Tony Abbott Lifts Ban On Frontbenchers Appearing On ‘Q&A’; Standard Of National Debate To Skyrocket

Australian civil society, rejoice! Our long, cold winter of government frontbenchers boycotting Q&A is over, banished forever to our darkest memories. Let the fragrant and fertile spring of middle-aged men in suits spouting insane nonsense on national television commence once more!

I know Senator John Madigan isn’t a government frontbencher. I don’t care. That Vine is glorious and I will never apologise for using it, no matter how thin the excuse.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the news in a press conference this morning, saying he was pleased that the ABC had complied with the government’s request to move the show from its Entertainment portfolio into News and Current Affairs, and that he wanted to give the ABC “a bit of a pat on the back” in that shit-eatingly smug tone of voice he does sometimes.

The move means that Q&A will be subject to more rigorous rules around fact-checking and balance, which is fair enough even if it took a six-week long tantrum from the government of Australia to make it happen. Remember back in late June, when no one knew Zaky Mallah‘s name and our biggest worries were quaint little things like the government trying to arbitrarily jail people and undermine the rule of law? Those were simpler times.

Next Sunday marks five whole years since Abbott himself last appeared on Q&A, raising the admittedly microscopic possibility that the nation’s Prime Minister will present himself to one of the most widely-watched and universally regarded fora of public debate in the country in the next couple of weeks. Even if he doesn’t (he won’t), at least we can look forward to leading minds like Barnaby Joyce, Joe Hockey and Eric Abetz gracing our TV screens again.