Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has admitted that a recent podcast appearance was ‘clearly an error’ but stopped short of apologising for his remarks about melons gifted to him by his Japanese counterpart.
He appeared on Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast on 3 July, where he was asked to choose which celebrity to sleep with, marry or date: Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore.
‘Kylie, clearly,’ Albanese said. When Osborne asked if he would ‘marry, shag or date’ the singer, Albanese replied: ‘All of the above… She’s terrific.’
He apologised ‘unequivocally’ for his remarks but has since faced scrutiny over controversial comments and hand gestures referencing ‘melons’.
Albanese said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gifted him crown melons during a May visit to Australia.
‘She brought two and they’re beautiful,’ he said, gesturing with both hands in front of his chest.
During an interview on ABC’s 7.30 on Thursday, host Sarah Ferguson asked the Prime Minister what he had learned about himself following the podcast controversy.
‘You always need to do better and that’s why initially, I made a very clear and unequivocal apology,’ Albanese said.
Anthony Albanese admitted his appearance on the Bush Deep podcast was ‘clearly an error’
He faced backlash over his ‘melons’ comment about Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi
The ‘joke’ was made on the Bush Deep podcast with host Nikki Osborne (pictured)
‘My mentor Tom Uren (former Labor minister) used to say two things. You’ve got to learn something new every day and you’ve got to grow as a person every day.
‘I continue to do that and I continue to learn new things every day and to do better each and every day.’
Ferguson pressed him on what he specifically learned from doing the podcast.
‘I learned that I need to do better every day. Of course, if I had my time again, which you don’t, then I wouldn’t have done that podcast,’ Albanese said.
‘We have a view which is trying to talk to as many people as possible, but clearly that was an error.’
While Albanese has previously apologised for his comments about Kylie, he has yet to apologise regarding Takaichi.
‘I reject the assertion in the question,’ he told parliament last week.
Osborne opened up about the controversy earlier last week, telling businessman Mark Bouris that Albanese responded ‘straight away’ when he agreed to appear on her podcast.
‘If I had my time again, which you don’t, then I wouldn’t have done that podcast,’ Albanese told 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson
‘He got back to me straight away saying “Sure, sounds like a lot of fun”,’ Osborne said.
‘He has watched the show, he knows my podcast, so he knew what he was getting into.’
On Friday morning, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said Albanese is ‘human like everyone else’ after his admission the podcast appearance was ‘an error’.
‘Well the prime minister has made it clear that he regrets doing the show and he’s human like everyone else,’ Conroy told Channel Nine.
‘Ultimately he said what he said Tom but I actually agree with Dai (Le). The Australian people want to focus on what the Australian government is doing to help them.’
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