Leigh Sales admits Christopher Pyne was right with 'Wang or Wong' pronunciation

The man whose name was at the centre of a verbal stoush between Education Minister Christopher Pyne and ABC journalist Leigh Sales has clarified the correct pronunciation of his name and vindicated the minister.

Ms Sales sat down with Palmer United Senator Dio Wang to clear up exactly how his name is pronounced.

"It is 'Wong'," the WA senator confirmed in spite of the Romanised spelling of his name using the 'a' vowel.

"So Christopher Pyne was right and I was wrong," Ms Sales conceded.

The disagreement about Mr Wang's name started on ABC's 7.30 last night when he minister appeared to discuss his failure to pass his key university reform bill.

Twitter lit up with the hashtag "wangorwong" with the minister jumping into the conversation after the interview, continuing to school Ms Sales in the nuanced tones of Mandarin.

"Sadly for @leighsales, Mandarin does not have a hard 'a' sound so it is ok to pronounce Wang as Wong. It's s small thing. #wangorwong," he tweeted.

Mr Pyne defended himself and his relationships with crossbench senators during the interview, referring specifically to "Dio Wong".

"I have a great relationship with Glenn Lazarus and Clive Palmer and Dio Wong," Mr Pyne said before Ms Sales moved to correct him.

"I think it's Dio Wang, actually," she said.

"Well, some people pronounce it 'Wang', some people pronounce it 'Wong'.

"It depends on where you are in the spectrum," Mr Pyne contended before suggesting it was a "very small thing" for the host to pick him up on.

The awkward interview topped off a day which was described as an "embarrassment for the government" with the education minister accused of harassment by PUP Senator Glenn Lazarus and seeing his bill to deregulate university fees in the senate defeated.

In the interview Mr Pyne referred to himself as "a good minister" and said he was "working hard".

"I think the take out is that a good minister worked very hard to try and achieve a very important reform since May," he said.

"He put that to a vote… that vote was not carried 33 to 31."

The minister's interview followed Prime Minister Tony Abbott's breakfast TV grilling by Today host Karl Stefanovic over his government's inability to sell their budget reforms.

Mr Stefanovic told the PM: "No one is buying what you are selling, what you are laying down. That is the problem."