An investigation by the ABC’s ombudsman has cleared the public broadcaster’s Q&A program of bias, concluding the November 13 show – the target of almost 900 complaints – presented “highly polarising views” in a fair and balanced way.

Broadcast a month after the large-scale Hamas attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip, the panel discussion, hosted by Patricia Karvelas, was controversial before it aired. There was no studio audience, and the show was pre-recorded, and there was a heavy police contingent at the ABC’s Melbourne studios.