Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison publicly apologized for raising an unsubstantiated allegation of harassment at a media company as he defended his handling of a scandal over the treatment of women in politics and his party.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison reacting during a press conference at Australia's Parliament House in Canberra on March 22, 2021. Photo: VCG

At a media conference on Tuesday, Morrison had said he would drive cultural change amid mounting public dissatisfaction over a series of allegations about the mistreatment of women, and conceded there had been unhappiness with his handling of the issue. But during the event, he became involved in a terse exchange with a journalist from News Corp's Sky News and claimed the company was investigating a harassment complaint made by a female staffer.

News Corp Australasia's executive chairman, Michael Miller, rejected the claim outright. Newspapers of the media group, which are generally supportive of the conservative government, ran front pages criticizing the Prime Minister on Wednesday. 

"I accept their account. I was wrong to raise it, the emotion of the moment is no excuse," Morrison wrote in a post to Facebook late on Tuesday.

The fracas derailed Morrison's attempt to repair his standing with voters, in particular women who have been angered by how the alleged rape of a young government staffer by another government staff member seemed to be initially seen as more of a political problem than a potential criminal case.

"Voters admire when leaders recognize a failure and apologize," said Haydon Manning, a political science professor at Flinders University in South Australia.

"This false accusation, however, undermines what he was trying to achieve."

The issue of gender inequality spurred tens of thousands of people to rally around Australia last week and led to a slump in Morrison's standing in opinion polls. Morrison drew flak for declining to meet the protestors outside Parliament House.