Former vice president Kamala Harris left the audience confused on Sunday during a question and answer session at the Australian Real Estate Conference, as she attempted to share a ‘funny’ story about her mother.

Harris sat with real estate industry veteran John McGrath for over an hour during the conference and recalled that her mother was very focused on women’s reproductive health, which included sharing her thoughts about ‘fibroids’ and ‘hormones.’

‘My mother was actually very funny because she would say, ‘You look at the cover of Playboy magazine, let me just tell you, the reason that people are looking at these things, understand what they were developed for the perpetuation of the human species,’ Harris recalled laughing. ‘She was very practical that way.’

‘A great lady,’ McGrath replied shortly before shifting immediately to another question.

Video of the exchange in Australia emerged on social media as an attendee at the conference recorded and shared it. 

Harris was spotted at the ritzy Mosman’s Bather’s Pavilion restaurant in Sydney, over the weekend and spoke at the conference which cost between $995 and $1695 for a two-day pass to the event. 

Harris also spoke at length about issues important to her but struggled with the concept of humility, circling the idea in a way that suggested she was unclear about what it was.

‘I don’t aspire to be humble. And I don’t recommend it, I think that one must be humble. But to aspire to be humble would be quite inauthentic,’ she said.

‘If one understands that, just, I mean, there’s so much that is magnificent and awe-inspiring about this world and its people. 

Former US vice president Kamala Harris is pictured dining alongside her husband Doug Emhoff at Bather’s Pavillion in Sydney on Friday night

Kamala Harris arrives in Australia for a speaking event 

Kamala Harris, right, with her mother Shyamala Gopalan at a Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco in 2007. Harris shared a story about her mother during her speech. 

‘And when you take the moment to just listen to an individual’s story, whether it’s someone you’re sitting next to on the plane or standing in line with at the grocery store, there is so much about this world that we know and we don’t know. 

‘And that is very humbling to realize the dreams that people have, the struggles that they’ve overcome and the magnificence of that. To realize the beauty of the human spirit, that we are by nature, I think, as a species, we don’t give up.’ 

But Harris wasn’t finished, emphasizing the importance of ambition outside of humility. 

‘Part of the key to our survival is that we are adaptable but we are also ambitious. I applaud ambition. I applaud ambition. I think it is a good thing, to reach, but not without also understanding that in so doing, one must do the hard work. One must understand the context in which they exist. One must be respectful,’ she said.

An attendee makes the sign of a heart with their hands as former US Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage

Kamala Harris speaks onstage during the HumanX AI Conference 2025

 Harris also included throwbacks to famous word-salads of her political career including a mention of being ‘unburdened by what has been,’ the importance of ‘speaking truth’ and being aware of the significance of the ‘passage of time.’

‘I think it’s very important to understand that people who fight for equality, fight for freedom, they see what can be and are unburdened by what has been they believe in what is possible. So even though it may be characterized as a fight, it really is it should I think be thought of in the context of a fight for something as opposed to against something,’ she said.

At one point the moderator said he believed her ‘best work is ahead of you, for sure, 100 percent.’

‘I am unemployed right now,’ she said with a smile. ‘Go on, let’s speak truth.’

When she was asked to give advice to young women in the real estate industry, she repeated her motto about not listening to people who tell them to wait their turn.  

‘I don’t hear no. I eat no for breakfast,’ she said.