‘Q&A’ Bafflingly Grilled Chimp Expert Jane Goodall On Cooked Oz Politics

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Published

June 19, 2017

I would imagine that if you were to select Jane Goodall to go on an episode of ‘Q&A‘, it would have to be for a very specifically-themed panel – perhaps something to do with, say, chimpanzees or conservation. I would imagine wrong.

While Jane Goodall is widely considered to be the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees, she is not, by any measure, an expert on Australian politics (admittedly, this is something she has in common with a lot of ‘Q&A‘ panellists). This didn’t stop whoever books the show from putting Goodall on an episode that was about regular Australian politics, nor did it stop guest host Jeremy Fernandez from asking Goodall a series of questions that were torturously contorted to make them relate to chimps.

Speaking on the Midwinter Ball, Fernandez started with the extraordinarily broad question “Is the integrity of institutions up for sale?“, to which Goodall responded:

“Well, I think the integrity of institutions is being questioned more and more around the world – at least thats what i hear. But you know, this really isn’t my sphere of expertise, if it was chimpanzees we were talking about, it would be different.”

Attempting to re-orient the question more in Goodall’s direction, Fernandez framed it in a more chimp-related fashion, which mostly came out like nonsense:

“Do they trade in this sort of hierarchy and form special groups within themselves, are we behaving like chimps?”

Are political donations a legal form of bribery? @pwkurti
& Jane Goodall respond #QandA pic.twitter.com/qcJuUmK0Oa

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 19, 2017

After questioning Labor MP Linda Burney about the importance of trust and how Labor can regain it from voters, he threw the question again to Goodall, in a way that definitely makes sense for a political panel show:

“So that means trust in Donald Trump that the American people have placed in him, Jane, is sacrosanct. Is that the sort of thing that happens in the primate world – more broadly – that you have your chief chimpanzee, who’s not liked by the rest of them and then tries to undermine?”

Truly, truly baffling.

.@LindaBurneyMP says people want very simple things from their political leaders. Jane Goodall says alpha males can become unpopular #QandA pic.twitter.com/YaW4PZXxPq

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 19, 2017

People sure noticed that it was a tiny bit peculiar:

“We cannot actually compare chimpanzee politics with human politics”
well I’m glad we cut that one off at the pass #qanda

— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) June 19, 2017

All respect to Jane Goodall but for sure we are are not about to take our cues from primates are we?? #qanda

— Jessica Yun (@hijessicayun) June 19, 2017

#qanda now giving dixers to Jane Goodall, because they needed to pretend to have a reason for her being there

— Frazer Loveman (@FSGLoveman) June 19, 2017

One does not simply invite Jane Goodall onto the panel then spend the entire evening discussing trust… more chimps please #QandA

— Bridget Hall (@viomelin) June 19, 2017

If you want a palette cleanser from that, here is a ridiculously precocious child who just really wants to help animals.

What can we do to help prevent the destruction of natural habitats? Jane Goodall responds #QandA pic.twitter.com/rZCQQo7gsZ

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 19, 2017

Source and photo: ABC.