The whole of Australia was embarrassed by the prime minister’s grovelling obsequiousness in Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque, apparently to reassure Muslims in Australia after two fanatics of the mosque’s congregation gunned down fifteen Australians in cold blood. He followed that with a $60 million grant to Muslim organisations to help Australians overcome their Islamophobia, another recently created shut-up word.

He followed that with a declaration that he would prefer shagging Kyle Minogue over two other choices. But the doozy was his making fun of the gift the Japanese prime minister gave him during her recent visit. It was a melon that has cultural significance for the Japanese. Naturally, the Japanese were comprehensively pissed off at this airy insult and have broken their cultural reticence and politeness to say so.

It appears that Albanese doesn’t listen to anything outside his narrow range of thought.