Harvey regrets ill-fated bid to instil hope during '60 Minutes bungle'

Billionaire retailer Gerry Harvey now calls it his "60 Minutes bungle" but admits he is mortified that Australians "now think I'm a heartless, greedy old bastard".

"That was never my intention," the 80-year-old said on Wednesday afternoon, 48 hours after being engulfed in a stinging public backlash following an ill-fated attempt on Sunday night "to offer some hope ... provide a positive view" of the COVID-19 crisis.

Gerry Harvey appears on 60 Minutes last Sunday.Credit: Channel Nine

Mr Harvey, the executive chairman of Harvey Norman, shocked viewers when he ridiculed public fear of COVID-19, only to then claim the coronavirus pandemic had been good for his business, offering massive sales figures for freezers and air purifiers as proof.

The retailer said he was now remorseful and deeply regrets making the comments, admitting he had not anticipated the social media storm he created, leading to a campaign for customers to boycott his chain of electrical, furniture and homewares stores.

"I gave that interview on Thursday morning. Even when I did it, in the back of my mind I thought, 'Gee this thing is changing very quickly, maybe I should ask for the right to kill the story if things change by Sunday,' but I stupidly went ahead," a contrite Mr Harvey revealed on Wednesday.

"Now, everyone thinks I'm this callous old bastard out making a profit on other people's misery ... but believe me, that was not my intention. I was trying to give a positive view. We have gone through the SARS crisis and the GFC and survived. I was trying to say that we will get through this too and that we should not panic.

"Of course I would not say what I said now in hindsight, I do regret it. That interview went for well over an hour, they grabbed a couple of minutes worth to use and I knew on Sunday that it was not going to go well before it went to air ... I said as much to my wife [Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page]."

Mr Harvey said he was trying to convey a message that people in Australia should not panic.

"That's what will kill the economy ... on Thursday there were really only a handful of deaths. Now if I were in Italy and if I was being asked about Italy, then obviously I would not be saying that, but I was only talking about Australia, and the situation as I knew it at that time, which was very different to how it was by Sunday night," he said.

On Sunday night, 60 Minutes broadcast a grim update on COVID-19, including disturbing footage showing the full catastrophe being experienced inside Italian hospitals.

The program was interrupted by Prime Minister Scott Morrison's update on tough new measures to contain the virus, which would cost thousands of Australians their job.

When 60 Minutes resumed, viewers watched incredulously as Mr Harvey told reporter Liam Bartlett: "Why are we so scared about getting this virus? It’s pretty much nothing to get scared of."

He then rattled off sales figures, declaring the virus had been good for business, given all the air purifiers and freezers he was selling.

"I was trying to reassure people not to panic, that Australia was going to be OK ... holy shit, if I knew then how it was going to be by Sunday I would not have said a thing," he said.

"We employ 20,000 people around the world, we are still paying a lot of them even though they are not able to work. Trust me, I know only too well what this virus is doing to our business and our people, but we have to believe there is hope, that we can get through this ... and I still believe we will."