Derryn Hinch, Tanya Plibersek, George brandis, Van Badham and Steve Price on the Q&A panel. Credit:ABC TV You'd have naturally assumed that it would be largely about the election, and the politicians on the panel certainly obliged. Attorney General George Brandis was in typically hectoring form, and Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek often strayed into stump speeches. Was eight weeks of campaigning seriously not enough? They were also, very surprisingly, by far the least interesting people on the Q&A stage. Even Derryn Hinch, the human headline himself, was utterly outclassed, despite getting more than a few quips in and giving a taste of what we can expect from him in the senate. (Short answer: oh, Malcolm, you are going to have your work cut out for you.) No, this was a two-hander between Price and Guardian columnist Van Badham. And if you missed it, it might be best to stop now and jump onto iView because what you're about to read will not do the show justice. Not that there was any shortage of great questions, mind. As always, the audience were in great form.

Steve Price was at times combative on the Q&A panel. Credit:ABC TV Watching Brandis sigh about the lack of bipartisanship while also prissily confirming that the government would most certainly not consider any changes to any of their budget policies was priceless. So was watching Plibersek accuse the Greens of planning to collude with the Liberals, and watching both accuse the other regarding which party should be more embarrassed about their pathetic primary vote when the correct answer was "both of them". (No wonder Hinch looked so chuffed: if this is indicative of the future of party politics in Australia, minors and independents are entering a golden age.) Tarang Chawla listens as Steve Price responds to his question on Q&A. Credit:ABC But these were the support acts to the proper headliners, and their greatest performance came at the end of the show when audience member Tarang Chawla asked a genuinely heartbreaking and important question.

"Sam Newman has courted controversy yet again for defending Eddie McGuire who joked about drowning Caroline Wilson," he began. Badham and Price shared a tense exchange over domestic violence. Credit:ABC TV "Male violence is a leading cause of death and disability for women under 45 in Australia. My sister Nikita was stabbed to death by her partner in January last year, with a meat cleaver. She was 23. How will politicians and the media play a better role in bringing about long-overdue cultural shifts, so tragedies like what happened to my family are not normalised?" Price was first to answer. "I happen to know all the people you mentioned there, Sam, Eddie and Caroline Wilson, very well," he explained, before criticising people for overreacting to "a bunch of blokes laughing about something they shouldn't have laughed about," especially since they (sort of) apologised. "Far too much was then made of it… As for Sam's comments, who happens to be a very good friend of mine, I think he should regret those comments that he made when going back into defend his great friend Eddie." Van Badham speaks to Steve Price as George Brandis looks on. Credit:ABC TV

In other words: Chawla asked about what can be done to combat flippant attitudes toward violence against women, and Price responded by defending the mates who made a joke about drowning a colleague, about which far too much was apparently made. Badham, however, did not identify Sam and his great mate Eddie as the real victims in this example. With a genuine catch in her voice, she started by expressing sympathy for Chawla and his family, "and it's one of the reasons why we have to take this seriously, and why we have to look at the different treatment of women, and the disadvantaged treatment of women in our society." And when she suggested that Price might have a rather different perspective on the hilarity of the joke from his position as one of the blokes compared with her, as one of the potential victims, Price took mighty umbrage. "Just because you're a woman doesn't mean you're the only person who can get upset about this," he interrupted, speaking over her to audible "oooooh!" from the audience. "Men can be just as upset about these things."