Albanese said. The host, comedian Nikki Osborne, led the way as she pressed Albanese with insinuations the melons were smuggled in under Takaichi\u2019s clothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, \u2018I got a couple of melons,\u2019\u201d Albanese replied with a grin while gesturing to his chest.<\/p>\n

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That gesture condemned Albanese, and Osborne swiftly removed any doubt about his depiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe brought two? She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The prime minister replied: \u201cShe brought two, and they\u2019re beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the second time Osborne had pointed the prime minister into troubling territory, and he had obliged. On the first occasion he implied he would \u201cshag\u201d Kylie Minogue.<\/p>\n

Joyce perhaps was right when he said Albanese was \u201ctrying to be clever\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is one thing for a prime minister wanting to reach younger voters through non-mainstream media, such as podcasts.<\/p>\n

However, there is a layer of dignity that comes with the office, and that should not be shed.<\/p>\n

Albanese refused to apologise for the comments in question time on Tuesday, saying Australia and Japan have \u201cnever been closer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hopefully he will absorb the lesson of the melons and apply a discipline to future, similar occasions.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there is a country to run.<\/p>\n

Malcolm Farr worked in the Canberra press gallery from 1991 to 2019, reporting mainly for the Daily Telegraph and news.com.au<\/a>. He has later contributed to Guardian Australia, Crikey and the ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government continues to face an all-out effort, led by parts of the media, to depict Anthony Albanese…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-852051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852051","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=852051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}