The communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has defended the ABC against accusations of leftist bias, saying the publicly-funded broadcaster holds politicians of all persuasions to account.

Turnbull appeared on conservative commentator Andrew Bolt’s Sunday morning program, where the host asked him several questions on whether the ABC is biased.

Bolt said the ABC was “campaigning against the budget” and that its interviews after the document was released on Tuesday night were unbalanced and partial.

The communications minister repeatedly refused to classify the coverage in those terms.

“I think the ABC, like most media organisations, is determined to hold the government, any government, up to account, and politicians, of course, always feel that the media is too critical,” Turnbull told Bolt.

“I wouldn’t characterise all those people [ABC interviewers] as leftist – that’s far too strong a term,” he continued. “They’re certainly to the left of you. You are a conservative commentator and you have every right to be. You have a right to bias that the ABC does not.

“As a conservative, I believe it is important to have a wide range of views and competing opinions. The big difference with the ABC is that unlike Channel Ten, unlike the Australian or the Telegraph, they have to be impartial.”

Turnbull conceded that some of the ABC’s post-budget interviews were aggressive, but said it was not up to him to interfere in the day-to-day running of the broadcaster.

“Yes, the ABC is in my portfolio. I have no right, no power – nor should I have – to direct the editorial content of the ABC,” he said.

“The ABC gives us politicians – indeed, all politicians – an enormous amount of air time,” Turnbull said. “But you’ve got to remember, as a politician, that as long as that microphone is open, you can say whatever you like and you’ve got that ability to channel, directly, to the people who support you.”



He agreed with Bolt’s assertions that on balance journalists from all media organisations were more liberal than conservative.

“I do think the ABC and the journalists of the ABC, if you like, lean more to the left than to the right. But you would say that about most journalists,” he said.