ABC brutally axes one of its biggest shows

The ABC has today announced a plan to discontinue one of its biggest shows after an 18-year run.

The ABC has today announced a plan to discontinue Q+A after an 18-year run.

ABC Director, News Justin Stevens said the decision was tough.

“We’re very proud of Q+A’s great achievements over the years. The team has done a terrific job, including a strong performance during the federal election campaign,” he said. “Discontinuing the program at this point is no reflection on anyone on the show.

“We always need to keep innovating and renewing, and in the two decades since Q+A began the world has changed. It’s time to rethink how audiences want to interact and to evolve how we can engage with the public to include as many Australians as possible in national conversations. We’ll be working on how we can continue to foster engagement of this nature in an innovative way.”

Q+A is rumoured to get the axe after 17 seasons. Source: Instagram.

New projects from ABC NEWS include embedding Your Say as a permanent initiative to drive audience engagement in communities throughout Australia.

During the federal election campaign Your Say received almost 30,000 online submissions, 36 per cent of them from outside the capital cities, plus thousands of talkback calls on local and regional radio. Hundreds of Your Say contributions were used by News teams and its insights informed the questions put to politicians and the topics for the ABC’s leaders debate.

“Your Say ensures we have a strong framework for putting the public’s views, concerns and questions at the heart of our journalism, complementing our daily commissioning and reporting,” Stevens said. “We’re keen to see what else we can do with this.”

ABC NEWS is also investing in producing more news documentaries. Building on the success of individual high-end programs such as Killing Season and Nemesis, it will soon advertise for the new position of Executive Producer, Documentaries & Specials.

“We’re excited about being able to produce additional high impact, premium news documentary programs to complement the ABC’s strong factual slate,” Stevens said.

Q+A, which is currently off air, launched in 2008 under Executive Producer Peter McEvoy and host Tony Jones.

“Many extremely talented and dedicated people have worked on Q+A, as presenters and behind the scenes,” Stevens said. “I sincerely thank them all, and everyone who has contributed as audience members and panellists.

“I want to call out current Executive Producer Eliza Harvey and presenter Patricia Karvelas. They are hugely talented journalists who have done an outstanding job with Q+A in recent years.

“On top of hosting Afternoon Briefing, presenting the popular Politics Now podcast and writing analysis for the ABC NEWS website, Patricia also recently reported for Four Corners, and we’ve now asked her to do more for Four Corners as time permits.”

Karvelas said she had immensely enjoyed being part of the program.

“Spending time with the audience members who came to Q+A late on a Monday night has been the best part of this job,” she said. “They have always been the reason for this show and I’m forever grateful to them for coming on national TV and having the courage to ask questions of powerful people.”

Q+A went on its annual hiatus in May after the federal election and was scheduled to return to its 9.35pm Monday timeslot in August.

The show first aired on ABC in May 2008, and follows a similar format to the BBC’s Question Time.

Q+A was hosted for more than a decade by Tony Jones until 2022 when he was replaced by Stan Grant.
Grant left his position as host a year later after being subjected to what he said was “grotesque racist abuse” during his coverage of King Charles III’s coronation.

The show is currently hosted by Patricia Karvelas, who took over in 2023.

The show has been running for 17 seasons. .

Since it first aired 17 years ago, Q+A has been experienced controversy and on-air clashes between the audience, guests and hosts.

In October 2010, a few years after the program first aired, audience member Peter Gray questioned former prime minister John Howard about the country’s stance on Iraq, before taking off his shoes and hurling them towards Mr Howard.

The show was disrupted in 2014 when a group of student protesters unfurled a banner at the TV show set and began to chant at the then-minister for education Christopher Pyne in protest of proposed higher education cuts.

Patricia Karvelas stepped in as host of Q+A in 2023. Source: ABC

Another famous incident occurred five years later in 2015 when comedian Josh Thomas clashed with Queensland politician Bob Katter about the mental health of gay people living in regional areas.

Other famous faces included Malcolm Turnbull, who was a regular feature on the panel, made a solo appearance in a leather jacket.

He later sold a leather jacket he wore two days after the 2010 federal election on eBay for $1800 and donated the proceeds to charity.

The news comes after Channel 10 confirmed it would be axing The Project after nearly 16 years on-air.

“As a result of the changes, The Project will air for the last time on Friday, June 27, ending an incredible run of almost 16 years and more than 4,500 episodes,” Ten said in a statement.

“The impact that The Project has had on the media and entertainment industry, countless careers, as well as on Australian society and culture, cannot be overstated.”

Originally published as ABC brutally axes one of its biggest shows