ABC reportedly set to axe Q+A after 17 years on air
Long-running ABC current affairs program Q+A is reportedly set to be axed after 17 years on television.
The panel show, which first aired in 2008, will be dropped by the national broadcaster ahead of its scheduled return to screens in August, according to multiple media reports citing unnamed ABC sources.
The decision comes in the same week that Network Ten’s The Project was dropped after 16 years on air.
It is unclear whether Q+A, which went into its scheduled hiatus in mid-May, will return for the rest of this year’s season.
ABC managing director Hugh Marks is expected to unveil his first round of changes at the public broadcaster as early as Wednesday, including possible redundancies and the fate of Q+A.
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ABC staff were warned of possible job cuts on Tuesday by the journalists’ union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, with ABC members told of colleagues being called into meetings with managers “regarding a restructure”.
Marks took over as ABC managing director from David Anderson in March and has previously indicated he is reviewing whether the ABC needed to “do everything” or could “spend our resources more wisely on doing fewer things better”.
As well as potential cuts, new projects are expected to be announced including a unit dedicated to documentaries, which ABC chair, Kim Williams has strongly advocated for.
Q+A, launched by executive producer Peter McEvoy, first went to air with host Tony Jones in May 2008 as Q&A.
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Tony Jones hosted the once influential show for 11 years. Photo: ABC
Jones stepped down from the panel discussion show in 2019 and was replaced by a series of ABC personalities until Hamish Macdonald took the reins in 2020.
Q+A, similar in format to the BBC’s Question Time, was extremely influential in its early years, but suffered waning viewership after Jones’ departure.
Patricia Karvelas has hosted the program since 2023. She took over from Stan Grant, who was appointed in 2022.
Grant left the show after a brief tenure amid racist abuse directed at him following a separate ABC panel discussion ahead of the King’s coronation.
In August 2023, during the show’s “Garma Special”, Q+A attracted its lowest ratings ever with fewer than 84,000 metro viewers.
The ratings have rebounded with Karvelas as host, but it remains one of the ABC’s least popular current affairs programs.
