Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has demanded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologise to his Japanese counterpart over comments he made about a “couple of melons” she gifted him, which he has denied was a sexual innuendo about the leader’s breasts.

The attack on Albanese is the second time his appearance on comedian Nikki Osbourne’s Bush Deep podcast last month has faced the national spotlight, after the prime minister was forced to apologise for saying he wanted to “shag” pop-star Kylie Minogue on the same program.

Speaking at a Canberra press conference on Monday morning, Taylor said: “The comments were beneath the office of prime minister. They were insulting, and the prime minister should make a personal apology.”

“The hypocrisy of Labor and the prime minister on this topic knows no bounds, no bounds whatsoever,” Taylor said.

During a visit to Australia earlier this year, Sanae Takaichi gifted Albanese a pair of “crown melons”, a gift often reserved for special occasions and offered as a mark of respect. In the subsequent podcast appearance, the prime minister at one point held his hands out in what many have interpreted as a gesture representing large breasts.

Osbourne joked during the interaction that Takaichi had “smuggled” the melons into the country and was “looking like Pamela Anderson”.

“She brought two, as you do … and they are beautiful,” Albanese said during the appearance.

A spokesperson for Albanese has denied the interaction was an innuendo.

During the same appearance, Albanese also suggested he scheduled sex with his wife, Jodie Haydon, after watching football, saying wins for his NRL team the South Sydney Rabbitohs were “always a good aphrodisiac”.

Appearing alongside Taylor at Monday’s press conference was deputy leader Jane Hume, who said the comments were “grubby” and “inappropriate”.

“If you offend a woman, you should apologise to that woman. You should apologise personally, not in a statement. I think that the prime minister owes the prime minister of Japan a personal apology,” Hume said.

“The fact that the prime minister has taken so long to make that apology, I think speaks volumes of the man’s character.”

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek, one of the most senior women in Albanese’s cabinet, backed the prime minister, arguing that the comments were being incorrectly interpreted.

“I completely disagree with that interpretation of what the prime minister was saying … I think people can make their own minds, and they have,” Plibersek told Seven’s Sunrise on Monday morning.

Appearing alongside the minister was One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce, who attempted to speak over Plibersek, and said Albanese’s remarks were “100 per cent wrong”.

“That’s a really dangerous thing to say, Tanya … He’s an influence. You just got to be really careful ... It certainly has created a massive problem with one of our major partners, economic partners. I know in your heart, Tanya, you know it’s wrong, okay.”

Albanese and members of the Labor government have regularly spoken about the government’s pride in electing a majority female caucus, having gender parity in cabinet, and appointing women to high-ranking public service positions.

The government has also campaigned at length on its partnerships in the Pacific, arguing that Labor under Albanese has restored respect to relationships with foreign partners following the tenure of the former Coalition government.