Government still dissatisfied with broadcaster’s response to criticism of its reports on asylum seeker claims against navy

Tony Abbott says “sorry seems to be the hardest word” for the ABC as the government remains dissatisfied with the broadcaster’s response to criticisms of its reports about allegations made by asylum seekers against the Australian navy.

Abbott was asked whether the controversy had been ended with a statement issued by the ABC on Tuesday night, in which it defended its decision to air the allegations but conceded “the wording around the ABC’s initial reporting needed to be more precise” and expressed “regret” if its reporting “led anyone to mistakenly assume that the ABC supported the asylum seekers’ claims”.

“I wonder why sorry seems to be the hardest word for them,” Abbott replied.

“My concern as a citizen of our country is to try to ensure that our national broadcaster is fair, is balanced and is accurate, and plainly even [the ABC’s] Media Watch concluded the ABC was none of those things in respect of that particular story.

“What the ABC seemed to do with that particular story was rush to believe accusations that had little if any foundation in fact, accusations which were broadcast in ways that were extremely damaging to the professionalism of navy personnel.”

His comments came after the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, told Guardian Australia that the ABC should have “applied a lot more scepticism at the outset and done more homework” before it aired the allegations.

In its statement, the ABC pointed out that the government’s refusal to discuss Operation Sovereign Borders made it much harder to investigate the allegations, saying “those personnel in a position to provide their own description or explanation of what happened on board the vessel under navy control have not been in a position to resolve the uncertainty because of the ban on discussing operational detail”.

It insisted its report of the allegations – that asylum seekers had suffered burns when navy personnel made them hold on to hot engine pipes as boats were turned back to Indonesia – was “an important story and the ABC makes no apologies for covering it”.

Turnbull told Guardian Australia he fully endorsed the assessment of the controversy about the reports by Media Watch host Paul Barry on Monday night, as well as Barry’s conclusion that the ABC should admit a mistake had been made.

“I think it was a very serious allegation made without due investigation, which has turned out to be wrong, and they should have applied a lot more scepticism at the outset and done more homework,” Turnbull said. “You saw The Australian just tracked down a few more people and got a very different version of events, which was vastly more plausible.

“There is often a tendency in news organisations to be less careful about allegations made against institutions than they are about individuals, presumably because institutions, the navy in this case, can’t sue for defamation.

“But if that allegation had been made against lieutenant X and chief petty officer Y, I don’t think they would have made it given what they had, because they would have known it carried very serious imputations and was worthy of more careful examination.

“It goes almost without saying if you have made a serious allegation that turns out to be false you should correct the record and apologise.

“When a mistake has been made a media organisation’s credibility is not diminished but rather enhanced by promptly correcting it and where offence has been given, apologising for it.”

The ABC said “claims of mistreatment by the Australian military are very serious and a responsible media, acting in the public interest, will need to seek an official response and pursue the truth of the claims. This is exactly what the ABC has done throughout.”

“Asking questions and seeking evidence is in no way disrespectful of such important institutions. It is because these institutions are trusted and important that any allegations concerning them are investigated.

“Allegations by asylum seekers of mistreatment were widely reported across the Australian media in early January. The navy denied the allegations but provided no further information, following the current policy of providing no details of current operations involving asylum seekers at sea.

“Subsequently, the video obtained exclusively by the ABC, showing asylum seekers with burns, along with reports that Indonesian police were investigating the matter, raised further important questions.

“These include: how did the injuries occur, were they linked to the asylum seeker claims of mistreatment or were they obtained as a result of actions or activity whilst under the control of the Australian navy or some other series of events?

“The video also established that the injuries were real. This was a significant development.

“The ABC’s initial reports on the video said that the vision appeared to support the asylum seekers’ claims. That’s because it was the first concrete evidence that the injuries had occurred.

“What the video did not do was establish how those injuries occurred. The wording around the ABC’s initial reporting needed to be more precise on that point.

“We regret if our reporting led anyone to mistakenly assume that the ABC supported the asylum seekers’ claims. The ABC has always presented the allegations as just that – claims worthy of further investigation.”

Turnbull denied that widespread anger in the Coalition about the ABC’s reporting was linked in any way to decisions about the broadcaster’s funding.

He said his newly announced efficiency review of the ABC and SBS had not been instructed to come up with any level of savings, but added: “I would be surprised if it did not identify some.”