Q&A

This evening I had the opportunity to attend Q&A in the ABC's Ultimo Studios. Hearing that British Conservative and European Parliament member Dan Hannan was on the panel, I jumped at the opportunity to join the studio audience.

The panel appeared looked promising. Bill Shorten and Julie Bishop were in attendance representing their respective sides of politics, Annabel Crab represented the media, while Eva Cox represented an outside left-wing point of view.

Dan Hannan is a truly spectacular politician with a stunning ability to deliver a speech. Dan Hannan gained fame for a spectacularly aggressive verbal assault at Gordon Brown on the floor of the European Parliament. More recently he wowed young conservatives from across America while delivering a speech at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference).

The producers of Q&A would have been well aware of Hannan's ability to talk about the philosophical side of politics, the clash of ideas, something that has been missing so badly from Q&A. Instead of directing conversation towards the big questions, Q&A finds itself focusing on the latest news story. This is evident in the emails sent out to those attending outlining the recent news stories that may be worthy of discussion. As a result Q&A became a panel of four. With Cox and Hannan being left to watch as Jones directed the duel between Bishop and Shorten, while Crabb added humour on the side.

It was almost cringe worthy to watch as Jones asked Hannan for an 'outsiders' perspective on the debates of today, with it taking until the second half of the show for the more urgent topic of the European debt crisis to be addressed. Julie Bishop, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, wasn't even asked a question on the devastating situation in Syria.

Q&A has been excellent in the past. But oddly only when they have a single panellist. Take the episode in Old Parliament House where an apparently 'popular with the youth' Prime Minister found himself under a constant assault from all sides of politics. Take the election episodes where Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard had a show each where they appeared by themselves. These episodes were truly engaging. The most interesting had to be the John Howard episode. Howard faced fierce criticism, laments at his disappearance from the national stage, and even a pair of stinky shoes.

Maintaining a single panellist is obviously impossible due to the inability to constantly provide such a high profile guest. If Q&A keeps going, they need to discuss issues relevant to all panellists. A discussion of ideas rather than the news would be a good place to start.

And most importantly Q&A should never do another Melbourne Writers Festival Special again. It sucks every single year.