Letters between ABC chairman and prime minister reveal proposal to move show from TV division to news and current affairs

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Tony Abbott has written to the ABC saying he will lift the ban on ministers going on Q&A if the show is moved to the news and current affairs division.

In letters between the ABC’s chairman, James Spigelman, and the prime minister, seen by Guardian Australia, discussions between the government and the broadcaster about allowing cabinet ministers on the show seem to be progressing.

It looks likely Q&A will be moved from the television division to news and current affairs where it would be under stricter guidelines to do with partiality.

Tony Abbott bans cabinet ministers from Q&A program Read more

Abbott wrote in a letter dated 10 July: “In discussion with the ABC the communications minister was given to expect that Q&A would be moved to news and current affairs – which would be appropriate for such a program.”

“In your letter to me you indicate that transferring Q&A to the news division ‘has merit’. Frontbenchers look forward to resuming their participation on Q&A once this moves take place.”

In the letter Spigelman wrote to Abbott, dated 9 July, Spigelman says the external review of Q&A was likely to take 15 to 18 weeks but the ABC has considered and approved management advice on changes to the operation which are outside the review.

“One of the options under active consideration is transfer of the program to news division,” he said. “I see merit in this proposal.”

The ABC board will discuss the proposal at its scheduled meeting on 6 August.

The communication minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had been scheduled to appear on the show on Monday but has since withdrawn.

The potential shift of Q&A between division comes after the prime minister issued a ban on government cabinet ministers appearing on the program because it allowed the former terror suspect Zaky Mallah to ask a question live on air on 22 June.



Turnbull declined to go on the show the week after Mallah appeared when he was approached because the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, Alan Tudge, pulled out.

“This is not a question of a boycott but there is a ... a fact-finding mission just to find out who did what where and when and then I imagine I’d expect the ABC management to take some steps to address the matter,” he said at the time.

“In due course I have no doubt that all of us will be appearing on ABC programs, including Q&A in the future, the reality is the ABC is one of the most important media platforms, it’s our national broadcaster, it has very, very high and important obligations.”

The program apologised for Mallah’s appearance but is undergoing an external review after pressure from the government, including Abbott’s accusation that Q&A was a “leftie lynch mob” and “heads should roll” over the decision to allow Mallah on.



The review will examine the fairness of Q&A host Tony Jones’s moderation, the diversity of guests and whether there is any bias in the show.

The agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, was the latest minister to withdraw from the program, cancelling his appearance for last Monday.

He had said on Sunday he thought the ABC was “dealing properly now with the issue” but after a phone call from the prime minister on Sunday afternoon he pulled out.

Joyce said he took the prime minister’s order “on the chin”.

The deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, said the decision to ban ministers from the program was made more than a fortnight ago,

Truss said the ban would be in place “until serious action is taken by the ABC to ensure the program behaves in a responsible way”.

The ABC has already issued a formal warning to Q&A’s executive producer, Peter McEvoy, for allowing Mallah on the live program.