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ABC's Q & A with controversial comments on Israel, tax reform and

the Prime Minister on Monday night. On Off Autoplay

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It took until the very end of Monday night's Q&A for the panel to get to the crux of recent national debate. Tony Abbott: Yes or No?

"I think he's a tit," was the five-word summation from Miriam

Margolyes, the call-a-spade-a-spade actress whose response to the

audience question was the shortest, but by far the most memorable, of

those offered by the panel as host Tony Jones passed the matter around

for consideration.

Prime ministerial colleague and supporter Josh Frydenberg,

who wisely noted that "I'm in a minority here", waxed lyrical about his

boss' decency and qualities as a father, husband and upstanding member

of his local community.





"I think he's a tit.": Miriam Margolyes gave the shortest, but by far the most memorable, answer on Tony Abbott. Photo: Q&A







This drew the retort from Mamamia editor-in-chief

Jamila Rizvi that if this was all he had to offer, the PM should go back

to his local electorate and hand over to someone a little more

inspiring. Labor's Andrew Leigh passed up the chance to offer his

one-word summation, losing the plot in a rambling, partisan reply that

Jones was forced to curtail; Trisha Jha of the Centre for Independent

Studies tag-teamed with Margolyes, declaring: "The tit is a lovely

bird."

It was an earnest edition of the weekly debate program, with

the one true moment of memorable television coming again from Margolyes

in an answer to a question about anti-Semitism. Margolyes – Jewish

herself, British-born but now an Australian citizen – clasped her hands

and declared: "People don't like Jews. It's not comfortable to say that

and it's not comfortable to hear it. But I believe it to be true.

"After the Holocaust it was not fashionable or possible to be

anti-Semitic … but because of the actions of the state of Israel and

the appalling treatment of the Israelis towards the Palestinians …

anti-Semitism has again reared its horrific, ugly head and anti-Semitism

is as unacceptable as anti-Muslim feeling."

As ever, Q&A swerved from such moments of great

power to stretches of mundane political to-and-fro where the duelling

representatives of the major political parties held forth on policy

matters or debates of the day.

The controversy over Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs

got a workout, as did the ever-changing status of the Medicare

co-payment. Tony Jones captured that particular moment when Frydenberg

noted that his Labor opponent Leigh had once been a supporter of such a

policy. "So were you last week," noted the host.

Unsurprisingly, not much came of it – Frydenberg agreed with

Jones that he couldn't add much until cabinet signed off on whatever the

current policy might be. Jones: "You don't know because the cabinet

hasn't told you." Frydenberg: "That's true."

In other words, as usual, wait and see. For Q&A viewers

that means wait until next week – and perhaps the most exhilarating

part of Monday night's program was the announcement of what lies in

store. It's a Q&A first – an all-woman panel, including the

host – with Jones surrendering his chair to Annabel Crabb and a panel

including Germaine Greer and Julie Bishop. As Crabb noted on Twitter

after the line-up was revealed: "Odds of that getting out of control?

Unbackable I'd say. Come along."