MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Senator SHARMA (New South Wales) (16:38): 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.