★★★★★ 0/5

Sunrise hosts a “real” Debate

Family First and the Australian Sex Party battle it out, as Sunrise declares Gillard and Abbott are off limits unless they agree to a morning TV debate.

32
Leave a comment

Sunrise has tapped into voter frustration at an election campaign devoid of passion, and a Great Debate that left us collectively dissatisfied.

This morning, the Seven show hosted a 12 minute segment with a Debate between Family First and the Australian Sex Party.

The two representatives argued everything from billboard advertising to gay marriage  and the internet filter, with host Mel Doyle serving as Moderator.

Writing for The Drum, Catherine Deveney (seemingly rather horrified to be actually watching Sunrise) conceded, “I saw something I hadn’t seen for a while. Passion. Not spin. Not scripted and controlled, driven by polls and informed by focus groups but a real stouch. Sure, not the best I’ve ever seen but with the lack of passion in the campaign any spit flying and table thumping is better than none.”

Sunrise Executive Producer Adam Boland says the show was flooded with reactions from viewers.

“This morning’s format was simple. The candidates took the gloves off and were forced to argue for what they really believe. The overwhelming view from our audience is that they’re yet to discover the real Julia Gillard or the real Tony Abbott.

“Rather than simply being used as a propaganda machine for the parties, Sunrise will no longer have either leader on the show during the campaign unless they hear the wishes of everyday Australians and take part in an honest encounter. Julia Gillard says it’s time to get real. Here’s the chance.”

Viewers have started signing an online petition for a “real” Debate.

Sunrise also had an interview with Rick Astley today.

Maybe we should just RickRoll the two leaders instead?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B5HEZB33eM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

32 Responses

  2. the premise of this i thought had disaster waiting to happen written all over it, but that turned out quite well. mel did a good job moderating. good viewing i agree with everything the sex party said which was a surprise. but kudos to webdy for confidently debating views that are getting harder to push as time goes by.

    fiona is an impressive speaker, i wonder if there would be a place for her in the media in the future?

  5. A couple of questions for the Family First candidate:

    1) Did you evolve from a monkey? Or a duck?
    2) How old is the Universe? In geological time, 10 minutes, three days, or several years? Or many millions of yonks?
    3) Why do you fear death?
    4)Do you use compost in your garden?
    5)Do you have the right to inflict your fantasies on the legislature of this country?

  6. Another debate! Abbott wanted 3 and Gillard agreed to 1, end of story.

    Liberal campaign launch is next Sunday and the attention will be on that.

    Personally bring it on when its about the economy.

  8. I would have thought that Family First would have a lot in common with the Sex Party. They are both about procreation and breeding and children and such delightful things. Surely Family First recognise that before you have a family, first you have sex?

    Or is Family First really just a extreme right wing front? Gee, let me think…

  10. @JH: Too right. Despite what Fielding and others claim, Family First is simply a political extension of the ultra-conservative right-wing Assemblies of God.

    The frightening thing is, that for whatever reason (the Millenium, 9/11, War in Iraq) Australians as a whole seemed to turn towards religious-flavoured conservatism. Not only do we have Fielding and others of his ilk, but the leaders of both major parties were church-going conservatives willing to inflict their personal moral-compass on the rest of us. I’m hoping that the pendulum swings back the other way a bit.

    As for “choosing a gay life-style” – why would you, what with societal prejudices and legislative inequality being what they are? Anyway, if I had a choice, I’d be bisexual and get the best of both worlds and enjoy all the variety that such a “lifestyle” might entail.

  11. good point craig, I also couldn’t help but tune out in the real debate but this one was far more interesting, although very one sided as to who the winner is in my opinion.

  12. The real power of commercial tv has been demonstrated… Maybe if ABC did anything the FTA’s wouldn’t have to… ABC = taxpayers $ FTA = Free.!!

  13. I enjoyed watching that, thanks for putting it up.

    It’s amazing how humourless these right wing fundementalists are – watching the Family First candidate spout her beliefs just confirmed that view.

    The Sex Party candidate seemed pretty good and made good sense – which is something lacking from the 2 major parties at the moment.

    I can’t recall an election that has been so dull and ‘pre-packaged’ as this one…one of the worst I’ve seen quite frankly.

    Oh well I’ll be delighted when it’s all over in a few weeks time – roll on election night!

  16. This is definitely what is missing in the current election campaign.

    We need more genuine progressive alternatives in Parliament (specifically the Senate), and hope that this election delivers such a result. The “think of the children” line from all sides is simply pathetic and shows that the people pushing the line can’t properly justify their reasons.

    Also, the pettiness of the two major parties is beyond a joke, and what is best for the country is secondary to their own interests.

  17. It frightens me to the core that most people are un-aware that the “family first” party are nothing but religious fundamentalists.

    They are anything But pro-family; they are hateful, intolerant people.

    I am sickened by the idea that the party exists, and even more so that people would vote for them.

    Sadly people will vote for them, not realsing they are religious zealots.

  18. Ah the Family First Party trotting out the good old “homosexual lifestyle” line, how insulting.

    Steve Fielding is also a young creationist who doesn’t believe in evolution. This deluded party will not getting my (first ever!) vote.

  19. I saw this on the Yahoo7 site and I must say, from somebody who sat in the 60 Minutes audience, I actually listened to this debate completely whereas in the other one I couldn’t help but tune out.

  20. It was refreshing to see a real debate! We don’t have real leaders any more but instead are inflicted with well oiled poll driven parties and even then the elected officals have little input into what they are allowed to say. Let’s face it, this preferred Prime Minister poll is a farce! We have no control over who is our PM, we can only vote for our local member and the member we vote for might not be in the same party as to who we prefer as our PM.

    Even if they do have another debate between the two leaders, both will be too scared to say what they really feel without retribution from the string pullers. There is way too much money and power up for grabs if one of them says the wrong thing or is taken out of context. We all know that Juila Gillard and Wayne Swan were just as much to blame from the failure of previous policies the Rudd got the blame for, a real debate would bring this to the fore front and they wouldn’t want that.

  21. The Family First candidate wouldn’t allow Fiona Pattern to finish a sentence..She was so rude to Fiona.I thought Mel should have stopped the Family First member from interrupting and allowed Fiona Pattern to finish a sentence.
    The Family First candidate said she believes being gay is a “lifestyle choice”, something gay people completely disragree with (I’m gay and I didn’t choose to be gay), ..
    Family First showed that the Church detrmines their policies.I’m voting for the Australian Sex Party in the Senate.

  22. this debate has no cred at all. look at the 2 parties. a party that won’t get any senate seats and a party that will be defunct at the end of this election. sunrise stop trying to be the abc

  23. Good on them. It is about time that the media realises that the politician need them, more than the media need politicians. Maybe then we will get better campaigns.

  24. It was great to watch. There came a point though where the Family First lady reminded me of Rev. Lovejoy’s wife from The Simpsons – ‘Won’t somebody think of the children!?’

    I’m not a parent but I’m pretty sure you do need to explain to kids A LOT. Why is the sky blue, where does grandma go when she dies etc.

    I actually think education about gay issues starting in school would prevent a lot of the homophobia out there. Young people are killing themselves from bullying etc.

Leave a Reply