Australia PM under fire for remarks on Japanese counterpart's melon gifts

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under fire for comments he made about two melons gifted to him by his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi, after a former Japanese envoy called it an insult.

During an appearance on the Bush Deep podcast, Albanese gestured near his chest while referring to the crown melons, calling them "pretty strange" gifts that "ended up being quite good".

That episode, which aired in July, had already landed the PM in hot water because of "inappropriate" comments he made about popstar Kylie Minogue.

Opposition leaders are now demanding he apologise to Takaichi, but Albanese's position is that it was the host who made the joke, not him, the BBC understands.

While discussing the melons Takaichi's team had presented to Albanese during her visit to Australia in May, the host of Bush Deep, comedian Nikki Osborne, quipped: "She brought two... She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson."

"She brought two, and they are beautiful," Albanese responded.

The exchange, which drew relatively little interest when the episode aired, has resurfaced after Tokyo's former ambassador to Canberra Shingo Yamagami labelled Albanese's comments a "sexist joke" and said they "betrayed the close bond" between Japan and Australia.

"The last thing [Takaichi] expected was to be so casually mocked by the trusted leader of Japan's special strategic partner," he wrote in an opinion piece published by The Australian on Monday.