Q+A (Australian talk show)

On 25 October 2010, former Prime Minister John Howard had a pair of shoes thrown at him from a member of the audience due to responses on his attitude to the Iraq War. The shoe-thrower was subsequently removed from the audience. Although Howard seemed indifferent to the incident, it was criticised by both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, among other members of Parliament from both the Government and the Opposition. The shoe-thrower, environmental activist Peter Gray, died of cancer six months later; before he died, however, he asked the ABC to auction his shoes and the money to be donated to the Red Cross.[6][7][8] Tony Jones announced the auction on the show on 9 May 2011, saying: "Before he died he asked that the shoes, which we kept, be auctioned for charity and the money given to the International Committee for the Red Cross for its work in Iraq. Former Prime Minister John Howard has expressed sorrow at Mr Gray's death and endorsed this idea. So the shoes, which symbolise the [sic] their disagreement over Iraq, will now be used to provide practical help to people in Iraq."[9] The auction was won by Volley for $3,650.[10]

The show was disrupted on 5 May 2014, when a group of university students began protesting against proposed higher education cuts. The group unfurled a banner over the back of the set and began to chant at Minister for Education Christopher Pyne, before they were removed from the studio while the live broadcast was replaced with footage of a musical performance from an earlier episode. In the lead-up to the protest, Pyne was the subject of several questions regarding education cuts and was heckled by members of the Socialist Alternative.[11]

The Zaky Mallah incident stirred great controversy and led to a boycott of Q&A by the Abbott Government, after a former terror suspect was invited to ask a question of a minister from the live audience.[12] On 22 June 2015, Zaky Mallah posed a question about terrorism laws to Parliamentary secretary Steven Ciobo.[13] Mallah had been convicted of threatening to kill Commonwealth officials in 2003.[14][15] He was found not guilty of terrorism offences in 2005.[16] Prior to his appearance on the program, Mallah had Tweeted that two female News Ltd journalists should be gang raped.[17] He was known to Q&A's editorial team, attending three shows as an audience member since 2011, and twice being rejected as a panel member.[18][19][20]

In his pre-approved question Mallah asked Ciobo "What would have happened if my [terrorism] case had been decided by the Minister and not the courts?" and confirmed he had pleaded guilty to threatening to kill officials.[13] Ciobo replied that he understood that the acquittal was based on a technicality, so would be happy to see the government remove Mallah from the country.[21] Mallah later was directed to respond, saying "The Liberals now have just justified to many Australian Muslims in the community tonight to leave and go to Syria and join ISIS because of ministers like him."[22] Tony Jones called these comments "totally out of order".[13] Mallah later wrote in Comment is free that he "hates ISIS" and his comments were "misinterpreted".[23]

Following the incident, the ABC reported that it had been "roundly criticised for allowing Zaky Mallah... into the show's studio audience" and received over 1000 complaints.[24] Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek described the decision to have Mallah on the show as "clearly an error of judgment."[25] Prime Minister Tony Abbott condemned the broadcaster for "giving Mallah a platform," asking "Which side is the ABC on?" and saying that they had "betrayed" Australia.[26][27] When the ABC repeated the program, he said that "heads should roll".[28] He banned members of his Front Bench appearing on the program,[29] later offering to permit them if the show was moved from the ABC's Television section to News and Current Affairs.[30] The ABC moved forward their plans to move the program, which an ABC source characterised as "the biggest example of editorial interference I've ever heard of".[31]

Front pages of tabloids referring to the incident

The ABC released a statement apologising for including Mallah on a live event,[32] and the ABC board appointed Shaun Brown and Ray Martin to audit Q&A,[33] and issued a formal warning to Q&A executive producer Peter McEvoy.[34] Martin, a veteran journalist, said that some critics of the program needed "a good lie down."[35] ABC director Mark Scott conceded the producers had erred putting Mallah on live television, but defended the independence of the ABC's editorial decisions[36] and argued there is merit in platforming "views that run contrary to accepted public values" in order to "understand the root cause" of alarming actions.[37]

Substantially negative coverage of the ABC's conduct appeared in News Corporation owned papers, with some changing the ISIL flag to an ABC logo.[38][39] The Daily Telegraph ran the headline "ABC doing the devil's work...".[40] The Australian said "ABC exists in a parallel universe where impartiality and sound judgment are all but redundant".[41]

ABC Radio's Jonathan Green accused some critics of Q&A of hypocrisy, but wrote: "Mallah should have been a no-go zone after he tweeted threats of sexual violence against columnists Miranda Devine and Rita Panahi a few months past, threats repeated with idiotic zeal after this fuss blew up".[42]

Other commentators defended the ABC. Peter Greste said that Tony Abbott attempted to shut down debate in a crucial area of policy.[43] Jonathan Holmes said that Malcolm Turnbull's portrayal of Zaky Mallah and his views were profoundly misleading, and that Q&A has been prevented from defending itself.[44] Richard Ackland has suggested that "the hysteria over Zaky Mallah on Q&A would make Joseph McCarthy proud".[45] In November 2015, Q&A's host Tony Jones said the Zaky Mallah furore and boycott was based on a 'big lie' [that Mallah supported ISIS].[46]

Not long after Zaky Mallah's session, the Twitter feed for Q&A, showing posts with the hashtag #qanda, accidentally let a tweet screen that ran "i prefer ones twitter feed to their biographies" from someone running under the username @AbbottLovesAnal, creating a huge uproar, with some commentators suggesting that the ABC needs to rein Q&A in.[47][48][49]

Duncan Storrar asked assistant government minister Kelly O'Dwyer a question on tax-free thresholds, asking why poorer people were not receiving similar tax relief from the Coalition government. He quickly gained widespread support as an embodiment for the 'battling Aussie'. The publicity from his question caused various media outlets to cover his life, with some outlets publishing allegations that he was a drug addict and that he had previously failed to care for his family. Storrar became traumatised as a result of his harsh media treatment.[50][51] A crowdfunding campaign was started to buy him a new toaster, which played on O'Dwyer's remarks about depreciation treatment for small business, namely cafes.[52]

In February 2017, panellist Yassmin Abdel-Magied defended sharia law, arguing that Islam is "the most feminist" of all religions.[53] On the same program, Abdel-Magied stated in response to another panelist, Jacqui Lambie, that Sharia law is as simple as "me praying five times day," and that it says in Islam, "you follow the law of the land on which you are on".[53] Some Islamic scholars have disputed this saying "they must comply with the laws of their country of residence without, at the same time, disobeying Islamic law."[54]

On November 4, 2019, Q&A hosted a special show in conjunction with The Wheeler Center's Broadside festival of feminist ideas.[55] The show aired content including swearing, and discussions about violence. This led to hundreds of complaints being filed against the ABC about language and viewpoints,[56] resulting in the ABC network opening an investigation into whether the show violated editorial standards. Panelists included Mona Eltahawy; Author Jess Hill; Nayuka Gorrie; Ashton Applewhite; Hana Assafiri; and Host, Fran Kelly.

The most frequently-appearing panellists on Q+A as of 29 September 2020 are listed below:[76]