Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Senate will now consider the proposal, under standing order 75, from Senator Sharma, which has been circulated and is shown on the Dynamic Red:

The need for the Prime Minister to apologise for his offensive and disrespectful remarks concerning the Prime Minister of Japan, Her Excellency Sanae Takaichi, which demeaned one of Australia's closest friends and partners, mocked a thoughtful and symbolic diplomatic gift, and unnecessarily damaged Australia's vital relationship with Japan.

Is consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

Dave Sharma (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) | Link to this | Hansard source

It's been over a month, or 40 days in fact, since the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, thought it would be funny to gratuitously insult an ally, a partner, a friend. That's when he went on a podcast and mocked in crude and in boorish terms the valid and symbolic significance of a pair of crown melons from Japan's visiting Prime Minister, Prime Minister Takaichi. When the Prime Minister refused to apologise to Grace Tame for calling her difficult, it made him look small. But his refusal to apologise in this instance diminishes us entirely as a nation. We all pay the price for it.

Not only was his insult personally offensive. Who criticises someone for bringing them a gift? Who does that? It was sexist. It was demeaning to women. And, more than that, it was a major diplomatic blunder. Crown melons are highly prized and valued in Japanese society, and Prime Minister Takaichi's decision to gift these melons to Prime Minister Albanese was symbolic of the importance she attaches to the Australia-Japan relationship. By going on a podcast and mocking that gift in crude terms, the Prime Minister sent the signal that he attaches no importance to this relationship, that he thinks it is trivial, that it is worthy of being mocked.

This isn't an insignificant thing. The Prime Minister's pride is proving a stumbling block to repairing a vital diplomatic, strategic and trade relationship. Let's remember that Japan has been in our top two trading partners now for close to six decades. For about 40 years, it was our largest export market. For the last 20 years, it has been our second-largest export market. Japanese investment in Australia over decades—patient, long-term capital—has developed our resources sector quite literally. That's the Pilbara, the Bowen Basin in Queensland, the North West Shelf LNG. And Japanese investment today is underwriting new sectors that will be vital for Australia's future prosperity—critical minerals, rare earths, hydrogen, ammonia and any number of other things.

But Japan is not just a trading partner; they are also an important security and strategic partner. Japan is a member of the Quad. In fact, it was a former Japanese prime minister the late Shinzo Abe who pioneered the Quad meeting at leaders level. This is an important forum that brings together India, Australia, Japan and the United States in a way that helps stabilise and reassure the Indo-Pacific. Japan is a joint exercise partner, a military partner, of Australia. Japan is building and will be providing our Navy with our future frigates. So this is not an insignificant relationship. This is one of our most important relationships. There is a lot at stake here.

But Anthony Albanese's gaffe, the Prime Minister's gaffe, and his refusal, his stubborn refusal, to apologise put this entire relationship under stress. He and his ministers are now engaged in a cynical cover-up. To see senior Labor cabinet ministers defend the Sir Les Patterson impersonation put on by their boss is to see a case study in hypocrisy. We've seen one Labor minister claim that it's all a misunderstanding, that you should just look at the footage yourself. Well, if you do, Australians would be in no doubt that this was a crude joke gone wrong. We've seen other ministers say the media is misreporting it. Well, they're not. This is a feature not only in the Australian media; I've seen it now reported in the Japanese media, in the US media and in the UK media. We had the Foreign minister, Penny Wong, gamely try to blame the opposition for making it an issue just yesterday. No, we didn't make it an issue; what has made it an issue is the Prime Minister's refusal to do the simple thing and apologise.

We've all had instances with our children where we tell them, when they mess up, the best thing they can do is own up quickly, fess up, apologise and move on. That simple parenting lesson does not seem to have been passed on to the Prime Minister. So, rather than insult the intelligence of the Australian public with their obfuscations, their implausible denials and their attempts to tell us that black is white, that up is down and that left is right, these senior Labor ministers should just be telling Anthony Albanese to apologise and move on. The Japanese are gracious people. They will accept that apology, and we can put this tawdry and regrettable episode behind us.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

An urgency motion in this place should generally involve some emergency—a threat to the nation, a crisis facing Australian families, an event requiring the immediate attention of the Senate. Today, apparently, it is this—this motion, brought by Senator Sharma. Of all the challenges facing Australia and our region, those opposite have decided that the Senate must urgently turn its attention to a podcast. It is not our security partnership with Japan, not our trade relationship, not regional stability; the nation can rest easy that the opposition is hot on the heels of this case!

Japan is one of Australia's closest and most important partners. Prime Minister Takaichi is a friend of Australia and a friend of our prime minister. Australia and Japan have never been closer or more strategically aligned. And this relationship runs much deeper than any single visit or just an announcement. For 50 years, since the signing of the NARA treaty, Australia and Japan have built a partnership of trust, reliability and shared interests. Australia has been a dependable supplier of energy, resources and food to Japan. Japanese investment has helped build Australian industries. More than a hundred sister relationships connect our communities, and a record one million Australians visited Japan last year. We have stood by each other through earthquakes, tsunamis and bushfires. That is the relationship those opposite are now trying to drag into a manufactured political controversy. And for what? A cheap headline? A day's outrage?

During Prime Minister Takaichi's visit in May, our leaders announced stronger cooperation on economic security, defence, energy security, critical minerals and cybersecurity. Together, including through the Quad, we are working for a free and open Indo-Pacific that is peaceful, stable and prosperous—five major outcomes advancing Australia's national interests.

If those opposite really want to have a debate about judgement in foreign affairs, we are very happy to have that. This week shadow minister Anne Webster saw the flags displayed for the Vietnamese president's visit and asked, 'Why are the Chinese flags flying?' Those were the Vietnamese flags. There was no urgency motion. There was no demand for an apology—just a correction, and everyone got on with their day.

But let's not forget that those opposite have form for sticking their foot in it. In fact, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, Senator Jane Hume, claimed that Labor volunteers at the 2025 election were in fact Chinese spies. And who can forget their previous leader Peter Dutton joking about our partners in the Pacific having water lapping at their door. So spare us the fake outrage and the lectures on diplomatic judgement.

Seriously, we could be debating about tax cuts, cost-of-living relief and what we're delivering to Australian families. We could be debating about our work to build more homes. We could be debating about how Australia navigates the most consequential period of strategic competition in our region since the Second World War. Instead, those opposite have brought us here to manufacture a scandal out of absolutely nothing. Prime Minister Takaichi does not need the Australian opposition appointing itself to be offended on her behalf.

Those opposite can keep searching for their outrage. This government will continue to do the work. We will keep strengthening our region, deepening our partnerships, taking pressure off families and delivering the real change that Australians need.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) | Link to this | Hansard source

I too stand to speak on the matter of importance that's before us today, because we all know that the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. The PM just walked past a standard that no Australian woman should have to accept. In fact, no Australian should have to accept it, and neither should the Japanese prime minister. Mr Albanese should admit his behaviour was deplorable. He should apologise. Australians should hold him to his word, because, in April 2022, this is what Prime Minister Albanese said:

Earlier today I made a mistake. I'm human. But when I make a mistake, I'll fess up to it, and I'll set about correcting that mistake … I won't blame someone else, I'll accept responsibility. That's what leaders do.

So today we are asking the Prime Minister to honour those words. Stop denying your actions were not offensive and demeaning. You don't get to decide that. Others make that judgement, not you—and they have.

The Prime Minister's actions, gesturing towards his chest to describe a female's body during a crude exchange comparing the Japanese prime minister to Pamela Anderson, have been widely condemned by just about everybody except his own Labor colleagues. The Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Minister for Women and the Minister for Social Services are all out there defending this quite frankly indefensible action by the Prime Minister.

Let me remind you what these parliamentarians have said in the past. In July 2018, Senator Wong said:

Sexist slurs to demean women have no place in political debate in this country.

We agree with her.

In October 2022, on the 10th anniversary of Julia Gillard's misogyny speech, Minister Plibersek said:

I felt … I was there while history was being made.

But in August 2026, in defending Anthony Albanese over his crude remarks, Minister Plibersek dismissed the former Japanese ambassador's reading as a complete misinterpretation. We don't agree with her.

Today in question time, what did Minister Gallagher reply when asked whether she, as the Minister for Women, thought that these comments were degrading and demeaning to women and whether she, as the Minister for Women, would be standing up and saying to the Prime Minister that these comments are completely unacceptable? She said:

I know that this is a leader that always stands up for women and always respects women.

I suggest to you that the actions of this prime minister are not respectful to women.

Then there's Anthony Albanese himself. In June 2026, following a billboard that was put up in Victoria targeting the then Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, he posted on X and then repeated at a press conference:

No matter who you support in politics, it is completely unacceptable to demean, objectify, belittle or offend women.

But in August 2026, after his actions had been widely condemned not just here in Australia but around the world, he rejected the assertion of the question when he was asked about it.

As we're sitting here today, we have a prime minister who is refusing to accept that what he did and the standard that he set is unacceptable. Let me read out the words of Julia Gillard in October 2012, when she was referring to the then prime minister, Tony Abbott:

… if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia he does not need a motion in the House of Representatives; he needs a mirror.

I would suggest, Mr Albanese, as the Prime Minister of this country, that perhaps you needs a mirror. Perhaps you need to have a look at your actions.

What we have seen in the last few days following this deplorable action by the Prime Minister is an expectation and a standard—a standard expected by this prime minister of every other member of this parliament, and expected by every member of the Liberal Party the entire time we were in government—being completely walked out the door. This prime minister sets a double standard. Before the election, he tells Australians that his expectation is one thing, and then, following the election, he thinks it's okay to make sexual, derogatory remarks about Kylie Minogue. He did, at least that time, apologise unequivocally. I think the right thing for the Prime Minister to do is unequivocally apologise to the Japanese Prime Minister and the women of Australia for his tawdry, dirty, grubby remarks.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, we are stuck with the most unaccountable Prime Minister in Australian history; otherwise we wouldn't be discussing this matter today. This prime minister has gotten so much wrong: countless broken promises, record immigration numbers, net zero on steroids, housing, the cost of living, defence and AUKUS. Oh, and don't forget about the divisive Voice to Parliament and, of course, an embarrassing podcast he should never have done.

Let's be clear about what happened. This interview took place in the official residence of the Prime Minister. It was obvious from the beginning that the Prime Minister was pretending to be someone he is not. He didn't fool anyone for a second. He talked about fancying an Australian cultural icon, in Kylie Minogue. And then he talked about gifts from the Prime Minister of Japan, one of Australia's most valuable allies and trading partners, and made an obscene gesture describing them. It was crass. It was inappropriate. It was cheap. It was sexist and offensive to women. Everyone except the Prime Minister and every female minister in his government knows he should apologise. This prime minister just cannot bring himself to do it or even admit that he stuffed up. His appalling judgement and lack of accountability show that he is completely unfit for the office he holds. He is an embarrassment to our nation. He has made Australia a laughing stock on the international stage with his stupid comments about Japanese melons, and everyone except the Labor Party knows it.

This Prime Minister promised to be accountable and transparent. It's another failure, another broken promise. The only transparency I have seen is his sexist remarks and gestures in relation to Kylie Minogue and the Prime Minister of Japan. Prime Minister, you are a disgrace. You're the most embarrassing leader this country has ever known. It's no wonder that One Nation's Fire the Liar campaign has raised so much money. We'll be making good use of it to, hopefully, throw him out at the next election, along with a lot of his aiding and abetting members of parliament.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, of course the Prime Minister should have known better than to make an offensive, disrespectful comment about a female head of government. I didn't find watching this funny or fitting for our prime minister, and I'm sure many other Australians didn't either. In fact, so many people were talking about this.

The Prime Minister of Japan is his equal, in terms of parliamentary office, in a country that is a security, trading and strategic partner, but the Prime Minister completely missed that point. Worse, after that public podcast, he refuses to accept what Australians could plainly see and hear: an apology is warranted. There has been no correction and no apology for this crude and major diplomatic blunder. That was beneath the office of Prime Minister, and his actions right now in refusing to apologise continue to be beneath the office of Prime Minister.

Australians, though, have seen this pattern before—deny; dismiss; hope the controversy passes; throw heaps of PR at it. That's how this Prime Minister rolls. The PM, a parliamentarian for almost all his working life, so familiar with diplomacy and political protocol, was on show embarrassing himself, embarrassing Australia and then denying it ever happened. Australians expect judgement, respect and character from the person who holds that office.

Japan's former ambassador has described the remark as 'insulting' and 'unthoughtful'. That should have been enough for the Prime Minister to recognise that an apology was warranted. You would have thought that a person that was a former ambassador of that country might have known something, but that doesn't occur to Prime Minister Albanese. The Prime Minister should have picked up the phone and apologised directly to the Japanese Prime Minister.

This is the same Prime Minister who said, 'I didn't fall off a stage,' after the entire country watched him do exactly that. Deny; deflect; wait for it to blow over; send the PR team in—that's neither the leadership nor the accountability that he promised Australians. That is a prime minister who thinks the truth is negotiable. If he says it enough times, if he repeats the words over and over again or, worse, if he stays silent, then that's okay. Remember the $275 reduction in your electricity bill? It's a bit like deja vu. If there was truly nothing inappropriate about that podcast, why did his own office feel the need to respond at all? You do not issue a denial over nothing.

Now, let's talk about the silence, because it is deafening. Where's Labor's outrage? Where are the women and men saying 'this is wrong' from over the other side? The Labor machine has gone completely quiet. The silence is offensive too—not one word of condemnation from his own caucus, not one senior Labor woman standing up to say 'this was wrong'. Instead, today in this place we hear senior Labor women defending it. There is nothing defensible about that.

The same people—we've seen this form—have spent years lecturing this country about standards, respect and how women in public life should be treated. That standard should not change based on who is in charge, regardless of political inconvenience. You just have to ask yourself: 'What if he'd done that to me? What if my family members, my loved ones, saw him doing that to me?' You can't convince me that people wouldn't have been offended—no explanation. The Australian Federal Police should also be investigating how sensitive diplomatic material from one of our closest allies ended up as fuel for a domestic political scandal, and this government should be cooperating fully rather than hoping it just disappears.

The Prime Minister owes the Japanese prime minister a direct, genuine apology. He owes the Australian people honesty about what happened instead of insulting our intelligence by denying the obvious. The Labor caucus owes this country an explanation on why, on this occasion, every single one of their voices is missing. Instead, Labor is prepared to stay silent rather than respect and protect Australia's standing and operation. It is time for the Prime Minister to stand up. His behaviour was unacceptable to anyone, and Australians know it too.

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) | Link to this | Hansard source

This is extraordinary. We have got to expect standards of the highest leader in this land. It is amazing to me that we still have senior members of the government saying that they won't be lectured to by the opposition, and yet the most basic standards they refuse to acknowledge. They refuse to protect women from the sort of oafish, boorish commentary that women are sick of. This is the sort of behaviour that belonged at the pub or at a football game with your mates, but instead it was said by our Prime Minister on a publicly broadcast podcast. I don't know if he was distracted by the interviewer, but certainly when he made the sort of remarks he did, I was not surprised. I'm used to that sort of behaviour from men like Albo, but I was disappointed. We could do better.

Of course this is not just about boorish, oafish remarks by a prime minister who lies to Australia, who brings legislation to the parliament that on 50 occasions he says he won't. He's now wandered well out into the deep water. He is criticising one of our biggest trading partners. He is criticising the first female prime minister of Japan. He is criticising a company that takes these sorts of relationships very seriously, who has been a good friend to Australia, particularly as the government has made such appalling changes to our gas policy. He has made it at a time when Australia is getting gas policy really wrong.

The Japanese have announced that they will be taking gas from Canada and the US in preference to Australia. If we think that the thoughtless, offensive remarks by the Prime Minister aren't playing into that, we are sadly mistaken. So not only is he boorish and oafish; the Prime Minister is threatening the prosperity of this country. He's threatening the jobs of this country. He's threatening the very income and taxes that pay the equivalent of the PBS in Australia. It's not good enough. He was okay to apologise to Kylie Minogue when he made the same sort of outrageous comments, but he won't apologise to the leader of a country that we have security arrangements with and trade arrangements with. Indeed, one million Australians visited Japan last year. We expect better. Australians expect better. We expect leadership. We expect a prime minister who can provide the sort of trappings of office that leadership should provide.

What kind of astounds me, though—as I've said already, I'm not really surprised that it's come from the PM. He demonstrates this behaviour over and over. There are senior women in the government who are running a protection racket. They are providing protection for him. They're saying, 'No, nothing to see here.' Can you imagine what they would be saying if that was a conservative leader? Well, we don't actually have to imagine. We watched as they absolutely victimised Linda Reynolds a couple of years ago and drove her into hospital. They ran the most awful attack on the leader of the coalition, the Prime Minister at the time, but they will not now call out worse behaviour—sexism that truly, I thought, has no place coming from the Prime Minister of Australia.

Anyway, if the Labor government and the Labor members and the Labor ministers and the female members of the parliament won't call this out, then we absolutely will. Because he, the Prime Minister, is damaging our reputation on the world stage. We don't need to be a joke caused by him. He should apologise. He must apologise, because it is beneath the office of the Prime Minister.

Sue Lines (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to order, the Senate will now move to valedictory statements.