Monday 19 February, 2024
This week, when Q+A returns on Monday night, we ask a simple question: who can you trust?
Can you trust your supermarket? What about your bank?
With cost-of-living pressures crunching and major conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine dominating the headlines, do you trust our politicians to make a difference?
In America, Donald Trump is riding that wave of distrust on a journey he hopes will eject Joe Biden from the White House. But with big questions around both candidates, cultural figures like Taylor Swift – arriving in Australia this week – are influencing people in a way politicians can only dream.
Q+A is live from Melbourne on Monday, February 19 at 9.35pm AEDT.
On the Panel
Malarndirri McCarthy
Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians & Indigenous Health
Senator Malarndirri McCarthy is a Yanyuwa Garrawa woman from the Gulf country in the Northern Territory. Senator McCarthy was elected to the Northern Territory Assembly as the Member for Arnhem in 2005 and held several ministerial portfolios. Senator McCarthy’s focus is to bring communities together and ensure more Indigenous Australians can live longer, healthier and happier lives.
Julian Leeser
Liberal Member for Berowra
Julian Leeser was elected as the Member for Berowra, in Sydney’s north, at the 2016 election. Until April 2023 he was shadow attorney general and shadow minister for Indigenous Australians.
Geraldine Brooks
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author & Journalist
Australian-born Geraldine Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for her novel March and has worked for the Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans.
Gideon Rachman
Chief Foreign Affairs Columnist, Financial Times
Gideon writes a weekly column and hosts a podcast for the Financial Times and is a past winner of the Orwell Prize for journalism and of the European Press Prize. Gideon is the author of three books on global politics - most recently, “Age of the Strongman”.
Jelena Dokic
Tennis Champion & Broadcaster
Jelena Dokic has had a storied and well-documented life and tennis career both on and off the court. She now pours her efforts into commentary and TV work for Channel 9 and Tennis Australia, and regularly presents as a motivational speaker across the country, speaking on topics which include resilience, mental health and empowerment.
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— ABC News (@abcnews) February 17, 2024
I’d much rather they spend the money on more local news and current affairs stories and an expanded Media Watch, something people actually want and consume.
100%. Media Watch needs to be doubled in length and funding. The Listening Post on Al Jazeera English is very good. That show runs for half an hour once a week and it’s a really good critique of how the news is covered worldwide.
Agree. Adding additional staff to the 7pm news should be a priority.
Cannot believe this show is continuing on.
Media7 was always half an hour long when it ran on TVNZ7, and I think it might even have extended to an hour for a point. Mediawatch on RNZ varies in length but is usually around 30 minutes also.
This show will never go back to its peaks a decade ago. I don’t know why the ABC are still persisting with this show.
More staff to the flagship ABC News, and/or extending Media Watch to 25-30 minutes. It’s current 10-15 minutes is way too short.
How was Jelana? Id been keen to watch this ep knowing she was on the panel.
Monday February 26, 2024
Q+A is live from Sydney on Monday, February 26 at 9.35pm AEDT.
This week, Q+A throws the focus to global issues with a panel of big thinkers. In a world of competing interests, wars and fractured international relationships – is democracy in a fight for its very survival?
In a year of crucial elections around the world, the existential threat of climate change and increasing global volatility – what does it all mean for Australia? Where do we fit into the broader international picture? And how much can we really control our own destiny?
Malcolm Turnbull
Former Prime Minister of Australia
Malcolm Turnbull was the 29th Prime Minister of Australia. Prior to entering politics, he enjoyed successful careers as a lawyer, investment banker and journalist.
Rebecca Huntley
Writer & Social Analyst
Dr Rebecca Huntley is one of Australians foremost researchers on social trends. She holds degrees in law and film studies and a PhD in Gender Studies. She is the author of numerous books and writes regularly for The Monthly, Australian Traveller Magazine, The Guardian and the SMH. She is a Fellow of the Women Leadership Institute of Australia and of The Research Society.
Peter Frankopan
British Historian, Academic & Writer
Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University and Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, published by Bloomsbury in 2015, was a No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller.
Olga Oleinikova
Ukraine Democracy Initiative co-founder & University of Technology Sydney academic
Olga Oleinikova is a Ukrainian-born entrepreneur and university lecturer. She holds PhD in sociology and social policy from University of Sydney. In 2016 she founded SITADHub - a dynamic networked research centre with 170 associates across 16 countries actively researching and writing about the future of democracy, human computer interaction and global mobility.
Jioji Ravulo
Chair of Social Work and Policy Studies, The University of Sydney
Professor Jioji Ravulo’s research, writing and areas of interest include health and wellbeing, youth, diversity and inclusion, decoloniality and educational leadership. He is an Adjunct Professor at The University of the South Pacific, supporting social work education, policy development and research across the region.
March 4, 2024
Llive from Melbourne on Monday, March 4 at 9.35pm AEDT.
On the Panel
Katy Gallagher
Minister for Finance, Women and the Public Service
Senator Katy Gallagher has been a senior member of the federal Labor team since 2015. While in Opposition, she held the shadow portfolios of Small Business and Financial Services, Housing, Homelessness and Mental Health.
Keith Wolahan
Liberal MP for Menzies
Keith Wolahan was elected to the seat of Menzies in May 2022. He was born in Dublin and migrated with his family to Melbourne in 1988. He was educated at the University of Melbourne and Monash University. Mr Wolahan later completed a Masters of International Relations at the University of Cambridge. He also served in the Australian Army (part-time and full-time service), reaching the rank of Captain. He qualified as a commando, serving one tour of Timor Leste and three combat tours in Afghanistan.
Nyadol Nyuon
Commercial litigator & community advocate
Nyadol Nyuon is a lawyer, community advocate and writer. Born in a refugee camp in Itang, Ethiopia and raised in Kenya’s Kakuma camp, she moved to Australia as a refugee at 18. She has completed a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne.
Nathan Thrall
Author & journalist
Nathan Thrall is the author of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy, named a best book of 2023 by The New Yorker, Time, The New Statesman and the Financial Times. He spent a decade at the International Crisis Group, where he was director of the Arab-Israeli Project, and has taught at Bard College. Originally from California, he lives in Jerusalem.
Jamal Rifi
Doctor and community leader
Dr Jamal Rifi is a doctor, community organiser and social justice advocate. Dr Rifi has been a practising GP in western Sydney for more than three decades after emigrating from Lebanon at 24. He was a founding member of Muslim Doctors Against Violence and the Christian Muslim Friendship Society.
Sabine Wolff
Communications advisor & analyst
Sabine Wolff is a Melbourne-based communications advisor, social commentator and analyst. With over a decade of experience in corporate affairs and reputation advisory roles and a background in issues management and public policy research, she is an astute interpreter of Australian political and cultural trends.
Monday 11 March
Is the economy working for all Australians?
Rampant inflation may have peaked, but Australians still feel under the pump. Treasurer Jim Chalmers says cost of living remains the government’s top priority - “but it’s not our only concern”.
The painful series of interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank snapped wallets shut – and strangled economic growth. Recession remains a real possibility.
Japan and the UK have already tipped into technical recessions. Indefinite war in Europe and the Middle East – and the ongoing impact on supply chains – is spooking markets. Climate change poses longer-term, existential threats.
Q+A is live from Sydney on Monday, March 11 at 9.35pm AEDT.
On the Panel
Ed Husic
Minister for Industry & Science
Ed Husic was elected the federal Member for Chifley in 2010 and was re-elected for his fifth term at the 2022 Federal Election. Husic was raised in Western Sydney and was among the first waves of students to graduate from Western Sydney University.
Jacqui Lambie
Senator for Tasmania
Jacqui Lambie burst onto the political scene in 2013, when she was elected to the Senate with the Palmer United Party.Two of her biggest achievements so far has been getting Tasmania’s $157 million housing debt wiped and establishing a royal commission into Defence and veterans suicide.
Yanis Varoufakis
Economist & former Greek finance minister
Yanis Varoufakis is an economist and academic, a bestselling author, and the former finance minister of Greece. He is a co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025. His books include And the Weak Suffer What They Must? and Talking to My Daughter About the Economy.
Stephanie Kelton
Author & professor of economics and public policy
Stephanie Kelton is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Stony Brook University and a Senior Fellow at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research. Professor Kelton is a leading expert on Modern Monetary Theory and a former chief economist on the US Senate Budget Committee (Democratic staff).
Joe Aston
Journalist & author
Joe Aston helmed The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window column from 2012 to 2023.
Monday March 18, 2024
This week on Q+A … artificial intelligence: satan or saviour?
Generative AI is suddenly in everyone’s hands, from the facial recognition software on our phones to the $100 billion ChatGPT platform which generates human-like responses to every possible command.
But if the next generation of AI is smarter and more lifelike than ever before, will we be left in its wake?
Columbia University physicist and mathematician Professor Brian Greene joins a cross-section of experts and commentators to ponder: what becomes of the human in the 21st century technology loop?
Q+A is live from Sydney on Monday, March 18 at 9.35pm AEDT.
Brian Greene
Physicist & best-selling author
Brian Greene is a renowned physicist and best-selling author, known for his work on string theory and the nature of space and time. He has written several books, including The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos, which have been widely acclaimed for their accessibility and clarity.
Cathy Foley
Australia’s Chief Scientist
Dr Foley became Australia’s ninth Chief Scientist in January 2021 after a lengthy career at Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, where she was appointed as the agency’s Chief Scientist in August 2018. While working at CSIRO, Dr Foley made significant contributions to the understanding of nitride semiconductors and superconducting electronics.
Gus McLachlan
Retired Army major general
Gus McLachlan completed his 37-year career with the Australian Army, retiring as a major general in December 2018. He served internationally in the Middle East and the Pacific. In his senior Army leadership appointments McLachlan was responsible for generating Australian Defence capability in cyber space, electronic warfare and command and control systems. He is now a Senior Adviser with Bondi Partners and has been seconded to the federal parliament as the Defence Adviser to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Gus McLachlan was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his leadership and contribution to Army modernisation.
Jessie Stephens
Author & Mamamia Executive Editor
Jessie Stephens is a journalist, author and screenwriter.
Her debut novel, Something Bad is Going to Happen, confronts the mental health crisis in younger generations. Jessie also worked as a writer and producer on the upcoming Binge series Strife. Jessie is an executive editor at Mamamia and co-hosts the podcasts Mamamia Out Loud with Holly Wainwright and Mia Freedman and Cancelled with her twin Clare Stephens.
Nadia Lee
ThatsMyFace CEO & ethical AI advocate
Nadia Lee is a founder and CEO of ThatsMyFace, an AI company which detects malicious content and who’s in it for businesses. She is the Industry Partner at Reclaim Coalition, one of the largest global coalitions against image-based abuse.
Monday March 25, 2024
Home ownership is deeply embedded in Australian mythology. But for many the dream has become a nightmare.
Owners are under significant interest rate stress. Buyers feel locked out of a red-hot market. Renters have copped savage increases amid record-low vacancies.
Australia needs millions more homes to meet population growth. Governments are investing big — but not enough to hit their own targets and fighting fierce resistance to higher density living.
How did we get into this mess? And how do we boost affordability and accelerate construction to keep the Aussie housing dream alive?
This is your chance to hold political leaders to account — and hear experts cut through the spin to the solutions.
Q+A is live from Melbourne on Monday, March 25, 2024 at 9.35pm AEDT.
On the Panel
Andrew Leigh
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities & Treasury
Andrew Leigh is the federal member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Arts and Law.
Andrew Bragg
Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership
Senator Andrew Bragg is a Liberal Senator for New South Wales. Since first being elected to the Senate in 2019, Andrew has been active on policy on superannuation, technology, financial regulation and housing. Andrew’s advocacy has been guided by his belief that the basis for a fair society is a strong economy.
Max Chandler-Mather
Greens Spokesperson on Housing & Homelessness
Max Chandler-Mather is the federal MP for Griffith. A renter his entire adult life, Max currently rents in Woolloongabba.
Rose Jackson
NSW Minister for Housing & Homelessness
Rose Butler Jackson is serving as a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2019 and since 2023 has been serving in the Minns ministry as Minister for Water, Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Youth, and Minister for the North Coast.
Catherine Liddle
Chief Executive, SNAICC - National Voice for our Children
Catherine Liddle is an Arrernte/Luritja woman from Central Australia, a journalist by trade. Catherine’s motivation has always been to drive change that leads to positive outcomes and options for First Nations people.
Cameron Murray
Economist & author
Dr Cameron Murray is an economist specialising in property and housing systems, natural resource management and corruption. Cameron regularly communicates economic ideas at his one-man think-tank Fresh Economic Thinking.
The show is now on the first of its scheduled breaks coinciding with the sitting of Federal Parliament. It should return in early May ahead of the Federal Budget on May 14.
Returns Monday 29 April 9:35pm
Monday April 29, 2024
On Q+A this week … Sydney is still reeling from two brutal stabbing incidents.
As faith leaders across the city have united and called for peace, attention has turned to the power of social media companies and their efforts (or lack there of) to stop the spread of rumour and deliberate lies.
With fears that Australia’s social cohesion is fraying in the wake of the violence, the federal government’s safety tsar ordered Meta and ‘X’ to remove videos and images of the stabbing in Sydney’s west.
The owner of ‘X’, Elon Musk, bristled at the order and accused the government of “global censorship”, prompting some commentators to question whether Australian governments have the power to hold these social media giants to account?
Meanwhile, energy policy is back in the news. With the Liberals and The Nationals reportedly at odds over the selection of six sites for proposed nuclear facilities - where will this leave Peter Dutton’s signature policy?
All this plus other news of the week.
Q+A is live from Sydney on Monday, April 29 at 9.35pm AEST.
On the Panel
Murray Watt
Minister for Emergency Management & Agriculture
Murray Watt was elected as a Senator for Queensland in 2016. He is the Albanese Government’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management.
Bridget McKenzie
Nationals Senate Leader
Bridget has served as Leader of The Nationals in the Senate since 2019 and was appointed Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development following the 2022 federal election. She is committed to ensuring that rural and regional Australia is at the forefront of decision making of the federal government.
Mark Speakman
NSW Leader of the Opposition
Mark Speakman was elected as the Member for Cronulla in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023. He was elected as the Leader of the Opposition and NSW Liberal Party in April 2023. Previously Mark served as Attorney General, Minister for Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence, and Minister for Environment and Heritage.
Jon Owen
Pastor & CEO, Wayside Chapel
Jon Owen began as Pastor and CEO of Wayside Chapel in July 2018, taking over from Rev Graham Long. Jon has dedicated his life to closing the gap on inequality, both living and working amongst some of the most disadvantaged communities in Sydney and Melbourne. Jon lives and breathes Wayside’s mission of creating community of no ‘us and them’.
Tracey Holmes
Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra
Tracey Holmes has worked in journalism and communications for 30 years. She has anchored her own programs on radio and television in several countries around the world, from some of the world’s biggest events and is a published author. She has twice been named as a finalist in Australian journalism’s most prestigious awards the Walkleys. Currently, Tracey is host of the weekly podcast The Sports Ambassador.
Interesting to see Tracey there. Didn’t she resign from the ABC as a mark of support to her husband, Stan Grant?
Great return tonight.
Patricia has this covered. 
I just wish they had the question they’re discussing on the screen.