00:01Liberal MP Mary Aldred asked the Prime Minister a couple of questions about his appearance
00:07on this podcast. This was a few weeks back. It was filmed in The Lodge, his prime ministerial
00:12residence here in Canberra, with a comedian. And the comedian was asking him about a strange
00:17gift, effectively, that he'd received from a counterpart overseas. And he talked about
00:23these melons that he had received from the Japanese Prime Minister on her recent visit
00:28to Australia. When he was talking about that, he made a gesture with his hands in front of
00:33his chest. And look, this podcast was a few weeks ago. It was the same one that he made
00:37comments about Kylie Minogue on. But this has resurfaced in recent days because a former
00:43Japanese ambassador here in Canberra criticised that interaction between the Prime Minister
00:50and this comedian in the podcast. And since then, we've seen politicians, including on
00:55the opposition benches, call for the Prime Minister to make an apology. Now, he responded
01:01for the first time during question time today. He didn't make an apology, but this is how
01:06it unfolded.
01:07On the Deep Bush podcast, filmed at The Lodge, the Prime Minister made a series of foul-mouthed,
01:15classless comments about women. Will the Prime Minister personally apologise to the Prime Minister
01:23of Japan, Her Excellency Sane-e Takachi, for his disrespectful behaviour?
01:31Good.
01:32Call to the Prime Minister.
01:34Thanks, Mr Speaker. I reject the assertion in the question.
01:38Australia and Japan have never been closer or more strategically long. And my government
01:44has taken our special strategic partnership to new heights.
01:49The PM there in question time a little earlier today. And Evelyn, on another issue, the government's
01:53been trying to get these gambling reforms through Parliament, but it's faced a fair bit of opposition
01:59from the opposition and the crossbenchers. What's the latest on the wheeling and dealing trying
02:03to get that legislation through?
02:06Yeah, Jo, the government says that they want to pass this legislation within the sitting fortnight.
02:11And we know that the Prime Minister is having another meeting today with opposition leader
02:15Angus Taylor. They met yesterday as well. So the signs through that sort of continued negotiation
02:21is that it's going well from the government's perspective. They're hoping to, of course, get
02:25support because they do need support from others in the Senate to be able to pass any legislation.
02:30And they were certainly facing criticism from across the Parliament that this wasn't strong
02:35enough after. We were hearing evidence in recent days in an inquiry in Parliament that particularly
02:42the issue of gambling inducements was causing a lot of harm for people who are gambling addicts.
02:48And we heard about some, you know, really bad experiences about people claiming that they
02:53were being offered illicit drugs to keep them sort of hooked into gambling, which the betting
02:57companies did deny or say there was no evidence of. So it seems like there will be further action
03:03on inducements, whether that is sort of a full restriction or ruling out. That seems unlikely,
03:09but certainly further restrictions. The Prime Minister does seem open to that. So exactly the
03:15timing about how this will play out. It's not clear when they'll reach a deal, but there are further
03:20negotiations today. And we've been told too that the government is still speaking with the Greens
03:25as well. So really looking across Parliament to try and get support on this crackdown on gambling
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