The tweet, posted during ABC's Q&A program in which Price featured as a guest panelist, has been splashed across a number of different media outlets this week, with Behrendt originally defending the action on the basis that it had been taken out of context.

But The Australian reports today that Behrendt has emailed Price to apologise for any offence the tweet may have caused.

Price has not accepted the apology and told The Australian that she will only do so when it is in made in public, not just via email.

During Q&A, Price expressed her support for the Federal Government's Intervention in the Northern Territory. In response, Behrendt, who opposes the intervention, tweeted "I watched a show where a guy had sex with a horse and I'm sure it was less offensive than Bess Price".

Behrendt is a professor of law and director of research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology Sydney. She is a prize-winning author, Australian of the Year 2011 finalist, Harvard law graduate and former Assembly of First Nations Employee.

She recently told Lawyers Weekly that her passion for promoting the rights of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders was sparked by her family's past and the legacy of the Stolen Generation.

Behrendt's tweets are now protected and cannot be viewed by the general public.