Former prime minister Tony Abbott has accused the ABC of bias over its July coverage of abuse in the Northern Territory juvenile detention system and suggested that his successor Malcolm Turnbull responded "in panic" at the TV program.

Mr Turnbull announced there would be a royal commission the morning after the Four Corners broadcast, which depicted shocking scenes in the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, and the government formally established the inquiry the next week.

Just over a month later, Mr Abbott has called the ABC report "pretty one-sided", joining ousted NT chief minister Adam Giles in criticising it despite widespread praise from federal government figures like Mr Turnbull, Treasurer Scott Morrison and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion.

"Yes, it was a shocking report but it was only telling one side of the story and, when the rest of the story started to come out, it appeared that things were not not nearly as black and white as the ABC presented them," the former prime minister told 2GB radio.