Japanese ambassador downplays Anthony Albanese's melon podcast comments

The Japanese ambassador has downplayed Anthony Albanese’s comments about a gift of melons from Sanae Takaichi, saying Tokyo had been reassured by the Australian government that the prime minister “did not make the comments in the way that has been reported”.

While the Coalition continued to raise outrage over Albanese’s comments to the Bush Deep podcast, including seeking to have federal police investigate the alleged leaking of a diplomatic cable to a newspaper, the Japanese government appeared to be uninterested in making a diplomatic incident out of the much-maligned comments.

“We have been informed by the Australian side that Prime Minister Albanese did not make the comments in the way that has been reported,” said Kazuhiro Suzuki, the Japanese ambassador to Australia, in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

The podcast comments – being referred to as “melon-gate” in Parliament House – dominated federal politics for another day on Wednesday, with Albanese maintaining he had nothing to apologise for.

“We take our relationships seriously, including our regular engagement with Japan. And that is why we will always put the national interest first and we continue to do so,” Albanese told parliament.

“The prime minister of Japan is a good friend of Australia … She was a welcome guest here.”

During an interview on the comedy podcast Bush Deep in early July, Albanese spoke about Japan’s leader, Takaichi, giving him a gift of Japanese melons. Discussing the present, he appeared to make hand gestures in front of his chest, saying “she brought two, as you do”. Host Nikki Osborne joked: “She came in looking like Pamela Anderson.”

The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, again demanded the prime minister apologise, claiming he had “stuffed up”. The senior shadow ministers Ted O’Brien and James Paterson demanded the Australian federal police investigate the apparent leaking of a diplomatic cable to The Australian newspaper, suggesting officers check whether the prime minister’s office was involved.

The AFP was contacted for comment and has not confirmed if it will investigate the matter.

The diplomatic cable was reportedly sent in July, days after the podcast, with Japan’s government saying there had been “sensationalised reporting in the Australian media” and that Tokyo believed there was no “ill intention” in Albanese’s actions.

After that development, the Coalition shifted to questioning how the document became public, claiming its publication was an “apparent unlawful disclosure of confidential correspondence from the government of Japan”.

“This is a serious matter. It is important that our closest allies have confidence of when they share confidential correspondence with us that it will not find its way in the media,” Paterson said.

But asked about whether the cable proved Japan was not worried about Albanese’s actions, O’Brien responded: “I won’t be commenting on how Tokyo interprets this entire saga.”

Labor ministers again lined up to defend Albanese on Wednesday. The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, called the Coalition’s AFP referral a “silly political stunt”, claiming the opposition had “completely lost the plot”. The education minister, Jason Clare, called it “rubbish”.

“The fact that the Liberal party seem to be distracted by this, I think, shows they’re not fit to govern here,” he said.

Albanese also shrugged off the Coalition concerns, saying the AFP was independent and would investigate whatever it deemed appropriate.

Japan’s government refrained from public comments on the issue until Wednesday, when its current ambassador to Australia released a statement not raising any further issue with Albanese’s conduct.

Suzuki noted Takaichi had visited Australia in May – shortly before the interview in question – and had been hosted for dinner by Albanese “in a very relaxed atmosphere, and we believe it helped build a personal trust relationship between the two leaders”.

The melon comments resurfaced as a political issue after The Australian ran a comment piece on Monday from the former Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagami, who left his post in 2023, who claimed Albanese had insulted Takaichi.