MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Senator LIDDLE (South Australia—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (16:55): 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.