Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologised after drawing criticism for remarks he made about Kylie Minogue during a podcast appearance.
The backlash came after Albanese appeared on comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast, which was published on Friday, July 3, 2026, and featured a quick-fire “shag, marry, date” segment involving Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore.
He initially tried to avoid answering, pointing out that he had only recently married.
“I’m only six months in,” Albanese added.
Osborne then urged him to play along.
“But if it goes tits up, let’s just pretend.”
Albanese eventually gave his answer.
“Kylie, clearly,”
Osborne then pressed him again.
“You’d marry Kylie, and shag her, and date her?”
The prime minister then responded:
‘all of the above’
He followed that up by saying:
“She’s terrific.”
During the interview, Albanese also made remarks about his sex life with wife Jodie Haydon and joked that a South Sydney Rabbitohs win was a good aphrodisiac.
The exchange quickly sparked backlash online, with several political opponents arguing the comments were inappropriate.
Community Strong MP Zali Steggall said Albanese should have rejected the line of questioning and criticised his response as sexist.
“He needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist.”
Shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson also condemned the comments, saying they were disrespectful and reflected badly on the office of prime minister.
“Mr Albanese’s crude locker room talk makes a mockery of Labor’s claim to be champions of women. How low can this prime minister go? Australians deserve better than this.”
After the criticism intensified, Albanese’s office issued a brief apology on Monday, July 6, 2026.
“I apologise unequivocally for the comments,” the one-line statement said.
Not everyone in politics joined the criticism, however. Labor minister Tanya Plibersek and acting prime minister Richard Marles both defended Albanese.
Plibersek said on Channel Seven:
“If what the prime minister is saying is he’s a fan of Kylie Minogue, I guess that puts him in a group with millions of other Australians, including me.
“I’m a big fan of Kylie’s as well. What I’d say on women’s equality in this country is no government’s been better for it, and no prime minister’s been better for it.”
Marles also backed the prime minister in an interview on RN Breakfast.
“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.”