Yet some persistent media coverage of the prime minister’s comments – which were made last month on a podcast that encourages guests to shed any staidness – has elevated the matter to a crisis.

In what sense is it a "crisis"? Right wingers went to the media out of desperation and the media is happily reporting on it because any controversy involving the prime minister, even a completely fake and manufactured one, brings in some revenue for them. No one who matters (i.e. Labor voters) actually cares about this.