{"id":17853,"date":"2026-07-06T14:50:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T02:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=17853"},"modified":"2026-07-06T14:50:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T02:50:27","slug":"australias-pm-apologises-for-saying-he-would-shag-kylie-minogue-during-podcast-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=17853","title":{"rendered":"Australia&#8217;s PM apologises for saying he would shag Kylie Minogue during podcast game"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologised &#8220;unequivocally&#8221; for saying he would shag Kylie Minogue during a game on a podcast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">In the episode of the\u00a0<em class=\"italic\">Bush Deep\u00a0<\/em>podcast, published on Friday, the prime minister was asked by host Nikki Osborne to play a game of &#8220;shag, marry, date&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman or Rhonda Burchmore?&#8221; Osborne asked the prime minister.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Albanese did not initially answer, and said he had &#8220;only just got married&#8221; and was &#8220;only six months in&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">But when pressed about what would happen if his marriage broke down, Albanese said, &#8220;Oh, Kylie clearly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;You&#8217;d marry Kylie and shag her and date her?&#8221; Osborne asked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;All of the above,&#8221; Albanese replied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">During the podcast, Albanese also made comments about his sex life with wife Jodie Haydon and said that a South Sydney Rugby League team win was a good aphrodisiac.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">On Monday, the prime minister released a statement through his office apologising.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;I apologise unequivocally for the comments,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"[&amp;_h2]:text-md [&amp;_h3]:text-md [&amp;_h4]:text-md clear-left mb-12 pt-16\">\n<h3 class=\"text-md-lg leading-snug [&amp;_em]:font-sans-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-sans-italic font-sans-semibold\">Comments condemned by female parliamentarians<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Community Strong MP Zali Steggall labelled the comments &#8220;entirely inappropriate&#8221; and said Albanese should never have participated in the game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;He needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson also condemned the prime minister, saying: &#8220;Australians deserve better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;Rather than politely decline to engage, Mr Albanese got into the gutter with his grubby remarks, which show extremely poor judgement at a time when trust in Labor is collapsing,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;Mr Albanese&#8217;s crude locker room talk makes a mockery of Labor&#8217;s claim to be champions of women. How low can this prime minister go? Australians deserve better than this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Government frontbencher Tanya Plibersek had earlier defended Albanese&#8217;s track record, and said the government had strong credentials on women&#8217;s equality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to comment on a podcast I haven&#8217;t heard. I&#8217;ve heard a few seconds of it,&#8221; Plibersek said on Monday morning, before Albanese issued his apology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;If what the prime minister is saying is that he&#8217;s a fan of Kylie Minogue, I guess that puts him in a group with millions of other Australians, including me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, stepping in for Albanese while he is on a diplomatic tour of the Pacific, told\u00a0<em class=\"italic\">RN Breakfast\u00a0<\/em>the government was &#8220;utterly committed&#8221; to the elevation of women in society.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;From time to time, we obviously do different interviews to the one we are doing now, but I think the other point to make here is that 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,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">ABC News has contacted Kylie Minogue&#8217;s team and Osborne for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Source: ABC &amp; RNZ<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologised &#8220;unequivocally&#8221; for saying he would shag Kylie Minogue during a game on a podcast. In the episode of the\u00a0Bush Deep\u00a0podcast, published on Friday, the prime minister was asked by host Nikki Osborne to play a game of &#8220;shag, marry, date&#8221;. &#8220;Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman or Rhonda Burchmore?&#8221; Osborne [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17855,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17853\/revisions\/17855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}