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Melongate: How Albo created a diplomatic disaster · The Front

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, August twelve, twenty twenty six. Spy Agency AZO
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: will get new powers to investigate universities which collaborate with
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  Speaker 1: potentially hostile foreign countries, including China, Iran and Russia. That's
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a proposed law change before Parliament and it'd also give
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Foreign Minister Penny Wong new powers to block projects she
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: thinks will affect the national interest. That's an exclusive by
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Natasha Beta Live now at the Australian dot com dot
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: a U. Nobody covers politics like Dennis Shanahan, and today
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: our national editor is here with a withering take on
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  Speaker 1: the big story lighting up politics, Anthony Albanezi, a gross
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: joke about melons and breasts, and a disastrous attempt to
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: spin the PEM out of trouble. Dennis is on a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: roll today.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Enjoy the falling off of the stage. He clearly fell
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: off the stage. The first thing he said when he
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: got up to the television cameras was I didn't fall off.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: This is Dennis Shanahan, our national editor.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I told you he was on a roll. It is
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: this instinctive almost visceral attempt to just say no, it
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  Speaker 2: didn't happen.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: But Simpson, Dennis, You've seen a lot of prime ministers
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: come and go, and we often talk on the front
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: about how Anthony Albanezi is the master tactician, the politician
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: who kind of gets things right when it comes to
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: political tactics, but he sometimes gets things wrong when it
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: comes to the things that he says in public. And
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  Speaker 1: he's made a big gaff, I would say, although he
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: denies it, of course, talking about a gift from the
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Japanese Prime minister, a couple of melons, and amazingly making
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a hand gesture that many people have interpreted as indicating
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: a pair of breasts.
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  Speaker 3: Got a couple of melons, she brought two she brought too,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: as you do.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: She just came in looking like Pamela RNs.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: How on earth did Anthony Albanezi think that that would fly?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: There are two problems. One, Anthony Albanezi often makes a
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: mistake and his immediate response is to deny. Mistake, deny,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: and then he gets caught into a web of trying
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: to justify the denial. Now I understand that the prime minister,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: all the politicians have to do podcasts and FM radio
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: and do soft young stuff to attract the younger voters.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: I understand that, but really you also have to apply
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the normal standards of in this case the Prime minister.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: And so while you can do all sorts of things
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: on crazy radio programs with Whipper and Snipper or whatever,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: but you have to actually still behave as the Prime
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Minister in a wider aspect because these things and this podcast,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: everyone sees them. It's not some little focus that only
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: a few people see. It's out there, it's in the interweb.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Everyone can see it. Remember the case where he did
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: a silly game and described the former Australian of the Year,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Grace Tame as difficult. Now, she came back at him hard.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: He got into a lot of strife over that, and
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: she described him as a condescending old man.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: She has had a difficult life and that was what
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: I was referring to. And what Grace Tame has done
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: is to turn that difficult experience that she had in
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: there being a strong advocate for others, which is why
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: she received quite rightly.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: So this is typical of the Prime Minister who makes
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: a mistake and immediately denies and then feels having denied it,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: he must continue with the story. This is what has
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: happened here, he went on. He did the interview, He
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: agreed to do the interview, knowing the nature of the show.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: He got drawn in to jokes which were primarily made
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: by the interviewer. That's true, she didn't even know the
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Japanese Prime Minister was a female, and so started this
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: whole conversation about melon's And of course this was after
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: he'd already played the Shagg married date game and nominated.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Although he said I've only been married for six months
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: and still bonking like rabbits. He then went on to say, oh,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: you know, Kylie Minogue's my choice. He married Kylie and
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  Speaker 2: Shagg and Data. Now this was appalling behavior and all
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: he had to do was say, oh, look, no, I'm
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  Speaker 2: not going to play that game. You'd think so after
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: having played a game with Grace tame and come unstuck,
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  Speaker 2: he's saying no, he didn't mean it, and so forth.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Several days later, when the funeral broke out and the
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Australian started to say this is beyond the pal he
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: issued a one line apology from his office and then
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: he jetted off to the South Pacific and in the Albanese.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: His office issued a statement saying I apologize unequivocally for
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the comments, so that, as far as he was concerned,
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  Speaker 2: was the end of the matter. And it was essentially
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: the end of the matter. But the former Japanese ambassador
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Shingo Yagani, who had a very rocky relationship with the
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Albanezer government, wrote a piece for The Australian saying that
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  Speaker 2: this was disrespt becktful and had damaged or could damage
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the relationship between Australia and Japan. And what we've seen
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  Speaker 2: now that it's got completely out of hand, It has
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  Speaker 2: got completely out of hand because now all the government
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  Speaker 2: ministers are in denial as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, all the women are having to come out and say,
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  Speaker 1: oh the Prime Minister has been.
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  Speaker 2: Misinterpreted, particularly the women.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, with the thing about shag Mary date, he could
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: have said, you know, I'm nearly married. He did say
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: I'm only married six months. You know, I've only got
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: ayes for Jodie like no one else could ever possibly
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: cross my raidar and just sort of you know, stonewall
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: that question about because she insisted who would you choose
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: out of Kylie to other people.
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  Speaker 2: And he started to say, oh, I've only been married
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  Speaker 2: six months. That resistance lasted about ten seconds, and then
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  Speaker 2: she said, ill, let's just pretend if everything went titchen,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Let's just pretend. Oh Kylie, clearly, I mean, what sort
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  Speaker 2: of language is this? And now what has happened. We
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: have seen the use of a cable from Japan, a
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  Speaker 2: very friendly cable saying and I've seen it. It says, Look,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: we understand there was a sensationalized coverage of this matter,
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  Speaker 2: and we want to ensure you we believe there was
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: no ill intent, and we also want to make sure
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: that you don't continue to persist the idea that the
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Japanese Prime Minister had smuggled in illegally melons to Australia.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: This was part of the cultural attack.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: The arrival of the melons into Australia is a big
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: deal for Japan. Writer. It's the premiere agricultural expert. They're
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: very proud of it. It's finally got approval to be
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  Speaker 1: sold in Australia. I think they cost three hundred dollars each,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: these melons, so it's a big deal for them.
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  Speaker 2: Oh and this was the beauty of the gift. It
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  Speaker 2: was not just the fact that they were now allowed
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: into the country. These gifts are given as ceremonial gifts
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: to heads of state, they are given to corporate executives.
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  Speaker 2: They are treated with enormous respect. I've been in Japan.
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  Speaker 2: I've taken one of those melons to somebody who was
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: having me for dinner, and they put it in front
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  Speaker 2: of the altar for the ancestors. This is how it
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: is treated. And the Prime Minister starts making jokes about it,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: or engages in jokes about it so he can now see, oh,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: the problem is I may have accepted some sexualized comments
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: about the Japanese Prime minister and so on, and decides
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: I will release a cable showing that they didn't really
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: take offense. This is part of the media defense. But
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  Speaker 2: this is now where we are on deeper strife, because
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: what the Prime Minister's office and the Prime Minister have
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  Speaker 2: done is to then disclose what was a further gesture
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  Speaker 2: of respect and cooperation from the Japanese government and the
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Japanese Prime Minister to say, we understand this is a
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: problem for you. We are even describing it as sensationalized.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Then the offer came. We won't say anything about it
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  Speaker 2: because this will keep it quiet and allow the media
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: to move on. What have we now seen. We've now
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: seen cables coming out actually disclosing this gracious offer from
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: the Japanese. Now there are reports that the Japanese diplomats
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: are surprised that this has come out. This is now
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  Speaker 2: becoming a diplomatic incident when all it was was a
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  Speaker 2: dumb media idea and it's been fed by a denial
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  Speaker 2: which is now supported by the Minister for Women Katie Gallagher.
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  Speaker 1: He is a big supporter of women. He respects women.
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  Speaker 2: I accept that he did not intend those comments to
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  Speaker 2: he made the way that some media were reporting them.
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  Speaker 1: It's an important relationship. He has a good relationship, Katie Gallagher,
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  Speaker 1: Tanni Plibusek. These are the people out there when Scott
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  Speaker 1: Morrison says, oh I asked Jenny what she thought about
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  Speaker 1: the Britney Higgins story, or when Tony Abbott talks about
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  Speaker 1: the Housewives of Australia doing their ironing, these are the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: attack for somen't they out there saying this is misogyny
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  Speaker 1: And Katie Gallagher's line of argument was there's no greater
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: supporter of women than the Prime Minister, like, I don't
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  Speaker 1: think anyone actually thinks Anthony Albanezi as a misogynist or
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  Speaker 1: a sexist. That's not really the point, isn't that Isn't
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  Speaker 1: that just another deflection of.
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  Speaker 2: Course, And Katie Gallagher was using this argument and tender
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  Speaker 2: Plevus said the same thing. Oh, look the relationship hasn't
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  Speaker 2: been affected. Well, we're not really suggesting the relationship has
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  Speaker 2: been affected. Japan is too mature for that. So I
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  Speaker 2: think this is the problem, that this mania of media control,
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  Speaker 2: of this fear of apologizing, a fear of appearing to
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  Speaker 2: make a mistake, a fusual to make other than a
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  Speaker 2: very bare apology which was really directed at Kylie Minogue,
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  Speaker 2: the Prime Minister has now turned this into an area
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  Speaker 2: of diplomatic trust. Japanese cables conveniently using the term sensationalized
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  Speaker 2: saying there's no ill intent and we won't take offense
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  Speaker 2: or action to help you out of your problem. They've
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  Speaker 2: just put themselves deeper into the problem in a whole
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  Speaker 2: different context.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up more, Dennis, we'll be back after this break.
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  Speaker 1: You've written in The Australian Dennis that Anthony Albaneze is
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  Speaker 1: having a bit of a midterm slump, and this is
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  Speaker 1: something that does happen to governments. His personal approval is down,
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  Speaker 1: the overall is down in terms of Newspop polling numbers.
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  Speaker 1: How does this fit into that? I mean, is this
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  Speaker 1: a prime minister under pressure and kind of losing his judgment,
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  Speaker 1: a bit exhausted after all this time in government, kind
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  Speaker 1: of struggling to regather himself or or not? Is it
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  Speaker 1: something else?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think to a degree it does plan. Certainly
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  Speaker 2: Anthony Alberinasi is aware of the dangers of the mid
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  Speaker 2: term slump. All governments go through them. Some leaders get
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: them and then ultimately don't recover and lose their leadership.
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  Speaker 2: Julia Giller, Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott all suffered
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  Speaker 2: big falls and lost the leadership. Now I'm not suggesting
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  Speaker 2: Anthony Alberinas's in that same position, but he is so alert,
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  Speaker 2: he is so attuned to those changes in leadership into
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the polling and his own standing, that he will be concerned.
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  Speaker 2: He wants to go in. He told his caucus meeting
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: on Monday that he wants to go through after the
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: winter break in and completely reset for twenty twenty seven,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: the year before the election. He's thinking of clearing out
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: the problems migration, defense and Japanese melons. This is one
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: of the things he needs to clear out, and so
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: it's on his mind. And so in the background, we've
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: got a dead dog of a budget. The Prime Minister
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: knows that, he knows they're in trouble because of the
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: budget and what have we got. He's trying to clear
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: off everything he can and one idiotic decision to go
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  Speaker 2: on a podcast and partake in crude jokes has made
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  Speaker 2: a problem for him and the denial made it even worse.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: And that's what he's worried about, is the way this
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: contributes to the wider decline. And that's why Anthony Albernas
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: is so careful about silly mistakes and how they can
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: get out of hand. Well, I've got news for him.
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  Speaker 2: This one's got out of hand.
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  Speaker 1: Dennis Shanahan, thank you very.
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  Speaker 2: Much, Thanks Claire.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Dennis Shanahan is The Australian's national editor. You can check
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: out his work anytime at The Australian dot com dot
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  Speaker 1: au