Japan formally raised Anthony Albanese’s appearance in a cringe-worthy podcast discussing the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s “melons” in official correspondence.
The Albanese Government seized on the letter on Monday noting Japan has suggested the matter had been “sensationalised” by the media and would not result in a complaint.
Mr Albanese maintains he wasn’t joking about the female prime minister’s anatomy, despite the comedian referencing Pamela Anderson, a former Baywatch star and Playboy model.
But diplomatic sources suggested the prime minister’s comments, made while drinking Canadian whiskey with a comedian in a safari suit, were so embarrassing that both countries were at pains to defuse the matter.
News.com.au understands that the opposition’s foreign affairs spokesman Ted O’Brien quietly met with the Japanese ambassador to Australia Kazuhiro Suzuki on Monday to express his “deep regret” over the comments.
He did not wish to elaborate on the private meeting other than to note that the “deep and enduring” relationship is one of Australia’s most important partnerships.
“The prime minister’s words were inappropriate and a national embarrassment,” Mr O’Brien said.
In the correspondence between Japan and the prime minister’s department, Japan also moved to clarify another “joke” in the podcast that the Japanese prime minister had “smuggled” the melons into Australia insisting they were legally obtained here.
In the diplomatic cable dated July 13, the Japanese government suggested there had been “sensationalised reporting in the Australian media”.
It then stated that Australia could be reassured that Japan did not believe there was any “ill intention” in Mr Albanese’s comments.
The letter stressed there would be “no action” over the matter and that Japan would assist the Australian government in not making comment to “allow the Australian media to move on”.
But rather than being reassuring, one former top government official speaking on the condition of anonymity said it was all completely “embarrassing.”
“At best it’s quite embarrassing to be in a position where a foreign embassy or department is officially sending such a message,’’ he said.
“With Japan having done so the Australian government is presumably now not only embarrassed at what our prime minister said but somewhat indebted to Japan for their generosity in giving it an official shoulder shrug.”
Another MP suggested Japan was at pains to help Australia defuse the matter.
“If this was accepted as an insult to one’s national honour, it has the potential to have dire consequences for the relationship,’’ he said.
“So it’s in everyone’s interest to say it’s no big deal.”
Mr Albanese is facing growing pressure to offer an official apology, with Liberal leader Angus Taylor weighing in on the row on Monday, insisting that the crass podcast was unbecoming of the office.
“The comments were beneath the office of prime minister,’’ he said.
“They were insulting, and the prime minister should make a personal apology. He’s done it through a statement. I mean, the hypocrisy of Labor and the prime minister on this topic knows no bounds, no bounds whatsoever,” he said.
Mr Albanese has furiously denied making a crude joke about Ms Takaichi’s “melons” in the same interview where he admitted he would “shag” Kylie Minogue.
He previously apologised for his remarks about Kylie Minogue after he was asked about her on Nova’s podcast Bush Deep with Australian comedian Nikki Osborne.
During the innuendo-laden interview, Mr Albanese stated that Ms Takaichi had brought “a couple of melons,” before making a squeezing hand gesture in front of his chest.
Ms Osborne then jokingly replied: “She brought two. She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson.”
But in a terse statement on Monday, the Prime Minister’s spokeswoman denied the comments were a joke about breasts, stating, “This assertion is wrong.”
But the claim didn’t wash on Sunrise, with host Nat Barr grilling Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek and Barnaby Joyce about the podcast.
The controversy has been reignited after Tokyo’s former ambassador in Canberra, Shingo Yamagami, penned an opinion piece slamming the “insulting” comments and speculating they have damaged the Prime Minister’s standing in Japan.
“However lighthearted it was intended to be, the recent joke delivered by PM Anthony Albanese at the expense of Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi is how he might be remembered by Japanese who most value the friendship with Australia,” he writes inThe Australian.
“It is a time for toiling and not for crude jokes at another’s expense.
“So, Prime Minister, please enjoy Japan’s sweet and juicy melons without thinking about a woman’s anatomy, and instead focus on what our two countries must do together.”
The former spy boss added in his opinion piece that melons were highly prized in Japan.
“A crown melon is the most prized fruit in Japan and treasured as something special. Moreover, this particular fruit was painstakingly nurtured under intensive care in a special greenhouse. A single melon costs more than 30,000 yen ($270).”
Sunrise erupts over melons
On Sunrise, Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek attempted to argue the segment wasn’t an extended joke about breasts.
“We’ve got the former ambassador saying the prime minister, please enjoy these melons,’’ host Nat Barr said.
“No, I think he is 100 per cent wrong, and we have an excellent relationship with Japan,’’ Ms Plibersek replied.
“I think the former ambassador is wrong in his interpretation.”
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said it was “a really dangerous thing to say.”
“I know you’re doing the best job you can on this, Tanya, but it’s just like the Kylie Minogue comment – completely wrong, completely trying to be clever. It wasn’t clever,’’ he said.
He suggested the PM was trying to get on the right side of “the kiddies on a podcast where someone’s dressed up-I don’t know-some sort of elephant fighter or whatever.”
“It just demeans the office of prime minister, and it certainly has created a massive problem with one of our major partners. I know in your heart, Tanya, you know it’s wrong.
“Okay? And if you came out now and said, “Yeah, that was a stupid thing to say. You should have apologised for it. People say, “Tanya, it’s telling the truth.”
Ms Plibersek insisted it was a “complete misinterpretation from the former ambassador completely unnecessary interpretation.”
“People watching it for themselves can make their own minds up,’’ she said.
“They do,’’ Mr Joyce responded.
“They do watch it, and they have made up their own mind. And it is inappropriate.”
‘Shag’ game
During the podcast, Osborne and the Prime Minister played a game of the classic Aussie pastime ‘shag, marry or date’.
Host Osborne asked the PM: “Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman or Rhonda Burchmore?”
After a brief pause, Mr Albanese tried to play things safe, saying: “I’ve just got married, I’m only six months in …”
But Osborne was having none of it, and she quickly fired back: “But if it goes t*ts up?”
“Kylie, clearly,” he replied.
“You’d marry Kylie? And shag her? And date her?” questioned the host.
“All of the above,” Mr Albanese said, letting out a little giggle. “She’s terrific.”
Mr Albanese did not utter the word “shag” himself. He simply said: “All of the above. She’s terrific.”
Last month, the Prime Minister’s office released a statement saying Mr Albanese apologised “unequivocally for the comments”.
Federal MP Zali Steggall slammed the remarks as “entirely inappropriate for the Prime Minister.”
“He needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist,” she said.
Liberal frontbencher Sarah Henderson said the comments were “disrespectful to women, embarrassing to Australians, and demean the office of Prime Minister”.
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