The government continues to face an all-out effort, led by parts of the media, to depict Anthony Albanese as the Benny Hill of international diplomacy endangering Australia’s regional standing.
There is ongoing anger – or so we’re told – over a crude double entendre from the Australian prime minister made over a month ago that indirectly involved his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi and her gift of two melons during her recent Australian visit.
The incident initially produced the kind of sniggering usually found in a schoolyard, and grave demands for public apologies.
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’Neil to declare the Liberals have “lost the plot”.
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.
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.
“It was a non-issue in Japan, not even reported by any of the mainstream press,” Shiro Armstrong, professor of economics and director of the Australia-Japan Research Centre at the Australian National University, told the ABC last week.
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.
Yet some persistent media coverage of the prime minister’s comments – which were made last month on a podcast that encourages guests to shed any staidness – has elevated the matter to a crisis.
“The fact is … 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 …. This is a national embarrassment,” Liberal Ted O’Brien sternly told ABC radio on Tuesday morning.
There is a sneaky suspicion O’Brien liked that prominence, even though it was a relatively short element of the broader interview.
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, told ABC on Tuesday morning the melon comments “were not intended to be interpreted the way that our political opponents and some media outlets are reporting”.
“I think they’ve been interpreted in a way that he never intended and absolutely rejects,” said the senator.
But One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce argued – without supporting detail – that it would damage trade relations with Japan, but focused on Albanese.
“He’s trying to be clever. It wasn’t clever for the fourth biggest economy in the world, an absolutely vital strategic partner in our defence,” he said.
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’s clothing.
“I don’t know, ‘I got a couple of melons,’” Albanese replied with a grin while gesturing to his chest.
That gesture condemned Albanese, and Osborne swiftly removed any doubt about his depiction.
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“She brought two? She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson,” she said.
The prime minister replied: “She brought two, and they’re beautiful.”
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 “shag” Kylie Minogue.
Joyce perhaps was right when he said Albanese was “trying to be clever”.
It is one thing for a prime minister wanting to reach younger voters through non-mainstream media, such as podcasts.
However, there is a layer of dignity that comes with the office, and that should not be shed.
Albanese refused to apologise for the comments in question time on Tuesday, saying Australia and Japan have “never been closer”.
Hopefully he will absorb the lesson of the melons and apply a discipline to future, similar occasions.
Meanwhile, there is a country to run.
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Malcolm Farr worked in the Canberra press gallery from 1991 to 2019, reporting mainly for the Daily Telegraph and news.com.au. He has later contributed to Guardian Australia, Crikey and the ABC