Anthony Albanese has refused to apologise for his melon gaffe, as the Coalition calls on the Australian Federal Police to investigate allegations that confidential correspondence between the Prime Minister’s office and the Japanese government was leaked.

The fallout continues a month after Albanese made cringeworthy remarks about his Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi, during a controversial appearance on comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast.

He reflected on being gifted two ‘beautiful’ Shizuoka-grown melons during Takaichi’s recent visit to Australia after Osborne jokingly asked whether Japan’s first female PM had ‘smuggled’ the highly prized fruit through customs.

The Japanese government wrote to the Prime Minister’s Department last month, suggesting the matter had been the subject of ‘sensationalised reporting in the Australian media’.

Japan reassured Australia that it did not believe there was any ‘ill intention’ in Albanese’s comments, adding that ‘no action’ would be taken to ‘allow the Australian media to move on’.

Federal Opposition frontbenchers Ted O’Brien and James Paterson have written to the AFP expressing concerns that a diplomatic note from one of Australia’s closest allies may have been leaked to the media without authorisation.

‘Given that communications between governments can be classified, it is possible that this disclosure is a criminal offence,’ they wrote.

‘It is critically important that Australia’s bilateral partners believe that their confidential correspondence will be handled appropriately by the Australian government … it would be gravely damaging to our national interest if they formed the view that the Australian government does not take unauthorised disclosure seriously by promptly investigating it.’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faces growing backlash over his cringeworthy ‘melons’ comment about Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi

Anthony Albanese has refused to apologise for the gaffe on the Bush Deep podcast

The ongoing saga sparked a fiery clash between Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and Coalition senator Michaelia Cash on Sunrise on Wednesday.

The minister accused the Coalition of losing the plot and wasting police resources.

‘My personal view is that the AFP should be allowed to focus on their job, which is keeping Australians safe and fighting crime,’ O’Neil said.

‘We’ve got people watching right now who have got big and important problems in their lives.

‘They’re probably sitting next to a pile of bills on the kitchen counter that they’re not sure how they’re going to be able to pay.

‘They’re worried about how they’re going to pay for the next load of groceries, how they’re going to fill up the car, thinking about Medicare and the kind of education their kids are getting at school.

‘Michaelia could be coming to Canberra and advocating for those issues that matter to people at home, instead of trying to perpetuate this ridiculous thing.’

A fired-up Cash interrupted and hit back, accusing O’Neil of defending the Prime Minister’s ‘grubby, dirty comments’.

The ongoing saga sparked a fiery on-air clash between Housing Clare O’Neil and Coalition senator Michaelia Cash on Wednesday morning

‘I actually think the hypocrisy from the Labor women like Clare, that is an utter disgrace,’ she said.

‘Your side of politics, and in particular the women, all you like to do is lecture others.

‘But when it is your Prime Minister demeaning himself, demeaning Australians and worse than that, making those dirty, grubby comments about the female Prime Minister of Japan, apparently that is okay.

‘Well, I can tell you right now, Clare, it is not. And you are quite frankly showing the Australian people when it comes to Labor women, there are two standards. The standard that you want the rest of us to abide by.’

On Tuesday, Senator Paterson grilled Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong over the matter , branding the leaking of the letter as a ‘desperate attempt to clean up the prime minister’s self-inflicted melon mess’ that risked a critical bilateral relationship.

Wong accused the Opposition of ‘confecting a diplomatic issue’.

Earlier this week, Albanese pushed back against suggestions his remarks were a crude joke about Takaichi’s anatomy.

‘This assertion is wrong.’

Meanwhile, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has become the latest politician to weigh in on the controversy.

The Coalition has called on the AFP to investigate accusations of leaked confidential correspondence between Albanese’s office and Japan over the PM’s melon gaffe

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the controversial remarks on Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast last month

‘Something’s missing – Albanese met with Japan’s Prime Minister but appears to have misplaced his melons,’ she wrote on X.

‘Albanese declared the art vinyl record-storage cabinet she gave him. But there is no sign of the Royal Crown melon on his parliamentary disclosure. Or was it a couple of melons? Some of these melons can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

‘And that’s not the only juicy detail missing from the public record.

‘Bush Deep, the podcast where Albanese discussed his melons, appears to be his only recent podcast interview without a transcript on the PM’s official media page.

‘For a government elected on a promise of transparency, only one question remains: Prime Minister, where’s the melon?’

During the podcast, Albanese also sparked outrage by playing a game of ‘shag, marry or date’.

Albanese was asked to play the game involving Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore, choosing which celebrity he would sleep with, marry or date.

Responding to the question, the Prime Minister said: ‘I’ve just got married. I’m only six months in.’

‘But if it goes tits up?’ Osborne hit back.

‘Kylie, clearly,’ he replied.

‘You’d marry Kylie? And shag her? And date her?’ questioned Osborne.

‘All of the above,’ replied Albanese. ‘She’s terrific.’

Elsewhere in the podcast interview, Osborne asked if Albanese and his new wife Jodie Haydon were ‘bonking like rabbits’.

‘Well, when we have time,’ he replied.

‘After the footy. It’s always a good aphrodisiac, a Souths win,’ he added, referencing the couple’s chosen NRL team.