News Corp masthead The Australian has apologised to the ABC following the publication of readers’ comments which called to burn down the national broadcaster’s Ultimo head office.

The comments, which were posted under a story titled ABC warned of cladding dangers at Ultimo HQ, joked about the building becoming a “towering inferno’ and asked for someone to “hurry up with the matches.”

Yesterday morning, the ABC’s acting head of communications, Sally Jackson called out the comments on Twitter and asked The Australian if they were appropriate.

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Last year the ABC revamped security at its Ultimo office following various inflammatory media comments including a Quadrant by online editor Roger Franklin calling for the ABC to be bombed.

Mumbrella understands complaints were made by ABC staff to The Australian’s senior management before the paper apologised for the comments through its Twitter account and in a footnote to the original story.

The Australian has been running a critical campaign against the ABC in recent years, with regular articles and opinion columns attacking the national broadcaster.

George Megalogenis, a former columnist for The Australian and now ABC contributor, called on the paper to drop its vendetta against the organisation.

Mumbrella has contacted The Australian and the ABC for further comment.