Patricia Karvelas to replace Stan Grant on ABC’s Q+A

ABC has announced the new host of Q+A after Stan Grant’s shock resignation earlier this year.

ABC radio host Patricia Karvelas will replace Stan Grant as the host of ABC’s Q+A for the remainder of this year after Grant stepped down from the program following relentless abuse over King Charles III’s Coronation.

The national broadcaster confirmed the announcement on Monday, about two months after the star announced he was indefinitely walking away from the program.

Karvelas, who had been one of the ABC presenters filling in as the program’s anchor during Grant’s absence, will continue to host Breakfast on Radio National from Tuesday to Friday.

ABC RN breakfast host Patricia Karvelas (left) will become the official host of ABC’s Q+A program.

Grant announced in May he would stand down from fronting the panel discussion show which invites politicians, experts, and industry leaders, to answer questions from audience members.

“Racism is a crime. Racism is violence. And I have had enough,” he wrote when he made his shock announcement.

He also criticised the ABC’s senior management for not publicly supporting him amid the backlash over the coverage of the coronation in May, where he took part in a panel discussion.

“I am writing this because no one at the ABC — whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest — has uttered one word of public support,” he wrote.

“Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me.

“I don’t hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure.”

ABC Q+A host Stan Grant on his final show on Monday, May 22, 2023, before taking indefinite leave. Picture: ABC

Grant will continue at the ABC and contribute to “a number” of different programs, with the broadcaster’s director Justin Stevens commending him as “one of the country’s finest journalists, storytellers and broadcasters”.

When Grant announced he would be taking leave from Q+A, Mr Stevens was the only person he acknowledged for his friendship and support. Grant said Mr Stevens was “trying to change an organisation that has its own legacy of racism”.

“We want to do all we can to support Stan and ensure he continues to play a major role in Australian media,” Mr Stevens said in a statement on Monday.

“He has the ability to lead our media toward a kinder and more constructive conversation.

“In Wiradjuri ‘dyiraamalang’ means a teacher and leader. Stan Grant, a proud Wiradjuri man, is both of those things and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does into the future.”

Mr Stevens said Karvelas “has been doing an outstanding job as fill-in host and we’re delighted she has agreed to continue in that role”.

Karvelas first joined the national broadcaster in 2015, where she featured on the ABC’s RN Drive radio program before moving to RN Breakfast in 2021.

She also hosts ABC’s political podcast, The Party Room, alongside Fran Kelly.

On Monday, an ABC spokesperson confirmed Grant was still on leave.