‘Learnt my lesson’: Albanese breaks silence on Bush Deep podcast scandal after ‘melons’ and ‘shag’ comments

His comments follow weeks of criticism over jokes he made about his sex life, innuendo about the Japanese PM, and his participation in a game of “shag, marry, date”.

Mr Albanese initially issued an apology statement after suggesting he would “shag” Kylie Minogue, but did not publicly and personally apologise for his broader remarks.

Speaking to the ABC on Thursday, Mr Albanese said, “Look, I’ve dealt with that issue,” when asked about the scandalous podcast appearance.

“There’s two things you need to do if you’ve made a mistake. One is to apologise. Second is to learn the lessons from it. And I’ve done both,” he said.

The comments marked Mr Albanese’s first public response to the backlash surrounding his appearance on the Bush Deep podcast, filmed at The Lodge.

The Prime Minister faced criticism after taking part in a “shag, marry, date” segment in which he chose Kylie Minogue for “all of the above”.

During the podcast, Mr Albanese also joked about a melon gift from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, saying she had a “couple of melons” and “they’re beautiful”.

The interview also included discussion of Mr Albanese’s marriage to Ms Haydon after the host joked about whether the couple were “still bonking like rabbits”.

“Well, you know, when we have time… After the footy. It’s always a good aphrodisiac, a South (Sydney Rabbitohs) win,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Albanese’s net approval rating improved three points following the backlash to the podcast, but he remained firmly in negative territory at -18 per cent.

The improvement was driven largely by male voters, with Mr Albanese’s net satisfaction rating among men rising from -25 per cent to -16 per cent.

Among women, however, the movement went the other way, with Mr Albanese’s net satisfaction falling from -16 per cent to -19 per cent.

The podcast triggered criticism from Coalition and One Nation MPs, who argued the Prime Minister had exercised poor judgement.

Liberal MP Aaron Violi told Sky News the episode was a “lesson about common decency”.

“The Prime Minister has let himself down, he’s let the office of Prime Minister down,” Mr Violi said amid the fallout.

“I feel actually really sorry for his wife Jodie Haydon to hear their personal details talked about publicly. It’s really disappointing.”

“The fact the Prime Minister went on it, the fact he thought it was appropriate to talk about Kylie Minogue in that way or his own personal life says a lot about him,” he said.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said Mr Albanese had “fallen into a trap” by answering the questions but stopped short of calling for a broader attack on the Prime Minister.

“Well, I’ll tell you who is going to have their way with me if I ever say something like that. It would be the Australian people,” Mr Joyce said.

“So, no, we just can’t answer questions like that, and thank you very much, but no, thanks.”