Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under fire for saying this about a gift of fruit from the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi: “The Japanese Prime Minister brought a melon… Got a couple of melons. She brought two. She brought two, as you do.” (while gesturing near his chest)
Shingo Yamagami, a former Japanese ambassador to Australia, has said, “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.”
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor: “The Prime Minister’s behavior on this podcast was crass, classless, and utterly juvenile. To reduce an international diplomatic exchange with a female world leader to a series of cheap, sexist double entendres is a profound embarrassment to this nation.”
Peta Credlin of Sky News: “It shows a spectacular lack of judgment. You are the Prime Minister of Australia. You do not go on low-brow podcasts to trade schoolboy jokes about anatomy with a host, let alone at the expense of the leader of Japan, our most vital security partner in Asia.”
Albo must go.
Geoff Fox, 16 August, 2026, Melbourne, Australia
(The above word art, which I call “Albo’s Eyes”, is words and a frame added by me to a photo authored by the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. I make no claim that they endorse the words added by me. I am the author of Albo’s Eyes. It is is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. You are free to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work and to remix – to adapt the work under the following conditions: Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. -Geoff Fox)
