Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologised on Monday for comments he made during a podcast interview over the weekend at his official residence in Canberra [1, 2].
Albanese appeared on the Bush Deep podcast hosted by comedian Nikki Osborne, who is known for her crude comedy style and described herself as a "wildly inappropriate journalist" who asks questions others would not [1, 2]. During the episode, he was asked to play a "shag, marry, date" game involving Australian celebrities Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman, and Rhonda Burchmore [1, 3, 2, 4].
Despite initially trying to avoid the question by citing his recent marriage, Albanese eventually responded with "Oh, Kylie, clearly" and later said "all of the above" when asked if he would marry, shag, or date Minogue [1, 2, 4]. He also joked about his sex life with his wife after a Sydney Rabbitohs win during the interview [2].
The remarks sparked swift backlash from Australian parliamentarians. Independent MP Zali Steggall called the comments "entirely inappropriate for the prime minister to participate in such a game" and said Albanese should "learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist" [2]. Liberal shadow minister Sarah Henderson said the remarks were "disrespectful to women, embarrassing to Australians and demean the office of Prime Minister" [1].
On Monday morning (Australia time), Albanese issued a brief statement apologising "unequivocally for the comments" [1, 3, 2, 4]. Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles affirmed the government’s commitment to gender equality, noting, "the government that the PM leads is the first in history that has had equality in terms of the number of men and women in cabinet" [1].
Albanese was in Fiji on Monday for a scheduled leaders’ meeting when he issued the apology [2]. The podcast interview took place during the preceding weekend at the prime minister’s official residence in Canberra [1, 2].
