Wading into the debate sparked by her controversial comments - in which she said the Government was dominated by "neo-liberal, profit-obsessed, very shallow, very money-hungry politicians" who didn't care about culture - Dr Philip Catton (58) confronted RadioLive presenter Sean Plunket this morning over a verbal attack on his daughter.
On Wednesday the broadcaster said he did not consider The Luminaries writer an ambassador for New Zealand but "a traitor", and called her an "ungrateful hua" in response to the statements she made at an Indian literary festival.
This morning her father, a former senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Canterbury, appeared on the show. Plunket said Dr Catton had contacted him and asked to appear on the programme.
In a combative 15 minute segment the pair went head-to-head, with Dr Catton telling Plunket he was "disappointed" in him, and Plunket standing by his comments.
Dr Catton said that resorting to name-calling "derailed" the discussion about government and the arts that his Man-Booker prize-winning daughter had raised.
"Name-calling is no help to respect for ideas, respect for differences of ideas," Dr Catton said.
"I think we teach this to our children, and I think you're a father. You've disappointed me in the approach that you've taken, the name-calling approach, an approach which isn't that advanced."
Plunket defended his comments, saying he did not call Catton names, but "a name", and said the word 'hua' was a "description" not name-calling.
"You don't think your daughter is ungrateful?" Plunket asked at one point.
"Neither ungrateful, nor a traitor, for being critical, at a time when criticism really should be out there and much discussed," Dr Catton replied.
The terms were "factually false" in reference to his daughter, he said, and do "not square with the reality that I know".
Dr Catton also defended his daughter's right to voice her criticisms of the Government, saying that "calling into question the motivations of our political leaders ... is a highly pertinent and important intellectual task".
When Plunket tried to bring the interview to an end, Dr Catton said he wanted to keep the discussion going for longer, and said he would "like an evening" with the talk show host.
Plunket said he would take up the offer of "a wine and discussion" with both Dr Catton and his daughter, saying: "I hear your anger."
"Not by way of apology, if I had my time again I would not have said that Eleanor should stay out of politics, because no one should stay out of politics - it's a democracy, everyone should be involved in politics," he said.
"But, ungrateful I'll stand by as a possible interpretation, and we can agree to disagree on that. And I would say that if I hold responsibilities that my use of that word [hua], which was not the word many thought of it, set the tone for certainly a social media debate which didn't advance the important issues that you talked about, and I think Eleanor, in her own way, was trying to raise."
Meanwhile, Catton has taken to social media urging her fans to "please remember that a written interview has nearly always been edited".
"It's rarely a complete transcript of everything that was said."
In a string of tweets she also addressed Prime Minister John Key's assertion that she was aligned with the Green Party and her comments "probably summarise the Green Party's view of this Government".
"I spoke twice without pay at Green Party events; donated one signed book & $500; bought two t-shirts & one bumper sticker at no discount," she said.
"I'm not a member of the party, but I applaud their vision, leadership, and integrity, and in the last election they had my vote.
"I also admire many things about the Labour Party, & would have voted for a Labour MP if I hadn't been in the gerrymandered Epsom electorate."
