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Tony Abbott orders Q&A ban

Barnaby Joyce cancels as PM bans frontbenchers from appearing on Q&A.

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Tony Abbott has banned all frontbenchers from appearing on Q & A following its controversial incident 2 weeks ago.

The decree means National Party’s Barnaby Joyce has cancelled his planned appearance tonight.

Fairfax reports his cancellation came just hours after he confirmed on Insiders he would front.

“The Prime Minister has communicated that he does not want any frontbencher to appear on Q&A,” a spokesman said on his behalf.

“Barnaby was told this tonight and apologised to Q & A that he would not be able to appear.”

Joyce becomes the second Coalition member to cancel an appearance following Parliamentary Secretary Alan Tudge withdrawing a week ago.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has said he opposes a boycott, is scheduled to appear on next week’s episode. It’s not clear if he will still appear.

Menzies Research Centre executive director Nick Cate and News Corp commentator Piers Akerman have also been recent cancellations.

44 Responses

  1. I read somewhere, last night, ( cannot find it again)…that TA was calling for a 3 month ban on Q&A………
    All this secrecy etc….when did we become a dictatorship?…….
    And embarrassment watching that person come in on the US ship …leather jacket with assorted decals…trying to look like the ‘commander in chief’ US style…while I was watching ABC24……..
    I cannot bear to watch any of it….I keep the remote handy…. 🙁

      1. Hyperbole much? That’s funny – I recall a government being sworn in after a federal election on the 7th Sept 2013, you know, that quaint little day where millions of Australians cast their votes for the upper and lower houses of parliament. Do you have any links to support your dictatorship argument? Photos of tanks rolling down the street and politicians being locked up will suffice…. I can’t seem to find too many myself.

        1. Actually they were sworn in on the 18th 😉

          And I think the number of “captains calls” is proof enough?

          LOL, In any case, had a humourectomy lately? I think that if a daily “news”paper can alude to the Labor Party being nazis and hide behind the cloak of “satire” a lone poster on a blog can do the same? Sheesh…

  2. Hey, One Term Tony – is this what Rupert told you to do, or a decision of your own?

    Either way, you reveal why you are not fit to be PM of our country. Any politician that hides behind outrage in order to not answer basic questions of democracy should not be in power.

  5. Poor old Coalition. All of this bluster to hide the fact they are terrified of answering a few direct questions. What are you hiding Tony? Why does Q&A terrify you so much?

  6. And from today’s Fairfax papers – “Voters living in electorates held by some of the Abbott government’s most prominent ministers support the ABC so strongly they would vote to change the constitution to protect it from political interference, new polling shows.
    The polling shows a majority of voters in the seats held by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Treasurer Joe Hockey and Education Minister Christopher Pyne would support including the functions of the ABC in the constitution to ensure its independence from government”.
    Will Malcolm show next week? Will he be wearing his leather jacket?

  9. If any frontbencher defied the PM’s wishes he/she can kiss goodbye to their political future. The hard-heads will make sure of that.
    This tactic has also been used for Radio appearances, particularly on the ABC.
    Any Govt that can’t stand up to public scrutiny should resign.
    I hear that the Labor Party is looking for a popular, middle-of-the-road, “cleanskin” with no Union connections. All applications will be totally confidential if you drop your letter in the waste bin near the Cenotaph at 12:15 on a Tuesday.

  10. What is interesting is that the free speech advocates at the IPA have supported Tony Abbort and Andrew Bolt’s attacks on the ABC.

    One of the IPA’s wishes is for the ABC to be closed down or sold off to a private business eg. Rupert Murdoch.

    One of their ‘executives’ Phillip Hannaford wrote in the Herald Sun that taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for the ABC’s leftwing bias and gloated that if the taxpayer had a choice to fund the ABC or not – the ABC would be finished.

    This is the same mob who happily accept taxpayer funding from the govt and enjoy non-profit status to avoid paying taxes in Australia.

    Abbort’s ‘decree’ to boycott Q & A is a pathetic attempt to prevent any of his precious ministers from facing a ‘gotcha’ question.

    And what odds Abbort and his mate Tim Wilson will scream ‘bias’ when no federal LNP member appears on Q & A tonight and in the…

    2. No surprise there – the IPA has always been pro-privatisation and anti-ABC, and basically founded the modern Liberal party (from the ashes of the United Australia Party) in the 1940’s.

  12. Ah Abbott, the very embodiment of maturity. I do hope he’ll find someone to pick up the Abbott Playpen Hour so he’ll let his MPs come out and play again.

  13. …..and he wonders why he is so unpopular ….Q and A is one of the few show that guests can communicate a Political message without and editing to make a polly look bad. You cannot ever beat the media. You have to work with them. I just hope Turnbull Turns up the following week. The sooner Abbot is removed and Turnball takes over…the better. Abbot is a Joke!!!

  14. What is Abbott’s objective here? Does he think by banning his cabinet members from fronting QandA that the show will be axed ? Does he think that to not act would mean he is condoning what happened?

  15. Barnaby said on Insiders yesterday that he was happy with the way the ABC has addressed the issue and was happy to appear. This is far right politics. Many liberal supporters love the ABC. I actually watched Bolt yesterday and all he could talk about was how biased the ABC and Fairfax is. A bit rich coming from the most biased commentator we have ever seen. Abbott seems to have Bolt as his main adviser.

    1. If you watch Bolt’s show regularly you would know that the so-called “News Watch” segment is nothing but a weekly bash at the ABC and Fairfax. They never mention any other media it is just an excuse to bash the ABC and Fairfax week after week.

    2. Say what you will about Barnaby, he is a good sport who doesn’t take himself too seriously and has been a regular on Q&A for years.
      It should be up to the individual minister if they wish to appear or not.
      By boycotting Q&A, the Lib frontbenchers have now lost an important voice.

      Labor must be rubbing their hands together in absolute delight.

      1. have to agree there, i don’t agree with everything he says but he seems more real & down to earth than many others, then again i used to think that about Joe Hockey too….

  16. Embarrassing, petty and small minded.
    Then again, Tony Abbott and Q&A long ceased to have any meaningful relationship quite a long time ago – he appeared to have imposed his own self-ban on appearing a year or two back. Given some of his own bizarre utterances on Q&A (see You Tube clips) you can understand why he may have felt this was necessary.

  18. This is a gift for the ALP to put up all their top people and run over the top of any hapless Liberal backbencher who’s given the nod to appear on the program.

    Abbott is acting more and more like his Opposition Leader persona, a real bully-boy. The whole cabinet is an embarrassment. Barnaby Joyce is no loss to the program, (he can barely put two words together) he’s nearly the most embarrassing, closely followed by Eric Abetz.

    1. The difference being that Q&A left his seat empty, and didn’t buy into the alternative panelists suggested by the Labor Party; and from memory, first question of the night was about the no-show and the empty seat.

    2. Had never heard of Mark Arbib until watched The Killing Season. Everytime he was mentioned in the series kept thinking who was he and why did he have so much power in the labour party?

  22. What a kitchen sink drama Phony Abbott is turning this issue into! It’s a storyline he is ramming home as hard as he can, but is it in the best interest of his government? The litmus test of party unity will come next Monday over Turnbull’s appearance or no-show. It is quite myopic of him. The ABC will exist, and in all probability, Q&A, long after his fall from power.

  23. Barnaby Joyce should ignore the PM, who is behaving like a spoilt brat. Surely a National Party member can refuse a request from the Liberal Party. Could the Coalition be biased against the ABC???

  24. So first they complain about the ABC being unbalanced, then they don’t show when they are given a chance to put across their views?

  25. Ridiculous. Yet another tactic to avoid any questioning on any controversial topic. Frankly, they should be thanking Q&A for distracting the general public from the ridiculous new “secret squirrel on asylum seeker issues” laws.

    Don’t blame me – I voted Labor!!!

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