Malcolm Turnbull, pictured on the broadcaster's 7.30 program, has been a strong supporter of the broadcaster in the past. During the interview, Sales challenged Mr Turnbull on whether Mr Abbott's demand posed risks for the ABC's independence, a point Mr Turnbull said was "very, very fair". Mr Abbott's condition for lifting the boycott has infuriated the ABC board and management, which views it as political interference in the broadcaster's editorial processes. "Well, look, that's the decision the Prime Minister has taken," Mr Turnbull said when asked whether he agreed with the boycott. "I mean, I've been on the record on this in the past. I take the view that wherever there is an open microphone I'm happy to get on the other side of it.

Leigh Sales asked whether it would be a "slippery slope" for the ABC to accede to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Q&A demand. "But the Zaky Mallah incident was a shocking error of judgment. The ABC has acknowledged that. We know all the facts surrounding it. They've issued a warning under the industrial agreement to the executive producer and there have been other changes made as well. "I think the board has responded and is responding, and when its response is complete, that's the point the Prime Minister has decided and he's the boss, he is the CEO. That's the point he has decided the ban will end." Mr Abbott "is not directing the ABC — he is putting pressure on the ABC," Mr Turnbull said. Mr Turnbull said the ABC has made it clear it plans to move Q&A from the television division to news and current affairs.

"I think most people would be rather surprised that Q&A, which is self-evidently a current affairs program, was not in the news and current affairs division already and hadn't always been so. "It makes sense to move it in there." Sales challenged Mr Turnbull on this point, saying Q&A was "an opinion show - it's not in the business of factual news reporting and the rigour that's involved in that". She asked whether it would be a "slippery slope" for the ABC to accede to Mr Abbott's Q&A demand. "Aren't you a whisker away from saying ministers won't appear on 7.30 unless they can speak uninterrupted?" she asked.

"I do understand your point," Mr Turnbull said. "I think that's a very, very fair point. And I'm hopeful that the circumstances that caused this ban to arise will never occur again. "We've just got a settlement with Greece in Europe, the Chinese economy is wobbling, the dollar's plunging, I mean, Q&A is a long, long way from being the most important issue affecting Australians." The Communications Minister defended his call last week for politicians and the media not to overstate the threat of Islamic State, a stance that has been interpreted as a criticism of Mr Abbott's rhetoric on national security. "I think I'm just talking common sense," Mr Turnbull said. "[Islamic State] want people to believe that they are on the move, that they are conquering, that they are powerful, that they are frightening the West, and so the bigger they can appear, the more successful they think they will be in their recruiting.

"So we have to be careful that we don't end up amplifying what they're doing by the way we talk about them. So I think we need to be very objective and very measured and very balanced." Follow us on Twitter