LATIKA M BOURKE: Anthony Albanese’s crude Kylie Minogue comment exposes Labor’s feminism double standard

Anthony Albanese’s ‘apology’ for saying he’d shag Kylie Minogue was more than simply a crude, if not creepy, remark from a man who should absolutely know better than to use his prime ministerial position to ogle women in the public eye.

It exposed that hubristic, tin-eared, self-indulgent Albo is back.

And that Labor feminists go AWOL when it comes to holding their own tribe to account.

Mr Albanese’s decision to appear on the comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast did not, in and of itself, have to be a mistake.

Reaching voters who are sick and tired of politicians behaving like entitled louts is a key KPI for any leader. But tapping into alternative genres and formats is also fraught with danger.

Conservatives often make the mistake of wanting to please commentators and interviewers who are more ideological or right-wing on topics than the bulk of the population.

For the left, the trap is trying to look too cool and hip. This is particularly fatal for Mr Albanese, who has a hard time concealing how much more he enjoys the socialite part of his job compared to, say, the denser work of national security.

And this is what happened when Nikki Obsborne opened her trapdoor by sliding into the Prime Minister’s Instagram DMs, inviting him for an interview.

The Prime Minister has been an avid fan of engaging influencers and did not resist the offer, according to Osborne’s clips filmed in the gardens of The Lodge.

The Prime Minister, who makes himself accessible to journalists, eagerly told her that he would never invite the “commercials” — the commercial television interviewers — into his home the way he had done for her.

With a fake copy of his dog Toto, sitting by his lap, the 63-year-old Prime Minister embarked upon a car crash interview.

He happily divulged details of his sex life, saying he and his newlywed wife Jodie Haydon get it on after watching the Rabbitohs play footy. Ew, ew, ew and gross. There is nothing about this overshare that makes him look accessible, friendly or authentic.

It only got worse when he failed to avoid the obvious red siren that sounded when Nikki Osborne played her regular game, asking which of three women he would shag, marry and/or date.

The Prime Minister was either badly briefed by his team on how to deflect this question or not clever enough on his own feet to work out a quip along the lines of: “I don’t know about that, but I can tell you I know that Australians will be screwed if they vote for the false promises of One Nation.”

It is not that hard. But no, the Prime Minister fell hook, line and sinker into reinforcing Australia’s blokes as boorish and crass, when pushed by Osborne about who he would sexually desire.

“Oh, Kylie, clearly,” the Prime Minister responded. The “clearly” was particularly revealing.

The story is a top article on the BBC News today.

This was an own goal from the Prime Minister. This was no gotcha. He was not under pressure. Hell, he was on his own couch, in his own residence, wearing a polo T-shirt, accessorised by a fake dog, trying to be the most authentic Albo he could possibly project.

This was not a mistake; this was his true self, and it betrays his hubris. He did not even have a single key economic message to get across in his interview. He can’t blame click-bait journalists for this one — it was pure self-indulgence.

Would a corporate leader get away with the same behaviour?

Absolutely not, says executive director Mark Gell, who has advised heads of state, corporate leaders and boards.

“Company directors or senior management should not even consider doing interviews such as the one undertaken by the Prime Minister,” Mr Gell said.

“How the Prime Minister was put into this position is beyond me. Then for him to respond the way he did really beggars belief.”

By Monday morning, the Prime Minister had read the room, or the headlines and his office issued a statement to try to kill the story.

“I apologise unequivocally for the comments,” he said in a statement.

But where was the outrage from the Labor women who have long, and mostly rightly, berated any signs of sexism exhibited from the other side of the chamber?

Julia Gillard, who has made an entire post-political career out of a speech casting Tony Abbott as a woman-hater, has so far said nothing.

She is now an infrequent tweeter and claims to not participate, but one of her last social media posts is her photo holding raised hands with the Prime Minister at the Labor Party’s official campaign launch last year.

Behind them, wearing Labor red were Mr Albanese’s feminist praetorian guard, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher.

When The Nightly asked if either had issued any sort of rebuke over the Prime Minister’s comments, the Foreign Minister’s office said she had not conducted any interviews since and Finance Minister said she was on leave.

If Scott Morrison had made such a comment, would Senator Wong have found it so difficult to find a microphone to issue her condemnation?

Similarly, given Katy Gallagher is the Minister for Women, could anyone imagine Labor not finding a stand-in minister to chastise a Liberal for applying the male gaze in such a way?

Tanya Plibersek, who famously insulted Peter Dutton’s looks by likening him to Voldemort, the bald, evil villain in the Harry Potter novels, laughably claimed ignorance as her defence.

The Social Services Minister told Sunrise: “If what the Prime Minister’s saying is that he’s a fan of Kylie Minogue, I guess that puts him in (with) other Australians, including me, including me. I’m a big fan of Kylie’s as well.”

But when Tony Abbott said then Liberal candidate, Fiona Scott had sex appeal, Ms Plibersek said: “I wouldn’t especially like it if it was my leader describing me that way.”

So it’s okay for Albo but not Tony Abbott?

It’s an interesting case to compare. Back then, in 2013, Deborah O’Neill, then a Labor MP and now a Senator, said demeaning Fiona Scott to a “mere sex symbol” was “completely appalling” and made Mr Abbott “unfit to be prime minister”.

The Prime Minister’s loyal deputy Richard Marles said on the ABC: “The Government that the Prime Minister leads is the first government in the nation’s history which has had an equality in terms of the numbers of men and women in cabinet.”

Well, quite, but what’s the point if they only raise their feminist voices when it’s a political attack on the other side.