PM apologises for saying he would shag Kylie Minogue during podcast game

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologised "unequivocally" for saying he would shag Kylie Minogue during a game on a podcast. In the episode of the Bush Deep podcast, published on Friday, the prime minister was asked by host Nikki Osborne to play a game of "shag, marry, date". "Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman or Rhonda Burchmore?" Ms Osborne asked the prime minister. Mr Albanese did not initially answer, and said he had "only just got married" and was "only six months in". But when pressed about what would happen if his marriage broke down, Mr Albanese said, "Oh, Kylie clearly." "You'd marry Kylie and shag her and date her?" Ms Osborne asked. "All of the above," Mr Albanese replied. During the podcast, Mr 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. On Monday, the prime minister released a statement through his office apologising. "I apologise unequivocally for the comments," he said. Comments condemned by female parliamentarians Community Strong MP Zali Steggall labelled the comments "entirely inappropriate" and said Mr Albanese should never have participated in the game. "He needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist," she said. Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson also condemned the prime minister and said "Australians deserve better". "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," she said. "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." Government frontbencher Tanya Plibersek had earlier defended Mr Albanese's track record, and said the government had strong credentials on women's equality. "I'm not going to comment on a podcast I haven't heard. I've heard a few seconds of it," Ms Plibersek said on Monday morning, before Mr Albanese issued his apology. "If what the prime minister is saying is that he's a fan of Kylie Minogue, I guess that puts him in a group with millions of other Australians, including me." Acting Prime Minister Richard Males, stepping in for Mr Albanese while he is on a diplomatic tour of the Pacific, told RN Breakfast the government was "utterly committed" to the elevation of women in society. "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," he said. Ms Osborne has been contacted for comment.