Melissa Price has said she can’t “recall the complete conversation” in which three witnesses say she disparaged Pacific nations to the former president of Kiribati but maintains the version provided by Labor’s Pat Dodson is incorrect.

Under fire from Labor for misleading the House, the environment minister qualified her remarks that she “100% disagreed” with Dodson by adding in question time on Thursday that she did not recall the entire “very pleasant and light-hearted conversation”.

On Wednesday the senator wrote to the minister declaring he was “appalled” by her remarks to the visiting Pacific official Anote Tong on Tuesday night during a chance encounter at a Canberra restaurant.

Dodson says he introduced Price to Tong at the restaurant and she then said: “I know why you are here, it’s for the cash. For the Pacific, it’s always about the cash. I have my chequebook here, how much do you want?”

Dodson’s account was backed by another witness, Phil Glendenning, the director of the Edmund Rice Centre and the president of the Refugee Council of Australia. He told Guardian Australia the Labor’s senator’s account of the incident was “150% correct”.

On Thursday Tong told ABC Radio National that he was a little further from Price than his dinner companions but their accounts were accurate from what he had heard.

“I do have a bit of a hearing problem but certainly the account they shared with me was not different,” he said.

Tong said he wanted to put the issue behind him and move on, so as not to take the focus away from his work lobbying Australia on the issue of climate change.

In question time, Labor’s climate change spokesman, Mark Butler, asked Price: “Given it’s been 24 hours since the minister misled this House, will the minister now comply with the ministerial standards and correct the record?”

In response, Price gave her account of the encounter that she had “stumbled across Senator Dodson” – whom she said she considers a friend - and went over to say hi.

“He said to ‘come and meet my guests’ which I did do and I was introduced to the former president of the republic of Kiribati, President Tong, to whom we had a very pleasant light-hearted conversation.

“I don’t recall the complete conversation but what I do know is when I looked at the letter from Senator Dodson which describes the conversation, I know that is not the conversation.”

Price said she had called Tong after question time on Wednesday. “What I said to him is I don’t agree with the words that were reflected in the letter,” she said.

“But if – if – I have caused any concern then I’m very sorry about that. And he accepted my apology.”

Price noted that Tong had subsequently said they should put the matter behind them. “We agree with that because this government greatly values our relationship with our Pacific nation neighbours,” she concluded.

Labor also targeted Price over an earlier answer to parliament that administration costs for the $440m grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation are capped at 5%, 0r $22.5m.

On Thursday Price said the figure of 5% was correct, but added that a capped amount of interest earned on the grant principal can also be spent on administration.

“The maximum amount that the foundation may use for administration including the interest component is a total of $44.3m,” she said.