Mr Albanese told News24 he has already said sorry for \u201celements of the podcast\u201d but has nothing to apologise for in relation to the diplomatic incident.<\/p>\n
It comes after Mr Albanese said he was sorry for his comments in a podcast in which he suggested he would \u201cshag\u201d Kylie Minogue<\/a>, but refused to apologise for \u201cmelons\u201d comments about Ms Takaichi.<\/p>\n Despite this, the Coalition has continued to call for Mr Albanese to apologise<\/a>, although he has denied having made any sexual innuendo about Ms Takaichi.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking to News24, Mr Albanese said he respected Ms Takaichi and Japan, while arguing his comments were misrepresented.<\/p>\n \u201cI do respect the Japanese Prime Minister,\u201d Mr Albanese told News24 when asked about his controversial comments.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’ve been a lot of words written about this. There hasn’t been one word attributed to me that people have pointed towards as being inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch the full interview at 12pm with a News24.com.au Streaming Subscription<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr Albanese was asked whether he should simply apologise if people had found the remarks offensive.<\/p>\n But the Prime Minister rejected that approach, arguing he had already apologised for other parts of his controversial podcast appearance.<\/p>\n \u201cI apologised for elements of the podcast, I gave an unequivocal apology. I did that very clearly, but there is nothing I have done with the Japanese Prime Minister,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cImportantly, her visit was a really warm one, we had a very friendly and warm dinner, it was very informal. We got to know each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Albanese also pointed to the Japanese government’s public comments which he claimed defended his position.<\/p>\n \u201cThey aren’t my words, they’re the words used by the Japanese Prime Minister, by the Japanese Ambassador who was there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Japanese Embassy in Australia told News24 that the Albanese government attempted to reassure Tokyo that Mr Albanese was not making sexual innuendo.<\/p>\n “We have been informed by the Australian side that Prime Minister Albanese did not make the comments in the way that has been reported,\u201d the embassy said.<\/p>\n However, former Japan ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami told News24<\/a>\u00a0that the incident had certainly \u201cmade an impact\u201d on the relationship.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a difference between \u2026 feelings and \u2026 facade. I think the Japanese government is sticking to this facade to maintain a cordial relationship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you take a close look at what’s being said on Japanese SNS (social media), certainly, this has made an impact on our special strategic partnership.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what is important? Yes, we need to move on, but I think we need to show mutual respect to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n The comments come as Mr Albanese faces scrutiny over his appearance on the Bush Deep podcast, in which he discussed two Crown Melons gifted to him by Ms Takaichi.<\/p>\n During the podcast appearance, Mr Albanese recalled the melons gift as \u201cquite strange\u201d and joked Ms Takaichi had a \u201ccouple of melons\u201d.<\/p>\n The podcast appearance also faced criticism after Mr Albanese took part in a \u201cshag, marry, date\u201d segment in which he chose Kylie Minogue for \u201call of the above\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Albanese also discussed his marriage to Ms Haydon after the host joked about whether the couple were \u201cstill bonking like rabbits\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, you know, when we have time\u2026 After the footy. It\u2019s always a good aphrodisiac. A South (Sydney Rabbitohs) win,\u201d Mr Albanese said.<\/p>\n Mr Albanese initially issued an apology statement after suggesting he would \u201cshag\u201d Minogue, but did not publicly and personally apologise for his broader remarks.<\/p>\n Asked later about the issue, Mr Albanese said: \u201cLook, I\u2019ve dealt with that issue\u201d, despite never having spoken publicly about it.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s 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\u2019ve done both,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Read related topics:Anthony Albanese’s Melons Gaffe<\/a>Anthony Albanese<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mr Albanese told News24 he has already said sorry for \u201celements of the podcast\u201d but has nothing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[47625,47658,47669,47631,47627,45985,47651,47654,42024,47620,47632,46005,47663,47657,47662,47668,13353,47609,46481,47624,47621,47660,12707,47661,47610,923,47672,4959,24618,36125,47671,47617,30896,47606,30901,47611,47649,46056,47664,47639,46042,46036,47636,47667,47615,47665,8,177,5769,46526,179,3341,47607,46156,47670,46047,47614,45991,47648,8186,47643,46431,47616,47644,47628,47626,46449,17962,221,180,178,294,47650,47635,47640,46688,28198,46062,25434,358,47618,47652,46255,47641,1240,47638,2299,47647,47633,47659,47145,41289,47642,46430,46016,46029,47653,47608,47612,47666,47622,46011,47655,47637,46284,47539,3063,46233,47613,46308,47629,46246,47619,29514,41231,46053,47646,47645,47623,225,52,47634,47656,47630],"class_list":["post-73905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-melons-comments","tag-12pm","tag-a-shag","tag-a-close-look","tag-a-cordial-relationship","tag-a-couple","tag-a-difference","tag-a-good-aphrodisiac","tag-a-lot","tag-a-mistake","tag-a-news24-com-au-streaming-subscription","tag-a-podcast","tag-a-podcast-appearance","tag-a-really-warm-one","tag-a-south","tag-a-very-friendly-and-warm-dinner","tag-albanese","tag-albanese-government","tag-an-apology","tag-an-apology-statement","tag-an-impact","tag-an-unequivocal-apology","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-any-sexual-innuendo","tag-apology-calls","tag-australia","tag-australia-shingo-yamagami","tag-calls","tag-controversy","tag-criticism","tag-date-segment","tag-each-other","tag-elements","tag-facade","tag-feelings","tag-former-japan-ambassador","tag-haydon","tag-her-visit","tag-his-appearance","tag-his-broader-remarks","tag-his-comments","tag-his-controversial-comments","tag-his-controversial-podcast-appearance","tag-his-government","tag-his-marriage","tag-his-position","tag-japan","tag-japans-politics","tag-japanese-government","tag-japanese-pm","tag-japanese-politics","tag-japanese-prime-minister-sanae-takaichi","tag-japanese-sns","tag-kylie-minogue","tag-marry","tag-melons","tag-minogue","tag-mr-albanese","tag-ms-haydon","tag-ms-takaichi","tag-ms-takaichi-and-japan","tag-mutual-respect","tag-my-words","tag-news24","tag-one-word","tag-other-parts","tag-our-special-strategic-partnership","tag-part","tag-people","tag-politics","tag-politics-of-japan","tag-prime-minister","tag-prime-minister-albanese","tag-prime-minister-anthony-albanese","tag-public-comments","tag-rabbits","tag-relation","tag-remarks","tag-respect","tag-sanae-takaichi","tag-scrutiny","tag-sexual-innuendo","tag-shingo-yamagami","tag-snapp-politics-generic-mr-albanese","tag-social-media","tag-sydney-rabbitohs","tag-takaichi","tag-that-approach","tag-that-issue","tag-the-melongate-scandal","tag-the-above","tag-the-albanese-government","tag-the-australian-side","tag-the-bush-deep-podcast","tag-the-coalition","tag-the-comments","tag-the-couple","tag-the-diplomatic-incident","tag-the-embassy","tag-the-footy","tag-the-full-interview","tag-the-host","tag-the-incident","tag-the-issue","tag-the-japanese-ambassador","tag-the-japanese-embassy","tag-the-japanese-government","tag-the-japanese-prime-minister","tag-the-lessons","tag-the-melons","tag-the-melons-gift","tag-the-podcast","tag-the-podcast-appearance","tag-the-prime-minister","tag-the-relationship","tag-the-remarks","tag-the-way","tag-the-words","tag-this-facade","tag-time","tag-tokyo","tag-two-crown-melons","tag-two-things","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}