Q&A host Tony Jones has spoken out on the scandals that engulfed the program in 2015, declaring that Tony Abbott's government boycott of the show began with a "big lie" surrounding the appearance of former terrorism suspect Zaky Mallah and descended into a "nasty political fight" with Jones and his colleagues uniting behind the scenes amid calls for ABC heads to roll.

In an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media - his first since the midyear controversies - Jones spoke of Mr Abbott's decision to ban ministers from the program after calling it a "lefty lynch mob".

"I'm not going to question [Mr Abbott's] judgment," he said. "It's really up to other people to make the call as to whether that was a breach of freedom of speech or whether it was an appropriate thing to do."

In the incident that sparked the boycott, Mallah told Liberal MP Steve Ciobo that, because of "ministers like him", many Muslims would feel justified "to leave and go to Syria and join ISIL".