National Press Club president Laura Tingle has lashed out at “highly offensive” suggestions of racism in scheduling speeches by Indigenous Voice opponents Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine.

Price appeared at the NPC in Canberra last Thursday, for a speech in which she controversially said – among other things – that colonialism had been good for Indigenous people.

She was allocated a much smaller room than normal and there was initial confusion about whether her speech would be broadcast on the ABC.

Tingle, who is also a senior ABC journalist and a board member, said the change of venue was due to “long-planned renovations” in the main room, and difficulties in pinning Price down to a date.

“Senator Price only informed the club a week before her proposed address that the only date she would appear was last Thursday,” she said in a statement late on Sunday.

“It was not possible to arrange an alternative venue in the time available, so the club arranged to hold the address from a smaller space.”

The NPC’s weekly address is broadcast live and in full on Wednesdays on the main ABC channel and also its News channel. It is also shown on Sky News Australia.

Initially, Price’s speech was not scheduled to screen on the ABC. On Monday, The Australian questioned that as an “apparent snub”.

“We understand that when the matter was raised the ABC took action to run Senator Nampijinpa Price’s address on the main ABC channel,” a spokesman for Price told the paper.

“We believe it’s important that voters have equal opportunity to hear from all sides of the debate, and we’re glad the change in their programming schedule was able to be made.”

Tweet from @latingle

An ABC spokesperson has told the Nine papers that NPC appearances outside the normal Wednesday speech are broadcast on merit. There was a last-minute change to air Price’s speech, due to the widespread interest.

“Suggestions that the timing or staging of the speeches by Senator Price and Mr Mundine were in any way driven by racism or disrespect for either speaker are highly offensive to the club, and to me as its president,” Tingle wrote in her statement on X (formerly known as Twitter).

She said it had been difficult to settle dates with Mundine and Price.

“Both Senator Price and Mr Mundine were advised some time ago that the options for them to take one of the Wednesday slots ahead of the referendum were narrowing and that it could not be guaranteed that the club could find alternative accommodation for an address at another time in the week,” Tingle wrote.

She said Mundine originally agreed to appear on August 16, before subsequently withdrawing. His spot was taken by independent senator Lidia Thorpe.

Tingle said Mundine then settled on September 27, before again cancelling. Leading Yes campaigner Noel Pearson will now speak on that day.

Mundine is now scheduled to speak on September 26. The ABC said it would air his speech on its main and news channels, as well as iView.

This week, the NPC’s featured speakers – Melanoma Institute Australia co-medical directors, Professor Richard Scolyer and Professor Georgina Long – will speak at the Kerry Packer Education Centre in Camperdown, NSW, due to the continuing renovations.