The debasement of Australian politics could scarcely get much lower thanks to our witless Prime Minister and more than a few of his Ministers.

Presumably at the direction of his own staff, Anthony Albanese has taken Labor down a ‘low road’ only to find no handy exits on the way.

As a result of defective navigational advice from the Prime Minister’s own office – Albanese has rightly been held up to ridicule for an appalling gaffe in which he appeared to link prized Shizuoka Crown melons with the anatomy of Japan’s female leader.

The mere spectacle of our Prime Minister being led like a ‘lamb to the slaughter’ by Australian radio and television personality, Nikki Osborne, was bad enough – but to see him ‘play’ to the idiocy of the discussion was jaw-dropping.

His juvenile words and hand gestures were obviously aimed at deriving cheap laughs from Osbourne’s audience. No other interpretation is possible.

The twenty-something hipsters advising Albanese would say the interview wasn’t for the over-60s demographic. They’re right of course, but this interview was in the public domain for all to see.

The Prime Minister’s office cannot say the show was merely lighthearted and intended for one subset of the electorate. It has been seen across Australia, in Japan and doubtless across the world. Now, the Japanese government itself has stepped in to rescue our Prime Minister from a mess entirely of his making. Few countries place as much emphasis on diplomacy and its nuances than Japan.

Their Ambassador has issued a statement saying ‘no offence was taken’ by the Prime Minister’s behaviour. Those experienced in diplomacy this means precisely that offence has been taken – but set aside in light of the importance of the bilateral economic and security imperatives between our two countries.

In less than twenty minutes Albanese demeaned women, diminished Australia in the eyes of Japan, dramatically weakened his standing and that of his office with voters in Australia while at same time making himself look a blithering idiot.

The exchange between the Prime Minister and Osbourne was undergraduate humour at its worst. But what has been more galling is the efforts of senior Ministers – including the Foreign Minister and the Treasurer no less – to defend the overtly indefensible. To see loyalists hypocritically tripping over themselves to defend the Prime Minister shows vividly the erosion of political standards in Australia and the depth of the malaise facing our body politic.

The week for Albanese will come back to haunt him as the federal election appears on the 2028 horizon.

He would do well to do the right and decent thing and apologise for his reckless remarks and actions.

This test for Albanese matters. If he fails the test he will have gone some considerable way to digging his own political grave.

Your time starts now Albo.