The Project, on which Price is a regular commentator, aired much of the segment on Tuesday evening before inviting the broadcaster to respond. Van Badham speaks to Steve Price as George Brandis looks on. Credit:ABC TV "Do you have any regrets?" Project host Carrie Bickmore asked. "No," Price responded, "Because I think I accurately described how Van Badham was behaving." Price was widely criticised for this and another comment, where he interjected to tell Badham: "just because you're a woman doesn't mean you're the only person who can get upset about this."

The comment caused Mr Chawla to put his hand over his mouth, and spurred condemnation on social media that included the hashtag #shutupsteveprice trending on Twitter. Steve Price representing the under-represented 'old white men'. Credit:Channel 10 Price said he had been "verballed" by Badham on the issue of domestic violence, which he takes very seriously, and he had arranged to meet with Mr Chawla to discuss the issue. "I'm just disappointed that this story today has become about me. I think all the energy that has been put into this discussion today should be put into solving the problem as opposed to just piling in on top of me. I don't think that achieves anything," he said. Tarang Chawla puts his hand over his mouth as Steve Price speaks to Van Badham on Q&A. Credit:ABC

"I didn't make it about me, Van Badham made it about me. She tried to suggest that I would somehow be involved in a joke like that [made about Caroline Wilson]. She turned it on me. She had, clearly, an objective to make me the bad guy. That's OK, that's her schtick, that's what she does." Price said he had been told there would be a question about the Caroline Wilson controversy, but he had been "ambushed" when he went to air. "The way I was ambushed last night was the producer, who said that question would be asked, didn't tell me that the person asking that question would be the victim of such horrific family violence," Price said. "I didn't try to turn anything into theatre, but I'm not going to be verballed by an aggressive woman sitting next to me who thinks you can only be upset by domestic violence if you're female." Bickmore said she was "surprised" by Price's reaction to the Q&A question, in that he "didn't immediately want to show compassion".

She pointed out he had been given a second chance to acknowledge the questioner and his experience, "and you still brought it back to defending Eddie". "I think the issue is, this is not about Eddie, this is not about you, that's the point she was trying to make last night," Bickmore said. Co-host Waleed Aly highlighted Price's use of the word "hysterical", which he described as "loaded". "Using that word to describe me would be different, because for 4000 years women were described as hysterical as a way of trying to say they were irrational, incapable of being reasonable because they had ovaries," Aly said. (Badham had retorted at the time, "It is probably my ovaries making me do it, Steve", which also inspired the hashtag #MyOvariesMadeMe on Twitter.)

However, despite this explanation, Price maintained his use of the word had not been inappropriate. "I will describe things as I see them," he said. "I don't need to change my behaviour in that area."