Mr Turnbull's office complained the story had asserted a company called Carbon Revolution deserved government support but failed to mention two grants it received from the Turnbull government, as well as two visits Mr Turnbull made to the firm.

"Why wasn’t footage of the PM’s previous visits used?" Mr Turnbull's office asked the ABC. They also challenged the claim made by Dr Green and Universities Australia in the story that the government had cut $11.8 billion from innovation and higher education since 2013, as well as a number of other issues they said Alberici had overlooked or misinterpreted.

Loading

The ABC commissioned an internal review by its Audience and Consumer Affairs Team. It issued a correction on May 8 which acknowledged Dr Green "is not currently advising the government". But it dismissed all other complaints from the PM's office.

"The review concluded that the story was accurate, newsworthy, in the public interest and presented in context," an ABC spokesman told Fairfax Media. "ABC News stands by the story."

The complaints are the second time in just a few months Mr Turnbull and Mr Fifield have taken the ABC to task over Alberici's reporting. The first complaint regarded a news story and analysis piece about multinational tax avoidance, both of which were subsequently amended. The ABC has since conceded mistakes were made in the editorial process which allowed those pieces to be published.

Mr Fifield confirmed he and the Prime Minister had complained about the innovation articles during a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday. He said it was one of about half a dozen complaints he has made to the ABC since becoming communications minister in September 2015.

Those included grievances about a segment on Tom Ballard's Tonightly program, changing the date of the Triple J Hottest 100, a Black Comedy sketch and Yassmin Abdel-Magied's comments about Anzac Day.

ABC executives will face a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Wednesday night. Tensions are high between the broadcaster and the Coalition after the May budget froze funding at a cost of $84 million over three years.

Mr Fifield denied his grievances were a factor in the funding freeze. He also confirmed he referred two complaints - about Tonightly and Black Comedy - to the broadcasting regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The Black Comedy content, which appeared on Facebook, is not within ACMA's remit. Mr Fifield told Senate estimates he knew this but referred it anyway "to make a point".