Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is under intense pressure to cancel a scheduled appearance on Q&A, with deputy Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce warning of chaos if cabinet ministers disobey Prime Minister Tony Abbott's directive to boycott the ABC program.
Mr Turnbull, who has previously said he would not participate in a boycott of the program, remained silent on Monday when asked if he would appear on next week's Q&A as planned.
Mr Joyce confirmed that Mr Abbott had instructed him not to appear on Monday night's episode as the fallout continued from former terror suspect Zaky Mallah's appearance a fortnight ago.
Mr Abbott's stance has caused confusion within the Coalition, with backbench and frontbench government MPs uncertain about the criteria for the boycott and how long it will last.
Mr Joyce said on Monday that the Prime Minister does not want cabinet ministers to participate in the program until the ABC's editorial audit of the program is complete.
The Q&A audit, to be conducted by television veteran Ray Martin and former SBS managing director Shaun Brown, is expected to take eight to 12 weeks to complete, meaning the program could be without a government minister for three months if the boycott holds.
Mr Abbott ordered a government review of the program, which has been finalised and released publicly, because he feared the ABC inquiry would be a "whitewash".
"It is by deference to the Prime Minister that when an instruction comes through it is obeyed, otherwise the whole process of cabinet becomes chaotic," Mr Joyce said on Monday.
"You don't say, 'Oh look, I'll come back to you on that'. An instruction is an instruction and that's what happens, and that's it. He's made an instruction that until the processes of the review at the ABC is properly concluded that he doesn't want people from cabinet on Q&A. That's the instruction. It's not a case of alternative A or alternative B."
A pair of Coalition backbenchers, senator Cory Bernardi and Queensland MP George Christensen, called for Mr Turnbull and other cabinet members to obey Mr Abbott's edict.
"Ministers are responsible to the Prime Minister," said Senator Bernardi, a persistent ABC critic.
"A request has been made by the Prime Minister – I don't think a minister should ignore that."
Mr Christensen said all cabinet ministers should follow the edict because "we are not happy with what they [Q&A] have done".
"The whole thing needs to be looked at before another minister sets foot on the show again," he said.
Coalition MP Ewen Jones disagreed, saying: "I agree with the Prime Minister 100 per cent that it is a lefty lynch mob but if you void the area, if you cede the space then someone else will take up the space.
"As a matter of principle I believe we should be out fighting the good fight and we have good people who can do that. As a matter of principle, I think we should have people there [on Q&A]."
ABC managing director Mark Scott tweeted that Mr Joyce had missed an opportunity to sell the benefits of the government's agriculture white paper to a million ABC viewers by withdrawing from the program.
When the Q&A furore erupted, Mr Turnbull said the ABC had made a serious error in inviting Mr Mallah onto the program but that government members "need to take advantage of every platform that's available. So I'll continue to appear on ABC programs, including Q&A, if I'm invited to be there."
