Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he shouldn't have winked while listening to a radio talkback call from a woman who told him she had to work on a phone sex line to make ends meet.
Mr Abbott said the wink was directed at the host of the ABC radio program and was not meant to be disparaging of the caller, "Gloria", who described herself as a 67-year-old chronically ill pensioner in tough financial circumstances.
The incident sparked an immediate backlash and Mr Abbott was pilloried on social media and by fellow politicians because it appeared he had winked and smiled as Gloria told him what she did to help pay the bills.
Mr Abbott said he was looking at the host - the ABC's Jon Faine - and was winking his assent to take the call.
"I shouldn't have done it ... I should have been more focused on the caller and less focused on the interviewer," Mr Abbott told the Nine Network said on Thursday.
Asked if he was being disparaging towards the woman, Mr Abbott said he was attempting to engage with the caller.
"Mistakes are always regrettable ... and I will do my best having made a mistake yesterday to make none today," he said.
Gloria had taken Mr Abbott to task over changes to pension arrangements and the planned introduction of a $7 GP co-payment in last week's budget.
"I just survive on around $400 a fortnight after I pay my rent," she told Mr Abbott.
"I work on an adult sex line to make ends meet. Now that's the only way I can do it."
Mr Abbott's faux pas, which was caught on camera, comes as he faces a collapse in his personal approval rating.
The coalition is suffering in the opinion polls in the wake of the budget, with Labor having opened a 10-point lead on a two-party preferred basis at 55 per cent to 45 per cent.
But the prime minister rejected any speculation nervous coalition MPs could seek to replace him ahead of the next election if support continued to wane.
"I think what we need in this country right now is not an action replay of the last six years," he said.
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